373:. In the X-1A, Murray set an altitude record of over 90,000 feet and was considered at the time, 1954, America's first space pilot. He saw the curvature of the Earth and the sky dark at mid-day. The X-1A was powered by four rocket motors using liquid oxygen and alcohol as fuel. Looking rather exotic even in photos today, the X-1 used nitrogen tanks to pressurize many of the systems including the fuel tanks, cockpit and the landing gear system. However, the flight controls were completely conventional with strictly mechanical linkage and no hydraulic boost.
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Arthur Murray married
Elizabeth Ann (Betty Anne) Strelic in 1943. They had six children, Michael, John, Christopher, Catherine, Patrick, and Peter. The family fostered a seventh child, Elizabeth Anne(Betsy) from the time of her birth in 1963 until the couple separated in 1966. He managed a hunting
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and decided to send him there. Here was where Murray got his big break as he quickly found out this school was not for functional test flights, but for experimental test programs. He kept his mouth shut and stuck with the program, and soon was offered the opportunity to be the first permanent test
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2. On his first couple of high altitude flights, Murray said his plane would snap into a spin when the motors burned out while approaching his peak altitude. He finally figured that the rocket motors were installed very slightly offset which, to keep it going straight, was causing him to have to
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After two flights involving supersonic spin recovery, Murray was quick to neutralize the controls immediately upon motor shutdown in later flights. He had taped a string in front of the windshield to determine his rudder trim input. Murray was the first pilot to fly the X1-B aircraft in powered
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newspaper. He also was project manager for the restoration of the Bosque County
Courthouse, taking it back to its 1886 splendor. Murray remarried on April 4, 1969, to Dallas interior designer Ann Tackitt Humphreys. They combined their efforts and expertise in renovating the
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Murray's next Air Force assignment was in Paris, France. He was in charge of technology integration for the U.S. Regional
Organization there and was privileged to fly some of Europe's top airplanes at the time, including the Italian
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in 1960. He retired with over 20 years of military service and became Boeing's "company astronaut" managing crew integration for the space program. In that capacity he massaged the gap between engineers and scientists who wanted
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flight, and he said it was a much straighter flying rocket ship than the X-1A. The X-4 he flew was basically a flying wing type aircraft (no horizontal tail) and the X-5 was a variable sweep test platform.
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to ride in a sealed capsule, and pilots who wanted to be able to see what was going on during flights. Murray worked for Boeing on many space program projects from 1960 to 1969, from the
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program, which attained record altitudes of 354,000 feet and a speed record of 4,534 m.p.h. (Mach 6.7). The X-15 program contributed enormously to the
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in the tilt rotor program. He worked for them until 1971, then gradually slowed down in retirement, but still doing many things interesting to him.
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cross control the plane increasingly as it accelerated. When the engines shut off, the cross-control condition, which was keeping the airplane from
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and high speed aircraft research, and was acclaimed as the most successful test program of its type. Among Murray's test pilots there was
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as head of new developments at the
Systems Project Office. During his time there, 1958–1960, he was Air Force manager for the
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The X-1A was launched from the belly of a B-29 and later a B-50, and the flight profile had him using a 45 degree
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test flights. In early tests Murray was able to fly some of
America's earliest jet aircraft including the
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609:"Edwards Loses Pioneer from Dawn of Space Age; Maj. Arthur K. [sic] "Kit" Murray Dies at Age 92"
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Murray was a test pilot at Muroc/Edwards from 1949 to 1955, an unusually long time for that assignment.
293:. He was then assigned as a maintenance flight test pilot and sent to Maintenance Engineering School at
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missions. His unit was proud to never have lost a bomber to enemy fighters while under their escort.
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and set an unofficial altitude record of more than 90,000 feet at over twice the speed of sound.
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and recipient of the French Medal of the City of Paris. In 1996, Murray was inducted into the
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Arthur Warren Murray was born to
Charles C. "Chester" and Elsie Murray in the small town of
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https://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/multimedia/imagegallery/X-1A/Maj_Arthur_Murray.html
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Arthur W. "Kit" Murray on his horse Amber, April 2000. Courtesy of
Patrick Murray.
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as a fighter pilot in Africa. His unit worked its way across the continent from
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On
November 6, 1955, Major Murray appeared as the second guest on the TV show
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was making such trips out there from the Test Center while he was flying the
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Aerospace Walk of Honor, Lancaster, California. Historical Marker
Database.
690:. National Aeronautics and Space administration. p. 2. Archived from
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After a year's tour in Africa, Murray returned to the United States as a
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Murray was awarded the following decorations for his military service:
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443:. Murray held the rank of major at the time, but this was considered a
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Kit Murray died on July 25, 2011, at a nursing home in the town of
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95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs, Edwards Air Force Base.
237:. Murray volunteered for pilot training the day after the
181:(December 26, 1918 – July 25, 2011) was a United States
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Experimental Aircraft Association profile of Kit Murray
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club, flew some charter work for Mustang Aviation in
464:. He was technical integration manager for Boeing at
472:area to become Air Force Requirements Engineer for
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768:. City of Lancaster, California. Archived from
905:Milestones in Aerospace History at Edwards AFB
827:"U.S. Jet Flight Pioneer Test Pilot Dies Here"
302:pilot to be assigned to Muroc Airfield (later
498:Court House and served as charter members of
8:
502:, a Texas equine trail riding organization.
