Eagle Biography
Fitzhugh L. "Fitz" Fulton
Fitzhugh L. "Fitz" Fulton is one of America's most accomplished test pilots
having flown more than 15,000 hours in over 225 different types of aircraft. After
attending Auburn University, he enlisted in the Army as an aviation cadet and was
awarded his commission and pilot wings in December 1944. Fulton was trained in the B-24
Liberator and B-29 Superfortress, but World War II ended before he
could enter combat.
Following the war, he transitioned to transport aircraft and in 1948
flew 225 missions in the C-54 Skymaster during the Berlin Airlift. Fulton did see
combat in Korea, logging 55 combat missions in the A-26 Invader with the 13th
Bombardment Squadron. In 1952, he completed the Air Force Experimental Test Pilot School
at Edwards AFB, California. Initially he flew the B-29 and B-50 Superfortresses
used in launching the Bell X-1 and X-2 experimental rocket planes. Assigned to the B-58
Hustler test program, he was a member of the first all-Air-Force test crew. In
addition to testing numerous bomber and fighter aircraft, Fulton continued B-58 testing
into the early 1960s.
In 1962, while Chief of the Bomber Flight Test Section and B-58
project pilot, he set an international altitude record for carrying a 5,000 kilogram
(11,023 pounds) payload to a height of 85,360 feet. For this feat, he was awarded the
Harmon International Trophy by President Johnson. This record, which was previously held
by the Soviet Union, still stands today after more than 27 years. Fulton retired from the
Air Force in 1966 to join NASA at the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB.
As NASA Chief Test Pilot, he flew research flights in the supersonic XB-70 Valkyrie
and piloted the B-52 Stratofortress carrier aircraft used to launch
experimental lifting bodies--predecessors to the space shuttle.
During the mid-70s,
Fulton flew the YF-12 Blackbird to speeds and altitudes in excess of 2,000 mph
and 70,000 feet to acquire new data for NASA research. In 1977, he was the project pilot
of the Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft used during space shuttle approach and landing
tests. That year, he received the Ivan C. Kincheloe Award and NASA's Exceptional Service
Medal for his test work. Fulton retired from NASA in 1986 and today is the Flight
Operations Director and Chief Research Pilot for Scaled Composites Incorporated.
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On 12 October 1977, at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards AFB,
California, the Space Shuttle Enterprise, with astronaut Joe Engle in
command, was poised for its fourth free flight from the NASA Boeing 747
Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, piloted by "Fitz" Fulton. Adding
uncertainty and danger to this particular portion of the shuttle approach and
landing tests, engineers had removed the streamlined tailcone from the
Enterprise and exposed three dummy rocket engines. In the absence of the
shuttle's tailcone, it was uncertain if Fulton and his crew could withstand
the buffeting and noise created by the shuttle's high drag configuration.
Without this critical test, the shuttle's first landing in this configuration
would have been on return from its first space mission. Separating from
Fulton's 747 at 25,000 feet, 2 minutes and 34 seconds later, Engle landed the
Enterprise precisely as planned on the dry-lake runway at Edwards AFB. Fulton
and Engle had flawlessly accomplished the complex flight profile and the
mission was a total success. Aerodynamic buffeting on the 747 did not prove
to be a major problem, and removal of the tailcone did not dramatically
change the shuttle's approach and landing performance.
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