Bryan R. Swopes grew up in Southern California in the 1950s–60s, near the center of America's aerospace industry. He has had a life-long interest in aviation and space flight. Bryan is a retired commercial helicopter pilot and flight instructor.
View all posts by Bryan Swopes →
Mont Blanc, western face. The summit was most recently measured at 4,810.06 meters (15,781.04 feet). 18 meters (59 feet) of snow and ice cover the actual rock peak, at 4,792 meters.
3 November 1950: Air India Flight 245, a Lockheed L-749A Constellation, VT-CQP, Malabar Princess, was on a flight from Bombay, India, to London, England, with intermediate stops at Cairo, Egypt and Geneva, Switzerland. The aircraft was under the command of Captain Alan R. Saint, with co-pilot Vijay Yeshwant Korgaokar, three navigators and a radio operator.
Air India’s Lockheed L-749A Constellation, VT-CQP, Malabar Princess. (ETH Zurich)
At 9:43 a.m., Malabar Princess crashed into the Rochers de la Tournette (Tournette Spur) on the west side of Mont Blanc at an approximate elevation of 15,344 feet (4,677 meters). All 48 persons on board were killed.
Air India International was the national airline of India, having been formed from Tata Airlines. On 8 June 1948, Air India’s first scheduled flight departed Bombay for Cairo, Geneva and London. The airliner was Malabar Princess.
On 24 January 1966, Air India Flight 101, a Boeing 707-437, VT-DMN, named Kanchenjunga,¹ crashed at almost the same location on Mount Blanc. All 117 persons on board were killed.
The Lockheed L-749A Constellation was operated by a flight crew of four, with two to four flight attendants. It could carry up to 81 passengers. The airplane was 97 feet, 4 inches (29.667 meters) long with a wingspan of 123 feet (37.490 meters) and an overall height of 22 feet, 5 inches (6.833 meters). It had an empty weight of 56,590 pounds (25,669 kilograms) and maximum takeoff weight of 107,000 pounds (48,534 kilograms).
The L-749A was powered by four air-cooled, supercharged and fuel-injected 3,347.66-cubic-inch-displacement (54.858 liter) Wright Aeronautical Division Cyclone 18 (also known as the Duplex-Cyclone) 749C18BD1 two-row 18-cylinder radial engines with a compression ratio of 6.5:1. They had a Normal Power rating of 2,100 horsepower at 2,400 r.p.m., and Takeoff Power rating 2,500 horsepower at 2,800 r.p.m. (five minute limit). The engines drove three-bladed Curtiss-Electric propellers through a 0.4375:1 gear reduction. This engine featured “jet stacks” which converted the piston engines’ exhaust to usable jet thrust, adding about 15 miles per hour (24 kilometers per hour) to the airplane’s speed. The 749C18BD1 was 6 feet, 6.52 inches (1.994 meters) long, 4 feet, 7.62 inches (1.413 meters) in diameter, and weighed 2,915 pounds (1,322 kilograms).
The L-749 had a cruise speed of 345 miles per hour (555 kilometers per hour) and a range of 4,995 miles (8,039 kilometers). Its service ceiling was 24,100 feet (7,346 meters).
A sister ship of Malabar Princess, this is Air India’s Lockheed L-749A Constellation VT-CQS. (Lockheed via R.A. Schofield. Photograph used with permission.)
The Air India Flight 245 crash was the basis for a novel, La neige en deuil (“The Snow in Mourning”), written by Henri Troyat (née Lev Aslanovic Tarassov), which in turn inspired the 1956 Edward Dymtryk motion picture, “The Mountain.” The film starred Spencer Tracy, Robert Wagner and Anna Kashfi.² Tracy was nominated by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts for an award for his performance.
The great American actor Spencer Tracy starred as Alpine mountain guide “Zachary Teller” in Edward Dmytryk’s 1956 motion picture, “The Mountain.” (Paramount)
¹ Kanchenjunga is the name of the world’s third highest mountain, an “eight thousander” located 125 kilometers (78 miles) east-southeast of Mount Everest in the Himalayas. Its summit is 8,598 meters (28,209 feet) above Sea Level. It is considered to be a sacred mountain. Climbers are not allowed there.
² Anna Kashfi (née Joan O’Callaghan) was the first Mrs. Marlon Brando.
