Page 22 - Aerotech News and Review, Oct 5 2018 - NASA Anniversary Special

2018 Gathering of Eagles Honorees
Florence Lowe “Pancho” Barnes ing Howard Hughes’ Hell’s Angels (1930). Barnes had extensive connections in Hol- Aviation Pioneer lywood. Her early close friend George Hurrell July 22, 1901-March 30, 1975 (1904–1992), then eking out a living as a painter and photographer in Laguna Beach, Calif., would later become the legendary head of the portrait department of MGM Studios. Barnes is credited with helping Hurrell start his career in Hollywood after he took the photo she was to use on her pi- lot’s license, introducing him to her Hollywood friends. In a short period of time, Hurrell became the most in-demand photographer in Hollywood. Barnes lost most of her money in the Great De- pression. By 1935, she had only her apartment in Hollywood left. She sold it, and in March 1935 bought 180 acres of land in the Mojave Desert, near the Rogers Dry Lake bed and the nascent Muroc Field, then called March Field because it was an adjunct property of March Army Air Base
Cynthia C.J Bixby
Flight test engineer and chief of Systems Engineering, Integration at Armstrong Flight Research Center
Bixby grew up in the shadow of Edwards Air Force Base, where standing on the school play- ground watching an experimental aircraft streak across the sky was not uncommon.
She was fascinated by the space program and the pioneering aeronautics work happening next door, but the idea of making a career in aerospace was never in the forefront of her mind.
“In high school I was a good student but not a particularly enthusiastic one,” Bixby said. “In college, I chose to major in physics primarily for the challenge. While I was never a mathematics virtuoso, I enjoyed the last couple of years of my physics education where the math and the science came together to tell me something interesting about the physical world.
“After graduating from University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash., I looked for something to do and found a job with a small company pro- viding support engineering for the U.S. Air Force at what was then the Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory at Edwards. I primarily did computer network development and maintenance work with a little bit of mathematical modeling.”
Eighteen months later, Bixby felt restless and answered a newspaper ad for database work. That job was with General Dynamics at the F-16 air- craft Combined Test Force at Edwards. After a couple of months, she had built the database they had hired her to do, plus a couple of other tasks so she was expecting to be laid off. “Instead, the boss asked me if I wanted to be a flight test engi- neer,” she said. “I was not really sure what that was or whether I was qualified, but I said yes and that led to a long adventure in learning all about aircraft flight test.”
Over those years, she worked in almost every department in the CTF to include instrumentation, data processing, flight test engineering and even scheduling. She planned flight tests and spent hundreds of hours in mission control rooms con- ducting developmental flight tests.
About six years into her “adventure,” Lockheed Martin bought General Dynamics, and Bixby was transferred to what was then Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, Calif. While there, she worked on aircraft before they were even recog- nizable as aircraft, and became skilled at integrat- ing the various subsystems into one system. “I did the planning and conducting of all the tests leading to first flight,” she said. “I also worked on a handful of never-before-flown airframes and was fortunate to be involved in the integration and test of nearly every subsystem.”
After six years of enjoying an all-work-all-the- time lifestyle, Bixby says she was exhausted. “I decided to leave the aviation profession and move somewhere beautiful,” she said. “I chose one of my favorite places on the planet, Yosemite Na-
tional Park, in California, and found a job that allowed me to live inside the park.
“It was a fantastic respite from the aerospace business, but about six months into it I began to worry about being able to sustain my life- style since I was only earning minimum wage.” Looking for work in aerospace again, she found a job with a company that had the engineering support contract at what was then Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center located on Edwards Air Force Base.
“When I first came to Armstrong, I expected I would only be at the center for a couple of years,” she said. “But something about the place grew on me. The emphasis on work-life balance, the opportunity to use all that I had learned in indus- try about flight testing and integration, the small teams of people who worked hard every day to do something good — all of those things contributed to making me want to stay.”
In 2006, Bixby became a NASA civil servant, bought a house and settled in for the long haul, “no more six years and out for me. I spend my days helping really intelligent people make smart decisions and, occasionally, making a little aero- space history.”
Dr. Eileen A. Bjorkman, retired Air Force colonel
Flight test engineer, deputy director of Programs, deputy chief of staff for Stra- tegic Plans, Programs and Requirements
Dr. Eileen A. Bjorkman leads a staff of mili- tary and civilians in the development, integra- tion, evaluation, analysis and formulation of the Air Force’s $605 billion Future Years Defense Plan, and maintains the integrity and discipline of the Air Force Corporate process.
She graduated from the University of Wash- ington in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in Com- puter Science. After working for a year in the private sector, she was commissioned through Officer Training School and served nearly 30 years in the Air Force, retiring as a colonel. She attended the Air Force Institute of Technology where she earned a Master’s in Aeronautical Engineering. After two years as a flight test en- gineer at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., she was selected to attend USAF Test Pilot School as a member of class 85B.
