Thanks for the response. Last thing first..... Yep, I flew with Tony Levier! Just joking. He was a close family friend and, as I recall, he had no kids. When I was a little guy (3-5), when he dropped by for a visit, he'd put me up on his shoulders and tell me to put my arms out for wings, and we'd fly around the yard for awhile!

I did no time at Edwards, but was in the areospace industry for 20 years starting in '77 (Lockheed: Trident missiles and then Space Shuttle, Hughes/Raytheon: satillites and infrared target detectors/sensors). But Dad started with Lockheed in '39; Venturas/Hudsons, then P-38s and was yanked into the Skunk Works as soon as it started in '43 - XP-80A. Around 140 people worked for about 140 days to get the P-80 from paper to flying (at Muroc - they stuck a fake prop on it during transport to hide the fact that it was a jet! Test pilot - Tony), including a major configuration change when GE couldn't deliver and they switched to Rolls-Royce. The War years - simply amazing. Dad did the hydralics and instrumentation. The XP-80A now hangs in the Smithsonian. I still have brand new instrument tags, along with some P-38 parts (small stuff). Dad and Tony were big buds, on off hours building race planes after the war.

Trivia: How did the Skunk Works get it's name? Some say due to a cartoon character at the time. Reality: When the Skunk Works started, they had to get rolling ASAP. No facilities available in Burbank, so they threw up a circus tent with many armed guards. It was placed next to a plastics plant, which put out a nasty smell 24/7. Hence, the name.

Dad worked in engineering/flight test into the '50s, then moved on to the next big thing, missiles. I was born in Alamogordo/Holoman. In '56, Dad got a call from his old boss Kelly Johnson who said "what the hell are you doing with missiles? Get your ass back to Burbank NOW!". It seems the early U2s were falling out of the sky in Germany/Turkey due to a probable hydralics problem, so Kelly again snagged Dad into the Skunk Works. The CIA made him a Lt. Col. in the Air Force assigned him to a Weather Recon squadron, and sent him to Germany (the rest of the family relocated to an AF base in Texas to make things "look right"). I still have copies of his "orders" to ship out with itenerary with the Weather Recon letterhead; interestingly, one off the items in the orders states that "Lt. Col. Slack is permitted access to all classified information at any level" - Weather Recon? LOL

After "doing his tour", he came back and we wound up in Sunnyvale (in '58, when LMSC started), and Dad was on frequent travel to some place called Groom Lake (SR-71). He then transferred back into missiles development/LMSC and we moved to Santa Maria (Vandenburg AFB). In '70, back to Flight Test on the L-1011, so I did some High School time in "Landscatter". Years later, I joined LMSC Sunnyvale, then transferred to Space Shuttle at Vandenburg. I still live in the area, Santa Ynez, just down the road from Kelly Johnson's old ranch. I got to meet him once in adulthood. What a thrill! The funny thing was, when we met, I don't know who was more thrilled! You're Howard's boy?!

I have Dad's signed first edition of Tony's book "Pilot". Too bad I was too young to fully appreciate Tony when he visited. But I do remember those visits - fond memories - great guy. And as I run into old-time (WWII) pilots, especially P-38 pilots, they always have a "Tony story", and I share some of the many stories Dad told. Tony had "rock star" status during the war, and after.

Damn, should have made this an email. Apologies to those not interested.... D-W > rbslack1@yahoo.com

SGE