Major General Robert Michael “Bob” White was a military aircraft test pilot and a major general in the United States Air Force. White broke a number of records with the North American X-15 experimental aircraft during the 1960s, and supervised the design and development of several modern military aircraft. White was born in New York on 6 July 1924. He entered active military service in November 1942 as an aviation cadet in the United States Army Air Forces, and received his pilot wings and commission as a second lieutenant in February 1944.
During World War II he served with the 355th Fighter Group in the European Theater of Operations, where he flew P-51 Mustangs from July 1944 until February 1945 when he was shot down over Germany on his 52nd combat mission. He was captured and remained a prisoner of war until his release in April 1945. He then returned to the United States, left active duty in December 1945, and became a member of the Air Force Reserve at Mitchell Air Force Base, New York, while studying electrical engineering at New York University. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from New York University in 1951 and a Master of Science degree in business administration from The George Washington University in 1966.
White attended the U.S. Air Force’s Experimental Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, and became a test pilot, flying advanced models such as the F-86 Saber, F-89 Scorpion, the new F-102 Delta Dagger and the F-105 Thunder chief. He was promoted to deputy chief of the Flight Test Operations Division, later becoming assistant chief of the Manned Spacecraft Operations Branch. He became Force’s primary pilot for the North American X-15 program in 1958. While the new plane was undergoing its initial tests, he attended the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, graduating in 1959. He made his first test flight of the X-15 on April 15, 1960, when the aircraft was fitted with two interim, 16?000 thrust rocket engines. Four months later, he flew to an altitude of 136?000 ft 41.5 km, above Rogers Dry Lake. White would have participated in the Air Force’s Man in Space Soonest program, had it come to fruition.
In October 1963 he returned to Germany, where he served as operations officer for the 22nd Tactical Fighter Squadron, 36th Tactical Fighter Wing, flying F-105 Thunder chiefs at Bit burg Air Base and from July 1964 to August 1965 as commander of the wing’s 53d Tactical Fighter Squadron. White was a command pilot astronaut. His military decorations and awards included the Air Force Cross, Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star with three oak leaf clusters, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross with four oak leaf clusters, Bronze Star, Air Medal with 16 oak leaf clusters, and the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Ribbon with “V” device. For his achievements in the X-15 aircraft, General White received the Harmon International Aviators Trophy, the Collier Trophy and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal.