SPACEPHOTOS

In this photograph the Douglas D-558-1 #2 Skystreak is pictured with test pilot Eugene May (Douglas Aircraft Company) on the left and National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) research pilot Howard Lilly on the right. The number two Skystreak was the aircraft that crashed taking Howard Lilly’s life. The Skystreak in this photograph was still painted bright red. The NACA later had the color of the Skystreaks changed to white to improve optical tracking and photography. The crash that killed Howard Lilly occurred on May 3, 1948. Lilly had just taken off and retracted the landing gear when the engine compressor broke apart. The fragments severed the airplane's control lines. Lilly had no chance to escape before the D-558-1 hit the lakebed. One of the roads into what is now the Dryden Flight Research Center is named after Lilly, who was the first NACA research pilot killed in the line of duty.