F-16 test-pilot Neil Anderson dies
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F-16 test-pilot Neil Anderson dies
21/09/06
Celebrated F-16 test pilot Neil Anderson has died aged 72 after a career that included time in more than 250 aircraft types, a belly-landing in an F-16, and victory in the unlimited class at the Reno air races.
The Star-Telegram newspaper in Fort Worth where the immensely successful fighter was built by General Dynamics and then Lockheed Martin has a nice tribute to Anderson.
It reveals how he planned to become a priest before opting for flying instead, and tells the story of how he saved the YF-16 prototype by belly-landing it after a main landing-gear failure. Anderson walked away from the landing and the airframe survived - an astonishing feat of airmanship.
In 1982 he recorded his victory at Reno in a modified Hawker Sea Fury and continued working at Lockheed Martin as a marketing executive playing a key role in selling the F-16 until his retirement in1996. He continued flying and founded a group that displayed three North American T-28 Trojans at airshows.
Source: Flightglobal.com
I'm so sorry to hear that. RIP.
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Also see the news article on F-16.net:
On behalf of the F-16.net staff, I'd like to offer our most sincere condolences to the family and friends of Neil Anderson.
Stefaan
- <a href="news_article1979.html">Legendary F-16 test pilot Neil Anderson dies</a> (Sep 18th, 2006)
On behalf of the F-16.net staff, I'd like to offer our most sincere condolences to the family and friends of Neil Anderson.
Stefaan
Stefaan Vanhastel
F-16.net Webmaster.
F-16.net Webmaster.
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