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 3 Nov 1932, Page 1, Columns 2–4, Vol. 92, Number 306
3 November 1932: In the late 1920s through mid-1930s, Miss Ruth Rowland Nichols was one of the best-known American women in aviation. She was the only person to have simultaneously held world records for speed, distance and altitude. She was at Floyd Bennett Airport, Brooklyn, New York, intending to fly across the North American continent to Burbank, California, and break Amelia Earhart’s record for the route. The flight was also intended to generate publicity for the re-election campaign of President Herbert Hoover.
Ruth Rowland Nichols
Miss Nichols’ airplane was a 1928 Lockheed Vega 5, s/n 619, NR496M, owned by Powell Crosley, Jr., founder of the Crosley Radio Corp. of Cincinnati, Ohio. This was the same airplane that she had crash-landed at a small airport near St. John, New Brunswick, Dominion of Canada, 22 June 1931. She had been severely injured.
At 2:48 a.m., (06:48 UTC) while taking off, the Vega drifted off of the 3,000-foot (914 meters) concrete-surfaced runway and the left wheel sank into the soft grass. The airplane spun around and the left wing hit the ground.
A contemporary newspaper reported:
Miss Nichols had expected to fly at an average speed of 200 miles an hour and be the first woman to cross the continent without a stop. On her way to Burbank, Cal., she was to drop Hoover leaflets.
The plane was loaded with 32 gallons of oil besides 650 gallons of gasoline. With Floyd Bennet [sic] Field lighted by the 4,000,000-candlepower flood light at the south end of the field, she started from the south end of he runway.
After speeding about 700 feet along the concrete runway the plane got out of control and switched off the concrete on to the grass. The girl flier tried desperately to steer it back to the runway, realized that here efforts would be in vain and to avoid an explosion cut off the ignition and pulled the stick.
The plane went into a loop and rolled over on its side, the left wing burying itself in the ground. The wing, running gears and left side of the fuselage were wrecked. Gasoline spurted in great streams from the fuel tank, forming large pools.
The small group of observers rushed in alarm to the wrecked plane. . . An ambulance, posted on the field for a possible emergency, hurried to the side of the plane.
Before they reached it Miss Nichols stepped out, exasperated but smiling and unhurt.
“Can’t hurt an old hand like me,’ she said. She added later that she was ‘through’ with night flying.
The plane was the same in which Miss Nichols had attempted a transatlantic flight when it crashed in New Brunswick, Canada. At that time, she suffered a spine injury.
Built by the Lockheed Aircraft Company, Burbank, California, the Vega was a single-engine high-wing monoplane with fixed landing gear. It was flown by a single pilot in an open cockpit and could be configured to carry four to six passengers.
Designed by John Knudsen (“Jack”) Northrop and Gerrard Vultee, the Vega was a very state-of-the-art aircraft for its time. It used a streamlined monocoque fuselage made of spiral strips of vertical grain spruce pressed into concrete molds and held together with glue. The prototype flew for the first time 4 July 1927 at Mines Field, Los Angeles, California. It used a streamlined monocoque fuselage made of molded plywood. The wing and tail surfaces were fully cantilevered, requiring no bracing wires or struts to support them.
The techniques used to build the Vega were very influential in aircraft design. It also began Lockheed’s tradition of naming its airplanes after stars and other astronomical objects.
The Model 5 Vega is 27 feet, 6 inches (8.382 meters) long with a wingspan of 41 feet (12.497 meters) and overall height of 8 feet, 2 inches (2.489 meters). Its empty weight is 2,595 pounds (1,177 kilograms) and gross weight is 4,500 pounds (2,041 kilograms).
Nichols’ airplane was powered by an air-cooled, supercharged 1,343.804-cubic-inch-displacement (22.021 liter) Pratt & Whitney Wasp C nine-cylinder radial engine with a compression ratio of 5.25:1. It was rated at 420 horsepower at 2,000 r.p.m. at Sea Level, burning 58-octane gasoline. The engine drove a two-bladed controllable-pitch Hamilton Standard propeller through direct drive. The Wasp C was 3 feet, 6.63 inches (1.083 meters) long, 4 feet, 3.44 inches (1.3-7 meters) in diameter and weighed 745 pounds (338 kilograms).
The standard Vega 5 had a cruising speed of 165 miles per hour (266 kilometers per hour) and maximum speed of 185 miles per hour (298 kilometers per hour). The service ceiling was 15,000 feet (4,572 meters). Range with standard fuel tanks was 725 miles (1,167 kilometers).
William Harvey Dana was born 3 November 1930 at Pasadena, California, the first of two children of Harvey Drexler Dana, a geologist, and Rose Frances Jourdan Dana. Dana grew up in Bakersfield, California. He graduated from Bakersfield High School in 1948.
Bill Dana received an appointment as a cadet at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York. He graduated 1952 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force. Lieutenant Dana served until 1956.
In 1958, Dana earned a Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles, California.
On 1 October 1958, Dana began his 40-year career at the NASA High-Speed Flight Station, Edwards Air Force Base, California, as an Aeronautical Research Engineer. (This was the day that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was established, making Dana the first new employee to be hired by NASA.) He was assigned to work on an X-15 performance simulator, and also to the North American XF-107 stability research program.
In September 1959, Bill Dana transferred to the Flight Operations Branch. One of his early projects was the North American Aviation JF-100C variable stability research aircraft.
NASA JF-100C Variable Stability Research Aircraft
IN 1962 Bill Dana married Miss Judi Miller. They would have four children, Sidney, Matt, Janet, and Leslie.
Dana made his first flight in the North American Aviation X-15 hypersonic research rocketplane on 4 November 1965. He reached a maximum speed of Mach 4.22, and a peak altitude of 80,200 feet (24,445 meters). He made a total of sixteen flights in the X-15s. Dana’s highest speed was Mach 5.34, 4 August 1966, and his highest altitude, 306,900 feet, (93,543 meters), on 1 November 1966. On 24 October 1968, Dana flew the final X-15 flight of the NASA X-15 Hypersonic Research Program.
NASA Research Pilot William H. Dana with North American X-15A 56-6672 on Rogers Dry Lake. (NASA)
Bill Dana also flew NASA’s experimental “lifting body” aircraft. On 27 February 1970, he flew the Northrop HL-10 lifting body to 90,030 feet (27,441 meters), the highest altitude reached during its flight test program.
Bill Dana with the HL-10 lifting body, NASA 804. (NASA E-20168)Dana watches the NB-52B fly over Rogers Dry Lake after HL-10 lifting-body flight, 30 November 1968. (NASA ECN-2203)
He made the first flight of the Northrop M2-F3, 2 June 1970. The M2-F3 was built from the M2-F2, which had been heavily damaged in a dramatic landing accident, 10 May 1967, resulting in severe injuries to the pilot, Bruce Peterson.
Wreck of NASA 803, 10 May 1967. (NASA E-16731)
On 23 September 1975, Bill Dana made the final powered flight of the Martin Marietta X-24B lifting body aircraft.
NASA Research Pilot William H. Dana with the X-24B lifting body, 1975. (NASA)
Bill Dana was assigned as the Chief Pilot of the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, and in 1986, became the Assistant Chief Flight Operations Division at Dryden.
Bill Dana was the project pilot for NASA 835, the experimental F-15 HIDEC (Highly Integrated Digital Electronic Control) and NASA 840, the F/A-18 Hornet HARV (High Alpha Research Vehicle).
Bill Dana was the project pilot for NASA 835, the experimental F-15 HIDEC (Highly Integrated Digital Electronic Control), and NASA 840, the F/A-18 Hornet HARV (High Alpha Research Vehicle). (NASA)
Dana stopped test flying after 1993, when he was appointed Chief Engineer, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. In 1997, he was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal. He retired from NASA in 1998.
Bill Dana flew more than 8,000 hours in over 60 different aircraft types.
In 2000, NASA awarded Dana its Milton O. Thompson Lifetime Achievement Award, and on 23 August 2005, he was presented NASA’s Civilian Astronaut wings for his two X-15 flights above 50 miles.
William Harvey Dana died at Phoenix, Arizona, 6 May 2014, at the age of 83 years. He was buried at the Joshua Memorial Park in Lancaster, California.
