William J. Knight
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William J. Knight | |
|---|---|
17th district | |
| In office December 2, 1996 – May 7, 2004 | |
| Preceded by | Don Rogers |
| Succeeded by | George Runner |
| Member of the California State Assembly from the 36th district | |
| In office December 7, 1992 - November 30, 1996 | |
| Preceded by | Tom McClintock |
| Succeeded by | George Runner |
| Personal details | |
| Born | William J Knight November 18, 1929 X-15 Flight 190 X-15 Flight 188 |
William John "Pete" Knight (November 18, 1929 – May 7, 2004) (
On October 3, 1967, Knight piloted X-15 Flight 188, the program's fastest flight. Flying at a maximum Mach of 6.7 and a maximum speed of 4,520 mph (7,274 km/h), he set a speed record for flight in a winged, powered aircraft.[1] The flight was made in the X-15A-2, the second of three planes in the X-15 fleet.
Two weeks later on October 17, Knight flew
Early life and education
Knight was born November 18, 1929, in
Personal
Knight was married to Helena Stone and they had three sons, Steve, Peter, and David. Helena predeceased Knight. Knight remarried and at his death in 2004 he was survived by his widow Gail, a brother, three sons, four stepchildren and 15 grandchildren.
Air Force career
Knight joined the
Starting in 1958, following his graduation from both U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology and the
He had more than his share of eventful flights in the X-15. While climbing through 107,000 feet (33,000 m) at Mach 4.17 on June 29, 1967, he suffered a total electrical failure and all onboard systems shut down. After reaching a maximum altitude of 173,000 feet (53,000 m), he calmly set up a visual approach and, resorting to old-fashioned "seat-of-the-pants" flying, he glided down to a safe emergency landing at Mud Lake, Nevada.[2] For his remarkable feat of airmanship that day, he earned a Distinguished Flying Cross.
On October 3, 1967, Knight set a world aircraft speed record for manned aircraft by piloting the X-15A-2 to 4,520 miles per hour (7,274 km/h) (
After nearly ten years of test flying at Edwards AFB, he went to
After 32 years of service and more than 6,000 hours in the cockpits of more than 100 different aircraft, he retired from the U.S. Air Force as a colonel in 1982.
Political career
In 1984, he was elected to the city council of Palmdale, California, and four years later became the city's first elected mayor. In 1992, he was elected to serve in the California State Assembly representing the 36th District. He served in the State Senate representing the 17th District from 1996 until his death on May 7, 2004. Knight's youngest son, Steve Knight served as assemblyman for the 36th Assembly District from 2008 to 2012, the seat previously held by his father.
Proposition 22
During his term in the Senate, Knight gained statewide attention in 2000 as the author of
In addition to his son David, Knight also had a younger brother who died of AIDS-related complications in 1995 at age 60. Of his younger brother, Knight said "We never talked about it."[7]
Watch
- Pete Knight's Final Television Interview (30 min., free, taped 4-1-2004)
Awards and honors
- Legion of Merit
- Distinguished Flying Cross
- Air Medal
- Harmon Trophy, 1967
- AIAA Octave Chanute Award, 1968
- Enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1988.[8]
- Inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor in 1990.[9][10]
- Inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1998.[11]
In the city of Palmdale,
References
- ^ "Fastest Speed in a Non-Spacecraft Aircraft". Guinness World Records. Guinness World Records Limited. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
- ^ Mud Lake, Nye County, Nevada, 37°52′10″N 117°04′17″W / 37.86944°N 117.07139°W. Located at the northern edge of the Tonopah Test Range, this is the southernmost Mud Lake of several dry lakes bearing the same name in Nevada.
- ^ Evans, Michelle (2013). "The X-15 Rocket Plane: Flying the First Wings Into Space-Flight Log" (PDF). Mach 25 Media. p. 51.
- ^ Jenkins, Dennis R. (June 2000). "Hypersonics Before the Shuttle: a Concise History of the X-15 Research Airplane" (PDF). Monographs in Aerospace History (18). NASA. p. 121. Appendix 9, X-15 Program Flight Log.
- ^ "Son of gay marriage foe weds in San Francisco / Sen. Knight wrote state law banning same-sex unions". The San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ Garofoli, Joe; Wildermuth, John; Bulwa, Demian (August 5, 2010). "Mormons urged to back ban on same-sex marriage". The San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ Hill-Holtzman, Nancy (11 September 1996). "Foe of Gay Marriages Says His Son Is Homosexual". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "National Aviation Hall of fame: Our Enshrinees". National Aviation Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on March 12, 2011. Retrieved February 10, 2011.
- ^ Knight inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor Archived 2014-05-27 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Kaplan, Tracey (September 23, 1990). "Ground-Level Monuments Honor Heroes of the Air". The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. p. 840 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Knight inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame
Bibliography
- 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
- Dr. James Young. "Maj. William "Pete" Knight". Retrieved 2008-10-22.
External links
- Knight's official NASA biography
- Astronautix biography of Pete Knight
- Spacefacts biography of Pete Knight
- Pete Knight Archived 2015-09-10 at the Wayback Machine at the National Aviation Hall of Fame
- Knight at International Space Hall of Fame
- Pete Knight at Find a Grave
- Join California William J. Knight
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