After TPS, Bjorkman was the Chief LAN- TIRN Engineer in the F-16 Combined Test Force at Edwards AFB, Calif. She spent several years testing the C-17 before being selected for Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell AFB, Ala., in 1993. After spending a year at the Pen- tagon as a Tactical Fighter Analyst, Bjorkman re- turned to the world of Air Force test, command- ing two different test squadrons at Holloman AFB before being selected for Industrial College of the Air Force and returning to Washington, D.C. Upon completion of ICAF, she stayed at the
Florence Lowe “Pancho” Barnes was a pioneer aviator and the founder of the first movie stunt pilots’ union. In 1930, she broke Amelia Earhart’s air speed record. Barnes raced in the Women’s Air Derby and was a member of the Ninety-Nines. In later years, she was known as the owner of the Happy Bottom Riding Club, a bar and restaurant in Southern California’s Mojave Desert, catering to the test pilots and aviators who worked nearby.
She was born as Florence Leontine Lowe on July 22, 1901, to Thaddeus Lowe II (1870–1955) and his first wife, Florence May Dobbins, in Pasa- dena, Calif. She was born to a wealthy family, growing up in a huge mansion in San Marino, Calif. During her formative years, she attended the area’s finest private schools. Her father, an avid sportsman, encouraged her to appreciate the great outdoors and Florence became an accom- plished equestrian. Her grandfather was Thaddeus S. C. Lowe, who had pioneered American aviation with the establishment of the nation’s first mili- tary air unit, the Army of the Potomac’s balloon corps, during the American Civil War. He took his granddaughter to an air show when she was only 10 years old.
In 1919, Florence married Reverend C. Rankin Barnes of South Pasadena, Calif., and they had a son, William E. Barnes. Her mother died in 1924.
Having spent four months abroad in Mexico, getting caught up with revolutionaries and es- caping the attention of authorities, disguised as a man, she began to use the nickname “Pancho” about this time. Barnes returned to San Marino with an inheritance bequeathed her on her parents’ death. In 1928, while driving her cousin Dean Banks to flying lessons, she decided to learn to fly, and convinced her cousin’s flight instructor, Ben Caitlin, a World War I veteran, of her desire that same day. She soloed after six hours of formal instruction.
Barnes ran an ad-hoc barnstorming show and competed in air races. Despite a crash in the 1929 Women’s Air Derby, she returned in 1930 under the sponsorship of the Union Oil Company to win the race — and break Amelia Earhart’s world women’s speed record with a speed of 196.19 mph. Barnes broke this record in a Travel Air Type R Mystery Ship.
After her contract with Union Oil expired, Barnes moved to Hollywood to work as a stunt pilot for movies. In 1931, she started the Associ- ated Motion Picture Pilots, a union of film indus- try stunt fliers which promoted flying safety and standardized pay for aerial stunt work. She flew in several air-adventure movies of the 1930s, includ-
2A
at that time.
On her land, Pancho Barnes built the Happy
Bottom Riding Club, also known as the Rancho Oro Verde Fly-Inn Dude Ranch, a dude ranch and restaurant which catered to airmen at the nearby airfield and her friends from Hollywood. Pancho became very close friends with many of the early test pilots, including Chuck Yeager, Gen. Jimmy Doolittle and Buzz Aldrin. Pancho’s ranch be- came famous for the parties and high-flying life- style of all the guests.
After successful flight trials, the Muroc and Ed- wards test pilots often enjoyed some good times at the Happy Bottom Riding Club. As proprietor, Barnes would offer them a customary free steak dinner for breaking the sound barrier.
A change of command in 1952, however, con- tributed to Barnes getting into a conflict with the U.S. Air Force. The Air Force was planning for the future of aviation, and decided it needed to build a new, super-long runway to accommodate new aircraft that were being planned to run on atomic power. That new runway would run di- rectly across her ranch. The Air Force originally offered her a price for her ranch, land and facili- ties that was very close to the cost of undeveloped desert land. She requested a fair appraisal to better reflect the actual cost of replacement of her land and business, but in the midst of getting a re-ap- praisal, the base leadership accused her of running a house of ill-repute on her ranch. The effect of even the hint of impropriety resulted in her ranch and business being put off-limits to military per- sonnel, and the value of her business plummeted.
Barnes then filed a lawsuit against the Air Force to, as she put it, “Roust out the scoundrels in the government who would perpetrate such an injus- tice.” She knew that if she filed a lawsuit, she would have the opportunity to depose under oath the various leaders and personnel on base, and the truth would come out and clear her name. Dur- ing the height of the intense court battle, in 1953, her ranch burned in a fire of mysterious origin. After the fire, the value of her ranch and business further plummeted to a level more closely reflect- ing the original buy-out offer from the Air Force. Nonetheless, the court battle continued. Barnes was determined to receive fair value for her land and business, and to clear her name. A main contention of her defense was: “My grandfather founded the United States Air Force.” On that ar- gument, the court found in her favor and she was awarded $375,000 remuneration for her property and business. Also, her name was cleared. As it turned out, the proposed runway was never built.
After the government bought her out, she moved to Cantil, Calif., in hopes of restarting a similar dude ranch business there, but it never happened. It was not until the late 1960s that Pancho once again became a commonplace fig- ure at the base and began to be referred to as the “Mother of Edwards AFB.” The wounds began to heal as Pancho reconnected with many of the old-timers.
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October 5, 2018
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