Nov. 28, 1961 - President Kennedy awarded the Harmon International Trophy for Aviators today to three test pilots of the X-15 rocket plane. The trophy, presented jointly for the first time, went to Maj. Robert M. White of the Air Force and to Joseph A. Waalker and A. Scott Crossfield for “outstanding and extraordinary feats of individual piloting.” In his office after the ceremony, the three pilots gave Mr. Kennedy a model of the X-15 on a silver base, engraved wth their signatures. Major White recently flew the X-15 at a record speed of 4,095 miles an hour and set the altitude record of 217,000 feet, or about 41 miles. Mr. Walker is chief engineering test pilot and a physicist with NASA. Mr. Crossfield, a former Navy pilot, now is developing engineer and research test pilot of North American Aviation, Inc.
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