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Wilbert Pearson
Wilbert "Doug" Pearson Jr. is a retired Major general (United States), major general and test pilot in the United States Air Force. On September 13, 1985, he conducted the test launch of an ASM-135 ASAT missile that destroyed the Solwind satellite. He later served as the director of operations for Air Force Materiel Command and as the commander of the Air Force Flight Test Center. Pearson retired from active duty on January 1, 2005. Personal life Pearson's son, Todd, was the commander of the 493rd Fighter Squadron at RAF Lakenheath. In 2007, Todd flew the F-15 Eagle that was used for the ASM-135 test launch in a commemorative flight. Dates of promotion References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearson Jr., Wilbert D. Living people United States Air Force generals U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School alumni Texas A&M University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) ...
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Major General (United States)
In the United States Armed Forces, a major general is a two-star rank, two-star general officer in the United States United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Air Force, Air Force, and United States Space Force, Space Force. A major general ranks above a Brigadier general (United States), brigadier general and below a Lieutenant general (United States), lieutenant general. The U.S. uniformed services pay grades, pay grade of major general is O-8. It is equivalent to the rank of Rear admiral (United States)#Rear admiral, rear admiral in the other United States Uniformed services of the United States, uniformed services which use Naval officer ranks, naval ranks. It is abbreviated as MG in the Army, MajGen in the Marine Corps, and in the Air Force and Space Force. Major general is the highest permanent peacetime rank that can be conferred upon a commissioned officer in the uniformed services (except when General of the Army (United States ...
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Air Force Flight Test Center
The Air Force Test Center (AFTC) is a development and test organization of the United States Air Force. It conducts research, development, test, and evaluation of aerospace systems from concept to deployment. It has test flown every aircraft in the Army Air Force's and the Air Force's inventory since World War II. The center employs nearly 13,000 people, and controls the second largest base in the Air Force. On 6 July 2012, the previous Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC) was redesignated as the Air Force Test Center (AFTC). Up until July 2012, the AFTC consisted of two subordinate wings. The 95th Air Base Wing (95 ABW) provided installation support for all units on Edwards Air Force Base while the 412th Test Wing (412 TW) conducted aircraft testing and evaluation at Edwards. In July 2012, the redesignated 96th Test Wing (96 TW), an amalgamation of the former 96th Air Base Wing, the former 46th Test Wing and the former Air Armament Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and th ...
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6512th Test Squadron
Year 651 ( DCLI) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 651 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Europe * King Clovis II of Neustria and Burgundy marries Balthild, said to be an Anglo-Saxon aristocrat sold into slavery in Gaul. She has been owned by Clovis' mayor of the palace, Erchinoald, who gives her to him to garner royal favour (approximate date). Britain * King Oswiu of Bernicia declares war on his rival, King Oswine of Deira. Oswine refuses to engage him in battle, and retreats to Gilling (North Yorkshire). Oswine is betrayed by a friend, and murdered by Oswiu's soldiers. * Œthelwald succeeds his uncle Oswine as king of Deira, and allies himself with Oswiu's enemy, King Penda of Mercia. Queen Eanflæd of Bernicia donates the estate of Gilling for the foundation of a monastery. Persia ...
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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 of the Airplane.'' American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., 1996, p. 265 History Test flying as a systematic activity started during the World War I, First World War, at the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) in the United Kingdom. An "Experimental Flight" was formed at the Central Flying School. During the 1920s, test flying was further developed by the RAE in the UK, and by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in the United States. In the 1950s, NACA was transformed into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA. During these years, as work was done into aircraft stability and handling qualities, test flying evolved towards a more qualitative scientific profession. In the 1950s, test ...
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United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal Corps, the USAF was established by transfer of personnel from the Army Air Forces with the enactment of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the second youngest branch of the United States Armed Forces and the fourth in United States order of precedence, order of precedence. The United States Air Force articulates its core missions as air supremacy, intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance, global integrated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, airlift, rapid global mobility, Strategic bombing, global strike, and command and control. The United States Department of the Air Force, Department of the Air Force, which serves as the USAF's ...
