W. L. "Lou" Everett (November 28, 1924 – April 27, 1965), was a

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

fighter pilot and

test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testing ...

Early life

Lou Everett was born on November 28, 1924, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York. He graduated from high school at seventeen during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and wanted to fly fighter aircraft for the United States Navy. Because he was too young for the Navy Cadet program, he enlisted in the Army. Within a few months, he transferred to the

and began training as a fighter pilot assigned to fly the

P-51 Mustang The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team headed by James ...

. Stationed in Florida, he was awaiting assignment to go overseas when the war ended. Everett joined the

Mississippi Air National Guard The Mississippi Air National Guard (MS ANG), commonly known as the Mississippi Air Guard, is the aerial militia of the State of Mississippi, United States of America. It is, along with the Mississippi Army National Guard, an element of the Missis ...

, attended

Millsaps College Millsaps College is a private liberal arts college in Jackson, Mississippi. It was founded in 1890 and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. History The college was founded in 1889–90 by a Confederate veteran, Major Reuben Webster M ...

, and continued to fly by

crop dusting Aerial application, or what is informally referred to as crop dusting, involves spraying crops with crop protection products from an agricultural aircraft. Planting certain types of seed are also included in aerial application. The specific sp ...

and instructing at a local air school. While attending Millsaps, he married Betty June Coleman and soon after the couple moved to Starkville, Mississippi, where Lou enrolled in the Aero Physics Department at

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Unive ...

. In December 1950, the Mississippi Air National Guard was called to active duty because of the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. Shortly thereafter, Everett was called to serve in Korea, where he flew AT-6 Texans on forward air control missions.

Test pilot career

Everett returned to the United States to resume his education at Mississippi State. He graduated in 1954 with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering and joined Chance-Vought in California as an engineer. In 1955, he was hired by

Ryan Aeronautical Company The Ryan Aeronautical Company was founded by T. Claude Ryan in San Diego, California, in 1934. It became part of Teledyne in 1969, and of Northrop Grumman when the latter company purchased Ryan in 1999. Ryan built several historically and tech ...

as their second test pilot for the X-13 Vertijet, joining Ryan’s Chief Test Pilot, Pete Girard. The X-13 was the world’s first pure jet

VTOL A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is one that can take off and land vertically without relying on a runway. This classification can include a variety of types of aircraft including helicopters as well as thrust-vectoring fixed-win ...

aircraft, and Girard and Everett were the only pilots to fly it. As a result of their research work on the X-13, the two men received awards from the

New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (originally the Lyceum of Natural History) was founded in January 1817 as the Lyceum of Natural History. It is the fourth oldest scientific society in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization wit ...

. During this time, Everett became one of the original 17 members of the

Society of Experimental Test Pilots The Society of Experimental Test Pilots is an international organization that seeks to promote air safety and contributes to aeronautical advancement by promoting sound aeronautical design and development; interchanging ideas, thoughts and suggest ...

.Society of Experimental Test Pilots ''SETP History''
/ref> During the test phase of Ryan’s VZ-3 Vertiplane, Girard resigned from test piloting, and Everett became Ryan’s Chief Engineering Experimental Test Pilot. He continued testing the Vertiplane and began testing (a maiden flight: May 23, 1961; Flight magazine) the Flex-Wing; a Rogallo-wing aircraft which evolved into the XV-8 Fleep. On May 23, 1961, flying the Flex-Wing, he became the first man to leave the ground in a powered Rogallo.British Microlight Aircraft Association ''1940 - 1969''
/ref> The next project was the

XV-5 Vertifan The Ryan XV-5 Vertifan was a jet-powered V/STOL experimental aircraft in the 1960s. The United States Army (US Army) commissioned the Ryan VZ-11-RY (re-designated XV-5A in 1962) in 1961, along with the Lockheed VZ-10 Hummingbird (re-designated ...

, jointly developed by Ryan and General Electric, and first flown by Everett.Edwards Air Force Base First Flights ''May 15, 1964''
/ref> The Vertifan employed the lift fan concept to achieve vertical flight, diverting jet thrust to spin louvered fans in the wings and nose. On April 27, 1965, the two Vertifan prototypes made their public debut during a press demonstration at Edwards. One was to fly horizontally in front of the grandstand, while the other would convert from horizontal to vertical flight and descend. Everett was in the plane scheduled to descend. Flying at and an altitude of , he prepared to transition from conventional to fan mode, but the Vertifan unexpectedly pitched nose down. Everett ejected, but the

ejection seat In aircraft, an ejection seat or ejector seat is a system designed to rescue the aircraft pilot, pilot or other aircrew, crew of an aircraft (usually military) in an emergency. In most designs, the seat is propelled out of the aircraft by an ex ...

failed and his parachute caught on the plane’s high tail. He went down with the plane and was killed.

Early life

Test pilot career

References

External links