354:and many other fighter and bomber aircraft.
193:aircraft. He was the first pilot to see the
621:: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
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638:"Arthur Murray, Test Pilot, Is Dead at 92"
420:G-91, the French Mystere, and the British
380:Arthur W. "Kit" Murray with the X-1A. See
229:already underway in Europe, he joined the
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1020:People from Cambria County, Pennsylvania
900:Kit Murray Biography by the TartanTerror
662:X-1A E-2490: X-1A in flight over lakebed
581:Newspapers, McClatchy (August 3, 2011).
985:U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School alumni
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391:attitude with airspeeds reaching about
885:This Day in Aviation profile of Murray
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460:(a single place space shuttle) to the
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924:. Memorial Solutions. Archived from
540:Society of Experimental Test Pilots
636:Martin, Douglas (August 4, 2011).
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1015:American aviation record holders
583:"Arthur 'Kit' Murray dies at 92"
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918:"Arthur Kit Murray Life Legacy"
429:Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
1010:Flight altitude record holders
791:"Opera Group Picks Officers".
468:. In 1969 Murray moved to the
265:bombers as well as performing
18:Arthur Murray (disambiguation)
1:
890:Murray test flight chronology
447:'s job. He was approached by
241:, and by 1943 was flying the
185:who flew test flights on the
1000:Recipients of the Air Medal
723:. Arno Press. p. 184.
233:in 1939, and served in the
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719:; Blair Jr., Clay (1960).
528:Distinguished Flying Cross
179:Arthur Warren "Kit" Murray
155:Distinguished Flying Cross
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806:Swopes, Bryan R. (2018).
357:Murray flight-tested the
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793:Fort Worth Star-Telegram
667:October 8, 2007, at the
538:. He is a Fellow of the
102:United States of America
1025:People from West, Texas
962:Iven Carl Kincheloe Jr.
766:Aerospace Walk of Honor
562:(go to 7:30 in video).
544:Aerospace Walk of Honor
163:Aerospace Walk of Honor
122:United States Air Force
953:Human altitude record
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304:Edwards Air Force Base
295:Chanute Air Force Base
239:attack on Pearl Harbor
217:on December 26, 1918.
195:curvature of the Earth
922:Aderhold Funeral Home
808:"Kit Murray Archives"
554:Television appearance
548:Lancaster, California
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291:Hartford, Connecticut
128:Years of service
66:Cresson, Pennsylvania
995:American test pilots
831:KWTX News Channel 10
812:This Day in Aviation
795:. February 11, 1971.
717:Crossfield, A. Scott
369:, and also flew the
330:. He also flew the
306:) in the California
16:For other uses, see
866:. November 6, 1955.
721:Always Another Dawn
211:Allegheny Mountains
947:Marion Eugene Carl
910:2008-07-10 at the
837:on January 3, 2015
697:on August 13, 2011
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231:United States Army
145:Lieutenant Colonel
39:Kit Murray by X-1A
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959:Succeeded by
928:on March 28, 2012
857:"What's My Line?"
587:Los Angeles Times
536:oak leaf clusters
517:at the age of 92.
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172:Aerospace manager
63:December 26, 1918
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312:Chuck Yeager
299:Wright Field
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267:dive bombing
253:, escorting
227:World War II
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215:Pennsylvania
204:
178:
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78:(2011-07-25)
990:2011 deaths
980:1918 births
864:YouTube.com
534:with eight
515:West, Texas
411:Engineering
83:West, Texas
45:Nickname(s)
974:Categories
956:1954-1956
841:January 3,
776:August 26,
701:August 26,
688:NASA Facts
566:References
454:astronauts
324:Bell XP-59
320:supersonic
247:Casablanca
201:Early life
183:test pilot
90:Allegiance
59:1918-12-26
592:August 5,
532:Air Medal
470:Ft. Worth
159:Air Medal
131:1939–1961
932:July 30,
908:Archived
681:"XF-92A"
665:Archived
617:cite web
530:and the
326:and the
316:Bell X-1
271:strafing
191:Bell X-5
189:and the
187:Bell X-1
108:Service/
860:(video)
647:Dec 21,
445:colonel
422:Javelin
251:Tunisia
235:Cavalry
207:Cresson
727:
522:Honors
487:Dallas
449:Boeing
398:yawing
371:XF-92A
365:, the
361:, the
308:desert
151:Awards
119:
110:branch
99:
85:, U.S.
68:, U.S.
695:(PDF)
684:(PDF)
500:TETRA
389:pitch
289:near
225:With
934:2011
843:2015
778:2009
725:ISBN
703:2009
649:2021
623:link
594:2011
458:X-20
433:X-15
418:Fiat
393:Mach
352:B-45
348:B-43
344:B-25
340:F-84
336:P-82
332:P-51
328:P-80
283:P-47
269:and
263:A-20
261:and
259:B-26
255:B-25
243:P-40
136:Rank
73:Died
53:Born
546:in
424:.
367:X-5
363:X-4
249:to
213:of
48:Kit
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