Chief Pilot Charles A. Lindbergh in the cockpit of Robertson Aircraft Corporation’s modified De Havilland DH-4, Number 109, 15 May 1926. (Swenson Studio)Charles A. Lindbergh, circa 1926. (San Diego Air & Space Museum)
3 November 1926: Charles Augustus Lindbergh, chief pilot of the Robertson Aircraft Corporation, St. Louis, Missouri, was flying a night air mail route between St. Louis and Chicago, Illinois. His airplane was a modified De Havilland DH-4B, U.S. Postal Service Airmail Plane Number 109.
Lindbergh was flying Contract Air Mail Route 2, or “C.A.M. No. 2.” He departed St. Louis at 4:20 p.m. and made his first stop at Springfield, Illinois, at 5:15 p.m. He then continued on the second stage, Springfield to Peoria, Illinois.
Visibility was poor, about a half-mile (800 meters) in fog. Lindbergh flew at 600 feet (183 meters) but was unable to see the ground. Near the air field at Peoria, he could see lights from 200 feet (61 meters) altitude, but was unable to land.
After circling for 30 minutes, he continued toward Chicago. Lindbergh occasionally saw lights on the ground through the fog, but with his fuel running low, he decided that he was going to have to abandon his airplane. He headed out over more open country and climbed to 14,000 feet (4,267 meters).
At 8:10 p.m., the de Havilland’s fuel supply was exhausted and the engine stopped. Lindbergh switched off the battery and magnetos, then stepped over the side. He immediately pulled the ripcord of his parachute and safely descended to the ground.
Airmail Plane Number 109 crashed on the farm of Charles and Lillie Thompson, near Covell, a small town southwest of Bloomington, Illinois. Lindbergh had been unable to find the wreck in the darkness, but in daylight, it was clearly visible just 500 feet (152 meters) from the Thompson’s house.
This was the fourth time that Charles Lindbergh has used a parachute to escape from an airplane. The last time was just six weeks earlier.
Charles A. Lindbergh (fourth from left) with the wreckage of Robertson Aircraft Corporation DH-4 No. 112, 16 September 1926. (Yale University Library)
He resigned from Robertson Aircraft and formed a group to finance and build the Spirit of St. Louis. Charles Augustus Lindbergh flew his new airplane across the Atlantic Ocean, non-stop, solo, 20–21 May 1927.
Robertson Aircraft Corporation’s four de Havilland DH-4s, numbers 109, 110, 111, and 112. The airplanes’ fuselages are painted “Tuscan Red” and their wings and tail surfaces are silver. The lettering on their sides is white. No. 112 is the last airplane in this group. “Lucky Lindy” bailed out of it on the night of 16 September 1926.
The Airco DH.4 was a very successful airplane of World War I, designed by Geoffrey de Havilland. The DH.4 (DH-4 in American service) was a two-place, single-engine, two-bay biplane with fixed landing gear. The fuselage and wings were constructed of wood and covered with doped fabric. The airplane was produced by several manufacturers in Europe and the United States.
The DH-4 was 30 feet, 5 inches (9.271 meters) long with a wingspan of 42 feet, 8 inches (13.005 meters) and height of 10 feet, 6 inches (3.200 meters). It had an empty weight of 2,391 pounds, (1,085 kilograms) and gross weight of 4,297 pounds (1,949 kilograms). Fuel capacity was 67 gallons (254 liters).
Army Air Service DH-4s were powered by Liberty 12 aircraft engines in place of the Rolls-Royce Eagle VII V-12 of the British-built DH.4 version. The L-12 was water-cooled, normally-aspirated, 1,649.34-cubic-inch-displacement (27.028 liter), single overhead cam (SOHC) 45° V-12 engine. It produced 408 horsepower at 1,800 r.p.m. The L-12 as a right-hand tractor, direct-drive engine and it turned turned a two-bladed fixed-pitch wooden propeller. The Liberty 12 was 67.375 inches (1.711 meters) long, 27.0 inches (0.686 meters) wide, and 41.5 inches (1.054 meters) high. It weighed 844 pounds (383 kilograms).
The Liberty 12 aircraft engine was designed by Jesse G. Vincent of the Packard Motor Car Company and Elbert J. Hall of the Hall-Scott Motor Company. This engine was produced by Ford Motor Company, as well as the Buick and Cadillac Divisions of General Motors, The Lincoln Motor Company (which was formed by Henry Leland, the former manager of Cadillac, specifically to manufacture these aircraft engines), Marmon Motor Car Company and the Packard Motor Car Company. Hall-Scott was too small to produce engines in the numbers required.
