Robert Michael White

White was born in New York City on July 6, 1924. After graduating from high school, he entered active military service in November 1942 as an aviation cadet in the United States Army Air Forces, and received his pilot wings and commission as a second lieutenant in February 1944.

During World War II, he served with the 355th Fighter Group in the European Theater of Operations. He flew P-51 Mustangs from July 1944 until February 1945, when he was shot down over Germany on his 52nd combat mission. He was captured and remained a prisoner of war until his release in April 1945.

He then returned to the United States, left active duty in December 1945, and became a member of the Air Force Reserve at Mitchel Air Force Base, New York, while studying Electrical Engineering at New York University. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree from there in 1951, and a Master of Business Administration degree from the George Washington University in 1966.

White was recalled to active duty in May 1951 for the Korean War, where he served as a pilot and engineering officer with the 514th Troop Carrier Wing at Mitchel Air Force Base. In February 1952, he was assigned as a fighter pilot and flight commander with the 40th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, based at Johnson Air Base, Japan. In August 1953, he returned from overseas to serve as a systems engineer at Rome Air Development Center, Griffiss Air Force Base, New York.

Congratulated after a test flight

White attended the United States Air Force's Experimental Flight Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California, and became a test pilot, flying advanced models such as the F-86 Sabre, F-89 Scorpion, the new F-102 Delta Dagger, the F-104 Starfighter and the F-105 Thunderchief. He was promoted to Deputy Chief of the Flight Test Operations Division, later becoming Assistant Chief of the Manned Spacecraft Operations Branch.

X-15 in flight

White was designated the Air Force's primary pilot for the North American X-15 program in 1958. While the new plane was undergoing its initial tests, he attended the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, graduating in 1959. He made his first test flight of the X-15 on April 15, 1960, when the aircraft was fitted with two interim, 16,000 lbf (71 kN) XLR-11 thrust rocket engines. Four months later, he flew to an altitude of 136,000 feet (41.5 km) above Rogers Dry Lake. White would have participated in the Air Force's Man In Space Soonest program, had it come to fruition.

In February 1961, White unofficially set a new air speed record when he flew the X-15 at a speed of 2,275 mph (3,661 km/h), following the installation of a 57,000 lbf (250 kN) thrust XLR-99 engine. White was the first human to fly an aircraft at Mach 4 and later Mach 5 over the next eight months. On November 9, 1961, White flew the X-15 at 4,093 mph (6,587 km/h), making him the first pilot to fly a winged craft at six times the speed of sound (Mach 6). President John F. Kennedy used the occasion to confer the most prestigious award in American aviation, the Robert J. Collier Trophy, jointly to White and three of his fellow X-15 pilots: NASA's Joseph A. Walker, Commander Forrest S. Petersen of the U.S. Navy, and North American Aviation test pilot Scott Crossfield. A day later, Air Force Chief of Staff General Curtis E. LeMay awarded White his new rating as a Command Pilot Astronaut.

On July 17, 1962, Major White flew the X-15 to an altitude of 314,750 feet (59 miles, 96 km). This qualified him for USAF astronaut wings, becoming the first "winged" astronaut, and one of a few who have flown into space without a conventional spacecraft. Major Bob White was featured with a cover story in the August 3, 1962, issue of Life magazine, detailing his July 17 flight.

Pilot Robert White commented on his high altitude X-15 flights:

My flights to 217,000 feet [66 km] and 314,750 feet [96 km] were very dramatic in revealing the Earth's curvature ... at my highest altitude I could turn my head through a 180-degree arc and wow!—the Earth is really round. At my peak altitude I was roughly over the Arizona/California border in the area of Las Vegas, and this was how I described it: Looking to my left I felt I could spit into the Gulf of California; looking to my right I felt I could toss a dime into San Francisco Bay.

In October 1963, he returned to Germany, where he served as operations officer for the 22d Tactical Fighter Squadron, 36th Tactical Fighter Wing, flying F-105 Thunderchiefs at Bitburg Air Base, and from July 1964 to August 1965 as commander of the wing's 53d Tactical Fighter Squadron. He returned to the United States in August 1965 to attend the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, Washington, D.C., and graduated a year later. During the same period, he attended George Washington University, receiving his Master of Business Administration degree in 1966. Lieutenant Colonel White then was transferred to Air Force Systems Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, as chief of the Tactical Systems Office, F-111 Systems Program Office, where he served from September 1966 to May 1967.

F-105D at Takhli RTAFB

In May 1967, during the Vietnam War, Colonel White was assigned as Deputy Commander for Operations of the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing, an F-105 unit based at Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand. He flew 70 combat missions over North Vietnam, including leading an attack against the Paul Doumer Bridge in Hanoi on August 11, 1967, for which he was awarded the Air Force Cross. He was transferred in October to the Seventh Air Force Headquarters at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, South Vietnam, serving as chief of the Attack Division in the Directorate of Combat Operations.

White returned to the United States and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in June 1968, where he served as director of the F-15 Eagle Systems Program, responsible for managing development and production planning, in the Aeronautical Systems Division, Air Force Systems Command.

On July 31, 1970, White assumed duties as commander of the Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, where he was responsible for research and developmental flight testing of manned and unmanned aerospace vehicles, aircraft systems, deceleration devices and for the Air Force Test Pilot School. During his tenure, testing was begun on such important programs as the F-15 Air Superiority Fighter, the A-X ground attack aircraft, and the Airborne Warning and Control System. In October 1971, he completed the Naval Test Parachutist course and was awarded parachutist's wings.

He served at the Flight Test Center until October 17, 1972. The following month, he assumed the duties of Commandant, Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC), responsible for the entire AFROTC officer accession program at all colleges and universities across the United States.

White was promoted to the grade of major general effective February 12, 1975, with date of rank July 1, 1972. In March became Chief of Staff of the Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force. He retired from active duty on February 1, 1981.

In 1992, White was inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor.[5] General White was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio, on 15 July 2006. A rumor abounds that in honor of his achievements, the Scaled Composites White Knight spacecraft launch plane was named after White and fellow X-15 pilot Pete Knight. Space Ship One and White Knight pilot/astronaut Brian Binnie reports this is not true.

He died on March 17, 2010, at the age of 85.

Other achievements

• 1960 Harmon International Aviators Trophy[6]
• 1961 Collier Trophy, for invaluable technological contributions to the advancement of flight, and for great skill and courage as test pilots for the X-15.[7]
• 1962 John J. Montgomery Award
• 1991 Elected to the American Philosophical Society[8]

• Thompson, Milton O. (1992). At The Edge Of Space: The X-15 Flight Program, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington and London. ISBN 1-56098-107-5

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Robert Michael White.

• White's official Air Force biography at archive.today (archived 2012-12-12)
• NASA Images: Major Robert M. White is seen here next to the X-15 aircraft after a research flight
• Astronautix biography of Robert Michael White
• Spacefacts biography of Robert Michael White
• First Flight Society: Major Robert M. White
• Robert Michael White Archived 2015-09-10 at the Wayback Machine at the National Aviation Hall of Fame
• Veteran Tributes biography: Robert M. White
• "A Place called the Doumer Bridge", AIR FORCE Magazine, February 1988
• Iven C. Kincheloe Awards