William J. Knight

Template:More citations needed Template:Infobox officeholder William John "Pete" Knight (November 18, 1929 – May 7, 2004) (Col, USAF) was an American aeronautical engineer, politician, Vietnam War combat pilot, test pilot, and astronaut. He was one of twelve pilots who flew the North American X-15, an experimental spaceplane jointly operated by the U.S. Air Force and NASA. He was also selected for participation in the X-20 Dyna-Soar program.

On October 3, 1967, Knight piloted X-15 Flight 188, the program's fastest flight. Flying at a maximum Mach of 6.7 and a maximum speed of 4,520 mph (7,274 km/h), he set a speed record for flight in a winged, powered aircraft.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The flight was made in the X-15A-2, the second of three planes in the X-15 fleet.

Two weeks later on October 17, Knight flew X-15 Flight 190, reaching a maximum altitude above 50 miles. This qualified him as an astronaut according to the United States definition of the boundary of space. However, this altitude did not surpass the Kármán line, the internationally accepted boundary of 100 kilometers (62 miles).

Knight went on to have a political career in both Palmdale city politics as well as California state level politics. He served four years in the California State Assembly followed by seven and a half years in the California State Senate, dying in office. In spite of having both a brother and a son who are LGBT, Knight's political career is most remembered for his anti-LGBT work, having authored the ballot proposition that became known as the Knight initiative.

Early life and education

Knight was born November 18, 1929, in Noblesville, Indiana, to parents William T. Knight (1906–1968) and Mary Emma Knight (1909–1959). Following high school, Knight attended Butler University and Purdue University. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology in 1958.

Personal

Knight was married to Helena Stone and they had three sons, Steve, Peter, and David. Helena predeceased Knight. Knight remarried and at his death in 2004 he was survived by his widow Gail, a brother, three sons, four stepchildren and 15 grandchildren.

Air Force career

Knight joined the United States Air Force in 1951. While only a second lieutenant, he flew an F-89 at the National Air Show in 1954 and won the Allison Jet Trophy.

Starting in 1958, following his graduation from both U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology and the Air Force Experimental Flight Test Pilot School (Class 58C), Knight served as a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base, California. He was a project test pilot for the F-100 Super Sabre, F-101 Voodoo, F-104 Starfighter and later, T-38 Talon and F-5 Freedom Fighter test programs. In 1960, he was one of six test pilots selected to fly the X-20 Dyna-Soar, which was slated to become the first winged orbital space vehicle capable of lifting reentries and conventional landings. After the X-20 program was canceled in 1963, he completed the astronaut training curriculum through the Aerospace Research Pilot School (Class 63A) at Edwards AFB and was selected to fly the North American X-15.

He had more than his share of eventful flights in the X-15. While climbing through Template:Convert at Mach 4.17 on June 29, 1967, he suffered a total electrical failure and all onboard systems shut down. After reaching a maximum altitude of Template:Convert, he calmly set up a visual approach and, resorting to old-fashioned "seat-of-the-pants" flying, he glided down to a safe emergency landing at Mud Lake, Nevada.<ref>Mud Lake, Nye County, Nevada, Template:Coord. Located at the northern edge of the Tonopah Test Range, this is the southernmost Mud Lake of several dry lakes bearing the same name in Nevada.</ref> For his remarkable feat of airmanship that day, he earned a Distinguished Flying Cross.

File:Pete Knight by X15 19671003.jpg

Maj. William "Pete" Knight with the X-15

On October 3, 1967, Knight set a world aircraft speed record for manned aircraft by piloting the X-15A-2 to Template:Convert (Mach 6.70),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web Appendix 9, X-15 Program Flight Log.</ref> a record that still stands today. During 16 flights in the aircraft, Knight also became one of only five pilots to earn their Astronaut Wings by flying an airplane in space, reaching an altitude of Template:Convert.

After nearly ten years of test flying at Edwards AFB, he went to Southeast Asia in 1968, where he completed a total of 253 combat missions in the F-100 during the Vietnam War. Following his combat tour, he served as test director during development of the F-15 Eagle at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. He also was the program director for the International Fighter (F-5) Program at Wright-Patterson. In 1979, he returned to Edwards AFB, and served as a test pilot for the F-16 Fighting Falcon.

After 32 years of service and more than 6,000 hours in the cockpits of more than 100 different aircraft, he retired from the U.S. Air Force as a colonel in 1982.

Political career

In 1984, he was elected to the city council of Palmdale, California, and four years later became the city's first elected mayor. In 1992, he was elected to serve in the California State Assembly representing the 36th District. He served in the State Senate representing the 17th District from 1996 until his death on May 7, 2004. Knight's youngest son, Steve Knight served as assemblyman for the 36th Assembly District from 2008 to 2012, the seat previously held by his father.

Proposition 22

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Knight's brother and son came out as gay, and Knight pursued anti-LGBT legislation in his political work. During his term in the Senate, Knight gained statewide attention in 2000 as the author of Proposition 22, a.k.a. the "Knight Initiative", the purpose of which was to ban same-sex marriage: "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." The proposition passed with 61.4% approval and 38.6% against. On March 9, 2004, Knight's son, David Knight, who is gay, married his partner during the period when San Francisco registered same-sex marriages in defiance of state law. These marriages were nullified by the California Supreme Court in 2004.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Court later found Proposition 22 to be unconstitutional in In re Marriage Cases (2008).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Knight's younger brother died of AIDS-related complications in 1995 at age 60. Of his younger brother's homosexuality, Knight said "We never talked about it."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Awards and honors

• Legion of Merit
• Distinguished Flying Cross
• Air Medal
• Harmon Trophy, 1967
• AIAA Octave Chanute Award, 1968
• Enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1988.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor in 1990.<ref>Knight inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor Template:Webarchive</ref><ref name=ind90>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1998.<ref>Knight inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame</ref>

In the city of Palmdale, Pete Knight High School was opened in his memory.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The school began its first year in the school year of 2003–2004 and celebrated its first graduating class in 2007.

Bibliography

• Thompson, Milton O. (1992) At The Edge Of Space: The X-15 Flight Program, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington and London. Template:ISBN
• Template:Cite web

External links

• Knight's official NASA biography
• Astronautix biography of Pete Knight
• Spacefacts biography of Pete Knight
• Pete Knight Template:Webarchive at the National Aviation Hall of Fame
• Knight at International Space Hall of Fame
• Template:Find a Grave
• Join California William J. Knight
• Transcript of Pete Knight's final television interview (taped April 1, 2004)