It was a windy afternoon on Rogers Dry Lake as the research pilots of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility gathered for a photo shoot. It was a special day too, the 30th anniversary of the first F-104 flight by research pilot Bill Dana. To celebrate, a fly over of Building 4800, in formation, was made with Bill in a Lockheed F-104 (826), Gordon Fullerton in a Northrop T-38, and Jim Smolka in a McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 (841) on March 23, 1990. The F-18 (841), standing on the NASA ramp is a backdrop for the photo of (Left to Right) James W. (Smoke) Smolka, C. Gordon Fullerton, Edward T. (Ed) Schneider, William H. (Bill) Dana, Stephen D. (Steve) Ishmael, Rogers E. Smith, and Thomas C. (Tom) McMurtry. Smolka joined NASA Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility in September 1985. He has been the project pilot on the F-15 Advanced Control Technology for Integrated Vehicles (ACTIVE) research and F-15 Aeronautical Research Aircraft programs. He has also flown as a pilot on the NASA B-52 launch aircraft, as a co-project pilot on the F-16XL Supersonic Laminar Flow Control aircraft and the F-18 High Angle-of-Attack Research Vehicle (HARV) aircraft. Other aircraft he has flown in research programs are the F-16, F-111, F-104 and the T-38 as support.Fullerton, joined NASA’s Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility in November 1986. He was project pilot on the NASA/Convair 990 aircraft to test space shuttle landing gear components, project pilot on the F-18 Systems Research Aircraft, and project pilot on the B-52 launch aircraft, where he was involved in six air launches of the commercially developed Pegasus space launch vehicle. Other assignments include a variety of flight research and support activities in multi-engine and high performance aircraft such as, F-15, F-111, F-14, X-29, MD-11 and DC-8.Schneider arrived at the NASA Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility on July 5, 1982, as a Navy Liaison Officer, becoming a NASA research pilot one year later. He has been project pilot for the F-18 High Angle-of-Attack program (HARV), project pilot for the F-15 aeronautical research aircraft, the NASA B-52 launch aircraft, and the SR-71 “Blackbird” aircraft. His past research work at Dryden has included participation in the F-8 Digital Fly-By-Wire, the FAA/NASA 720 Controlled Impact Demonstration, the F-14 Automatic Rudder Interconnect and Laminar Flow programs, and the F-104 Aeronautical Research and Microgravity programs. Dana joined the NASA’s High-Speed Flight Station on October 1, 1958. As a research pilot, he was involved in some of the most significant aeronautical programs carried out at the Center. In the late 1960s and in the 1970s Dana was a project pilot on the lifting body program, flying the wingless M2-F1, HL-10, M2-F3, and the X-24B vehicles. He was a project pilot on the hypersonic X-15 research aircraft and flew the rocket-powered vehicle 16 times, reaching a speed of 3,897 mph and an altitude of 310,000 feet. Bill was the pilot on the final (199th) flight of the 10-year program. Other research and support programs Dana participated in were the F-15 Highly Integrated Digital Electronic Control (HIDEC), the F-18 High Angle-of-Attack Research Vehicle (HARV), YF-12, F-104, F-16, PA-30, and T-38. In 1993 Dana became Chief Engineer at NASA’s Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility (soon to be renamed the Dryden Flight Research Center).Ishmael was a research pilot at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center from January 1977 until the spring of 1995, when he became manager of Dryden’s Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) programs. In 1996 he became NASA’s X-33 Deputy Manager for Flight Test and Operation. As a research pilot he served as the chief project pilot on two major aeronautical research programs, the SR-71 High Speed Research program and the F-16XL Laminar Flow Technology program. He took part in the X-29 Forward-Swept-Wing program, and gave support to other pilots’ research flights in a T-38 and F-104 aircraft. Smith became a research pilot at NASA’s Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility in August 1982. In the spring of 1995 he became Chief of the Flight Crew Branch where currently there are 8 other NASA pilots and 2 flight engineers. Smith has also been a co-project pilot on two major aeronautical programs at Dryden. They are the integrated thrust vectoring F-15 ACTIVE and the SR-71 “Blackbird” Research programs. Other research programs that he has been associated with are the F-104 Zero “G” tests, F-18 HARV, X-29 Forward-Swept-Wing, with support flights being flown in a T-38 and F-104.McMurtry has been a pilot at NASA’s Dryden since joining the Flight Research Center in November 1967. In 1981, Tom became Chief Pilot a position he held until February 1986, when he was appointed Chief of the Research Aircraft Operations Division. McMurtry has been project pilot for the AD-1 Oblique Wing program, the F-15 Digital Electronic Engine Control (DEEC) project and the F-8 Supercritical Wing program. He was co- project pilot on the F-15 ACTIVE program, F-8 Digital Fly-By-Wire program and on several remotely piloted research vehicle programs such as the FAA/NASA 720 Controlled Impact Demonstration and the sub-scale F-15 spin research project. He has also been a co-project pilot on the NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.