Aerospace Walk of Honor
Everybody loves a hero, and Lancaster has been home to more than its share of heroes. For more than 60 years, aviators have performed remarkable feats of heroism in the skies over the City of Lancaster. The Aerospace Walk of Honor recognized the feats that made history and continues to honor the aerospace breakthroughs occurring over our heads in more recent years.

For twenty years, three to five pilots were selected per year for their lifetime contributions in testing experimental aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base and other prestigious organizations like NASA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman. The last year of this event was 2009 in which the last five were inducted, making the total number of pilots to be honored to be 100.

The annual unveiling of the monuments took place in September at Boeing Plaza. The unveiling was followed by an evening program and banquet, which was attended by the honorees and their loved ones, City of Lancaster leadership, and the general public.

The Lancaster City Council proudly lined Lancaster Boulevard with all the tributes of monumental achievement through the Aerospace Walk of Honor program so their accomplishments can continue to be seen for many years to come.

The City of Lancaster
The high desert community of Lancaster, California, located in the Antelope Valley, 60 miles northeast of Los Angeles, is distinguished as the support City for NASA and nearby Edwards Air Force Base--the initial landing site of the Space Shuttle program. Situated just 20 miles south of the base, Lancaster has been privileged over the years to host within its homes and businesses some of the great names associated with aviation history whose outstanding feats were performed at Edwards.

It is fitting that Lancaster salute, through the Aerospace Walk of Honor, those who so distinguished themselves in the skies overhead and who brought honor to the community waiting to welcome them home.

Edwards Air Force Base
Capt. Glen W. Edwards, USAF - 1995 HONOREE The Edwards Air Force Base is named for Captain Glen W. Edwards, a test pilot from Lincoln, California, who died in the crash of a YB-49 Flying Wing in 1948.

Edwards Air Force Base, home of the Air Force Flight Test Center, has been the site of a glorious record of aviation achievement over the past five decades.

Since the end of World War II, the center has served as the site where the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy and private aerospace companies have tested, developed and evaluated nearly every aircraft in its inventory. It is the site of America's first jet flight by the Bell XP-59A Airacomet in 1942; first supersonic flight by then Captain Charles E. Yeager in the Bell X-1 in 1947; world's absolute speed record for winged aircraft set in 1967 by then Major William J. "Pete" Knight, 4,520 mph in the X-15 rocket research aircraft; and the landing, in 1981, of the first space shuttle mission.

Edwards Air Force Base is an ideal place to test aircraft because of good flying weather year round and because Rogers Dry Lake bed, a natural 44 square mil playa, serves as a perfect runway. The region now known as Edwards was first used by the military forces in 1933. The first permanent facilities were established in 1942, when Edwards was known as Muroc Army Air Field. 

Disclaimer
The Aerospace Walk of Honor logo and concept are copyrighted by The City of Lancaster, California.

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