The DH-4 had a maximum speed of 124 miles per hour (200 kilometers per hour), service ceiling of 19,600 feet (5,974 meters) and range of 400 miles (644 kilometers).
Many DH-4s were rebuilt as DH-4Bs. These can be identified by the relocated pilot’s cockpit, which was moved aft, closer to the observer’s position. The an enlarged fuel tank was place ahead of the pilot’s cockpit. Following World War I, many were rebuilt with tubular metal frames for the fuselage, replacing the original wooden structure. These aircraft were redesignated DH-4M.
The prototype American DH-4, Dayton-Wright-built airplane, is in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution National Aviation and Space Museum.
Wreck of Robertson Aircraft Corporation’s de Havilland DH-4, Number 109. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives)
2 November 1962: Lockheed test pilot Donald Riley Segner takes the Lockheed XH-51A (Model 186), Bu. No. 151262 (s/n 186-1001), for its first flight.
The XH-51A was a response to the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy request for an experimental helicopter to explore rigid rotor technology. A rigid rotor relies of the flexibility of the rotor system to accomplish the functions of pitch, lead-lag and blade flapping that are allowed by hinges in an articulated rotor system. Two XH-51As were built and both were assigned U.S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics serial numbers (“Bu. No.”). Tests were conducted at Lockheed’s facility at the Oxnard Municipal Airport (OXR), located on the Ventura County coastline of southern California. Later tests took place at the Naval Air Test Center, NAS Patuxent River, Maryland.
Lockheed XH-51 Bu. No. 151262 in flight over Ventura County, California. Lockheed photo # LN 7520. (Lockheed/Vertical Flight Society)
The XH-51A was a two-place, single engine, rigid-rotor light helicopter with retractable skid landing gear. It had an overall length of 42.08 feet (12.826 meters) with all blades turning, and height of 8 feet, 2.5 inches (2.502 meters). The helicopter’s design gross weight was 3,905 pounds (2,041 kilograms).
The helicopter’s main rotor mast tilted 6° forward. The three-blade main rotor diameter was 35 feet, 0 inches (10.668 meters). The blades had a chord of 1 foot, 1.5 inches (0.029 meters) and incorporated 5° of negative twist. There was no taper. They used a NACA 0012 airfoil, which was very common with helicopters at the time. Each main rotor blade weighed 86 pounds (39.0 kilograms). As is common with American helicopters, the rotor turned counter-clockwise as seen from above. (The advancing blade is on the right.) The main rotor turned at 355 r.p.m. A stabilizing “gyro” with a diameter of 6 feet, 5 inches (1.956 meters) was placed above the main rotor. A two-blade tail rotor with a diameter of 6 feet, 0 inches (1.829 meters) was located at the top of a vertical fin/pylon, turning clockwise, as seen from the helicopter’s left side. (The advancing blade is below the axis of rotation.) The tail rotor’s chord was 8.5 inches (0.216 meters). These blades also used the NACA 0012 airfoil, with 4.35° negative twist and no taper. The tail rotor turned at 2,085 r.p.m.
Lockheed XH-51A Bu. No. 151262 (Vertipedia)
The XH-51A was powered by a Pratt & Whitney PT6B turboshaft engine, rated at 450 shaft horsepower at Sea Level (30 minute limit), and 500 shaft horsepower at Sea Level for takeoff (5 minute limit).
A test pilot demonstrates the hovering flight stability of the Lockheed XH-51A with his hands off of the flight controls. (Lockheed)
The maximum speed of the XH-51A attained during the flight test program was 150 knots (173 miles per hour/278 kilometers per hour) in level flight at Sea Level, and 113 knots (209 kilometers per hour) at 7,900 feet (2,408 meters) density altitude. In both cases, engine power was the limiting factor.
