Biography
Born in Madison, Maine on October 9, 1924. He studied mechanical engineering at the University of Maine, receiving a BE in 1951. He received a BS in aeronautical engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1958. He was selected for the X-15 program in 1958, and made his first flight on November 4, 1960. Over the next six years, he made 34 flights in the X-15, the most of any pilot. This included a flight to an altitude of 285,000 feet, made on June 27, 1963. This flight above 50 miles qualified Rushworth for Astronaut Wings, though he would have attained that honor sooner had the Man In Space Soonest project proceeded according to plan.
On a later X-15 flight, he was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross for successfully landing an North American X-15 after its nose wheel extended while flying at nearly Mach 5. He made his final X-15 flight on July 1, 1966, then returned to regular Air Force duties. These included a tour in Vietnam as an F-4 Phantom II pilot, flying 189 combat missions. He also served as the Commander of the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California, and as the Commander of the Air Force Test and Evaluation Center at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. At the time of his retirement as a Major General, he was Vice Commander, Aeronautical Systems Division, Air Force Systems Command, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Rushworth flew C-47 Skytrains and C-46s as a transport pilot in World War II, as well as F-80Cs, F-101 Voodoos, TF-102s, F-104 Starfighters, F-105 Thunderchiefs, F-106 Delta Darts, and F-4 Phantom IIs. Rushworth also served as a pilot in the Korean War.
Rushworth was a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, and in 1975 received the SETP's James H. Doolittle Award for "outstanding accomplishment in technical management or engineering achievement in aerospace technology". Rushworth retired on June 1, 1981. He died of natural causes in Camarillo, California on March 17, 1993. In 1994, he was posthumously inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor
Read more about this topic: Robert A. Rushworth
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