The Dragon's Cache: Steve Austin in Palmdale

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Steve Austin in Palmdale

After studying the SR-71 Blackbirds at the Blackbird Airpark, we walked across to the adjacent Joe Davies’ Heritage Airpark, where we saw a large number of other aircraft. They had been parked out on the desert in this arid environment, which should preserve them from rust and decay better than if they were left in a more cold and humid area, such as San Diego. It was interesting to see these planes up close, read about them, and see the engines that powered them.

Another plane being readied for display.

After our tour, we ate lunch, and then walked into the museum gift shop. As we had a long drive ahead of us, we intended to have a quick look around. But Bob, a retired wiring specialist who had worked on the SR-71s, noticed my “Six Million Dollar Man” T-shirt. He told me that he had met Lee Majors once, the actor who played Steve Austin, while the TV show was filming an episode nearby. The conversation gradually shifted to the space shuttles, which he had also worked on. He confessed that he cried when the decommissioned Endeavor arrived in California to become a display piece in a museum. He had helped the space shuttles embark on so many missions, and taken great pride in his involvement with the program. Now that grand era was over.

Bob had told me that Frank, the man sitting behind the counter, had piloted the SR-71s on some of their secret reconnaissance missions. But he was talking with a family, and my wife had signaled her readiness to leave. As I stepped into the doorway, Frank broke off his conversation and called to me. He told me that he had known Bruce Peterson, the pilot who had piloted those heavy lifting test vehicles like the M2-F2 and the HL-10, just as Steve Austin had in the TV show (and in Martin Caidin’s original novel Cyborg).

Peterson flew the HL-10’s first test flight. According to Frank, Peterson had been preparing to land when the vehicle suddenly turned upside-down. During preflight simulations, he had been forbidden to use any controls unless specifically directed by ground control. But at this point, he started working with the controls, and figured out to right the aircraft before it touched down. After that, Frank said, the “wiring folks” had some sorting-out to do!

In addition to his two previous flights, Peterson flew the sixteenth and final test of the M2-F2. These heavy lifting bodies minimized the wing structure by shaping the fuselage to maximize its lifting capacity, but the M2-F2’s shape was rounder than that of the HL-10. The vehicle began to roll from side to side, and while Peterson fought for control, he spotted a rescue helicopter in his path. As it turned out, he wouldn’t have hit the helicopter, but by changing course while wrestling with the controls, he touched down before the landing gear had fully extended. This was the crash made famous during the opening of “The Six Million Dollar Man” TV show.

After that, Frank and I spoke about the X-2 and X-15 rocket plane programs, and the missed potential of the Dyna-Soar X-20 rocket plane program that was cancelled to make way for the space shuttle. Intensely interesting stuff, but my wife was waiting patiently in the doorway, and I knew we had spent far longer in the gift shop than we had planned. Still, I felt enriched by those two conversations, neither of which would have occurred had I not worn my T-shirt advertising a forty-year-old TV show.