Eagle Biography
Colonel "Pete" Knight
A test pilot and astronaut, Colonel "Pete" Knight holds the world's speed record for
winged powered aircraft. He was born in Noblesville, Indiana, in 1929, received his
education at Butler and Purdue Universities, and was commissioned in 1953. While only a
second lieutenant, he flew an F-89 Scorpion at the National Air Show in 1954 and
won the Allison Jet Trophy. In 1960, he was one of only four Air Force pilots selected for
the X-20 Dyna-Soar program, a forerunner of the Space Shuttle. He then flew F-100
Super Sabres on 253 combat missions over Vietnam. Upon his return from Vietnam,
he was assigned to Wright-Patterson AFB as Test Director for the F-15 Eagle. He
also directed the weapons system development of four other fighter aircraft.
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| More About The Eagle: |
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| Honored as an Eagle In: |
| 1982
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1989
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| See the Lithograph: |
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| Lithograph Setting: |
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On 3 October 1967, a B-52A Stratofortress carried the X-15A-2 piloted
by Maj "Pete" Knight to an altitude of 43,000 feet and released it. The
painting shows Maj Knight accelerating the aircraft to the world's speed
record of Mach 6.72 or 4,534 miles per hour.
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The Air Command and Staff College Gathering of Eagles Foundation is not professionally or commercially
associated with the International Association of Eagles (IAE) or the Gathering of Eagles organization
in Washington D.C
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