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ASM-135 ASAT
The ASM-135 ASAT is an air-launched anti-satellite multistage missile that was developed by Ling-Temco-Vought's LTV Aerospace division. The ASM-135 was carried exclusively by United States Air Force (USAF) F-15 Eagle fighter aircraft. The program was cancelled in 1988. Development Starting in the late 1950s, the United States began development of anti-satellite weapons. The first US anti-satellite weapon was the Bold Orion Weapon System 199B (also the High Virgo missile, Weapon System 199C, attempted to conduct an ASAT test but failed to intercept its target; High Virgo's test was a few weeks before Bold Orion's). Like the ASM-135, the Bold Orion missile was air-launched, but in this case from a B-47 Stratojet. The Bold Orion was tested on 19 October 1959 against the Explorer 6 satellite.Edited By Bhupendra Jasani, ''Space Weapons and International Security'', A SIPRI Publication, Oxford University Press, 1987. The two-stage Bold Orion missile passed within of Explorer 6. ...
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Solwind
P78-1 or Solwind was a United States satellite launched aboard an Atlas F rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on February 24, 1979. The satellite's mission was extended by several weeks, so that it operated until it was destroyed in orbit on September 13, 1985, to test the ASM-135 ASAT anti-satellite missile. Construction and payload The satellite's Orbiting Solar Observatory (OSO) platform included a solar-oriented sail and a rotating wheel section. Ball Aerospace was the primary contractor for design and construction, and provided the attitude control and determination computer programs. The P78-1 carried a gamma-ray spectrometer, a white-light coronagraph, an extreme-ultraviolet imager, an X-ray spectrometer, a high-latitude particle spectrometer, an aerosol monitor, and an X-ray monitor. The X-ray monitor, designated NRL-608 or XMON, was a collaboration between the Naval Research Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory. The white-light coronagraph a ...
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Air Force Materiel Command
The Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) is a Major Command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force (USAF). AFMC was created on July 1, 1992, through the amalgamation of the former Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC) and the former Air Force Systems Command (AFSC). AFMC is headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. AFMC is one of nine Air Force List of Major Commands of the United States Air Force, Major Commands and has a workforce of approximately 80,000 military and civilian personnel. It is the Air Force's largest command in terms of funding and second in terms of personnel. AFMC's operating budget represents 31 percent of the total Air Force budget and AFMC employs more than 40 percent of the Air Force's total civilian workforce. The command conducts research, development, testing and evaluation, and provides the acquisition and life cycle management services and logistics support. The command develops, acquires and sustains the air power needed to defen ...
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Retired Maj
Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their job for health reasons. People may also retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when bodily conditions no longer allow the person to work any longer (by illness or accident) or as a result of legislation concerning their positions. In most countries, the idea of retirement is of recent origin, being introduced during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Previously, low life expectancy, lack of social security and the absence of pension arrangements meant that most workers continued to work until their death. Germany was the first country to introduce retirement benefits in 1889. Nowadays, most developed countries have systems to provide pensions on retirement in ...
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493rd Fighter Squadron
The 493rd Fighter Squadron (493rd FS), nicknamed ''the Grim Reapers'', is part of the United States Air Force's 48th Fighter Wing located at RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk, United Kingdom. The 493rd FS operates the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II. The squadron has earned multiple commendations and awards, including the Air Force Association's Hughes Trophy in 1997 and 1999 and the 2007, 2014, 2016 and 2019 Raytheon Trophies, for being recognized as the top fighter squadron in the United States Air Force. History World War II Activated as a Southeastern Air District United States Army Air Corps, Army Air Corps training squadron, equipped with a variety of second-line aircraft, both single and twin engine, preparing its pilots and maintenance crews for eventual combat. After the Pearl Harbor Attack, the squadron flew antisubmarine patrols from March to April 1942. Resumed aircrew training, many of the group's members went on to serve in squadrons st ...
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RAF Lakenheath
Royal Air Force Lakenheath or RAF Lakenheath is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, station near the village of Lakenheath in Suffolk, England, UK, north-east of Mildenhall, Suffolk, Mildenhall and west of Thetford. The installation's perimeter borders Brandon, Suffolk, Brandon. Despite being an RAF station, Lakenheath currently only hosts United States Air Force (USAF) units and military personnel. The host wing is the 48th Fighter Wing (48 FW), also known as the Liberty Wing, assigned to United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA). The wing operates the McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle, F-15E Strike Eagle and the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, F-35A Lightning II. History First World War The first use of Lakenheath Warren as a Royal Flying Corps airfield was during the World War I, First World War, when the area was made into a bombing and ground-attack range for aircraft flying from RAF Feltwell, RFC Feltwell and RFC The ...
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