Reunited

Flight Journal, Dec 2001 by Stribbe, Rolf

On June 23, 2001, the Carolinas Aviation Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina, in a long-awaited ceremony, rolled out its Douglas Skystreak D-558-1 (BuNo 37972) to the public. This truly historic occasion was highlighted by the reunion of one-time NASA test pilot Scott Crossfield and his former trusty mount. Crossfield first flew this aircraft in November 1950 at Muroc Field in California to investigate buffeting, tail loads and longitudinal stability.

He last flew it in June 1953, but unfortunately this was also the aircraft's last research flight.

In 1999, the Skystreak was recovered from a Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, and the all-volunteer Carolinas Museum staff painstakingly restored the derelict hulk. It is one of two surviving Douglas D-558-1s; the first Skystreak, BuNo 37970, is on display at the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Florida. Unlike its Florida counterpart, the cockpit of the aircraft in North Carolina has been meticulously restored with its original instrumentation and novel reclining pilot's seat. The efforts of the Skystreak recovery team led by Dean Demery and the restoration crew of Jerry Shore guarantee that this piece of aviation history will remain in the limelight.

Also attending the special event was Crossfield's Muroc colleague, Bob Champine, who flew the Skystreak and explored its dive characteristics and aileron performance. He, too, was amazed by the impressive restoration effort-and by the cramped nature of his former mount's cockpit.

To mark the historic occasion, the Charlotte museum commissioned renowned aviation artist Russell Smith to design a limited-edition commemorative print entitled "Rebirth of a Legend."