A four-blade rigid main rotor was also tested on the XH-51A. This increased the empty weight of the helicopter by 139 pounds (63 kilograms). Power required to hover out of ground effect (HOGE) went up by 30 s.h.p. (Various sources state that excessive vibrations caused Lockheed to switch to a four-blade main rotor. The four-blade design was pre-planned, however. The four-blade system resulted in “excessive structural loads in the main rotor system and excessive cabin vibration levels.” ¹)
XH-51A Bu. No. 151263 was modified as a compound helicopter with an auxiliary wing and a Pratt & Whitney J60-P-2 turbojet installed in a North American Aviation T-39A Sabreliner engine nacelle on the helicopter’s left side. The vertical fin area was increased. Main rotor r.p.m. decreased to 327 r.p.m. In this configuration, it reached 210 knots (242 miles per hour/389 kilometers per hour) in level flight. Engineers predicted that it should be capable of 230 knots.
Both Lockheed XH-51As are at the U.S. Army Aviation Museum, Fort Rucker, Alabama.
Donald Riley Segner with the compound XH-51A. (Test & Research Pilots, Flight Test Engineers)Donald R. Segner (1943 Ceralbus)
Donald Riley Segner was born 14 December 1925 in Los Angeles County, California. He was the third of four children of Oscar W. Segner, an electrician, and Sue Brown Segner, who had been born in Czechoslovakia of Hungarian parents.
Don Segner attended Burbank High School, Burbank, California, graduating with the class of 1943.
Donald R. Segner enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, 20 February 1943. He completed primary flight training at NAS Ottumwa, located northwest of Ottumwa, Iowa, in October 1945. He then moved on to advanced training at the Naval Flight Training Center, NAS Norman, at Norman, Oklahoma. He was awarded the gold wings of a Naval Aviator and commissioned a second lieutenant, United States Marine Corps Reserve, 1 September 1946.
Second Lieutenant Segner was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant, 5 June 1949, and to captain, 25 June 1952.
Captain Segner married Miss Alice Esther Stansfield at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, August 1952. They would have three children. Mrs. Segner passed away in 2014.
A Grumman F9F-2 Panther, Bu. No. 123440, assigned to VMF-311. This airplane crashed 16 February 1952 while attempting to land aboard USS Phillppine Sea (CVA-47). Its pilot was killed.
Donald Segner flew 86 combat missions during the Korean War, flying the Grumman F9F-2 Panther with Marine Fighter Squadron 311 (VMF-311). He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism and extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight, in action against enemy forces in Korea. He was also awarded the Air Medal with two gold stars (three awards).
On 21 January 1953, while flying a Goodyear Aircraft Corporation FG-1D Corsair, Bu. No. 67063, assigned to Marine Fighter Training Squadron 10 (VMFT-10) at MCAS El Toro, Captain Segner was involved in a Class C accident over MCAS El Centro.
In 1956, Captain Segner was assigned as a test pilot at NAS Patuxent River (“Pax River”), Maryland.
Captain Segner was promoted to the rank of major, 1 July 1957. In 1960 he was the first Naval Aviator to fly a tilt wing vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, the Vertol VZ-2, USAF serial number 56-6943.
Vertol VZ-2 (Model 76), 56-6943. Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum, NASM A19650279000_DSH01)
While remaining in the Marine Corps Reserve, Segner began working as a test pilot at Lockheed in 1962. In 1964, he was assigned to Marine Medium helicopter Squadron 764 at NAS Los Alamitos (SLI), California.
Major Segner was promoted to lieutenant colonel, 1 August 1964. In December 1964, while flying a Sikorsky UH-34D Seahorse, Major Segner flew the 95,000th Ground Controlled Approach (GCA) and landing at Los Alamitos. In 1965, he served as executive officer of Marine Wing Support Group 47 (MWSG-47) at Los Alamitos, California. He retired from the Marine Corps in January 1966.
On 23 September 1966, Segner was elected president of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP)
On 21 September 1967, Segner made the first flight of the Lockheed AH-56A Cheyenne compound attack helicopter.
1972 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Octave Chanute Award, for advancing the art, science or technology of aeronautics. That same year he received the Iven C. Kincheloe Award of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots for outstanding professional accomplishment in the conduct of flight testing
After retiring from Lockheed in 1980, President Ronald Reagan appointed Don Segner as Associate Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.
Donald Riley Segner died 10 May 2019 at the age of 93 years. His remains were interred at Pacific View Memorial Park, Corona del Mar, California.
¹ “Exploration of High-Speed Flight with the XH-51A Rigid Rotor Helicopter,” by William K. Foulke, U.S. Army Aviation Material Laboratories (USAAML Technical Report 65-25), Page 88
