Air Force & Civil Test Pilot; Astronaut Selectee

Richard E. Lawyer, 73, passed away on November 12, 2005, the day after Veteran's Day. The apparent cause of his death was a deep vein blood clot. His death was peaceful but completely unexpected; he was sitting at his desk at home. Dick Lawyer was born November 8, 1932 in Los Angeles and served his country as a test pilot, as a designated astronaut who never flew in space due to circumstances beyond his control, and as a senior officer in the Air Force.

The retired Air Force colonel still taught at the National Test Pilot School at the Civilian Flight Test Center in Mojave, California, still conducted flight tests, and was scheduled to fly this week, according to the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.

Lawyer remained healthy and active, holding a Class 1 medical certificate till the day he died. Indeed, the F-100F pictures, taken earlier in 2005, show Col. Lawyer (below, front seat, blue helmet) and a flight test engineer conducting calibration test flights at Mojave earlier this year. The purpose was to get valid data up to Mach 0.90 in support of a Boeing 737 flight test program, so the intrepid duo passed by the Mojave tower at 70 feet AGL at speeds up to M0.90 which is 560 kts. Not many septuagenarians are doing that, but then, there was only one Dick Lawyer.

As well as the F-100, Dick Lawyer was actively flying T-33s, F-86s, and QF-4s for a variety of contractors at Mojave Airport. During his Air Force career he'd flown  F-80, -86, -100, -101, -102, -104, 105, and -106 fighters, T-6, T-33 and T-39 (Sabreliner) trainers, and U-2 and B-57 reconnaissance aircraft.

Col. Lawyer first came to the attention of Aero-News in June, when we ran an article on the discovery of a spacesuit with his name on it at Cape Canaveral. His relatives sent him that article, which upset him, because it mentioned that we tracked him down to the NTPS and they didn't respond to our email (it turns out we used an old address that isn't monitored). That article is here. ("NASA Finds 1960s Spacesuits," 17 June 05). He was upset at the idea that people would think him unresponsive, which illustrates a little something of his character -- the humble, friendly test pilot -- not exactly a stereotype.

When he did get in touch with us, he was very complimentary about the article, and a little bit bemused that anyone even cared about the Manned Orbiting Laboratory, forty years later. "While it contains a few minor errors, is the most accurate and detailed article of all those that have appeared," he said. To us, that comment was worth more than a Pulitzer Prize.

The Manned Orbiting Laboratory, announced in 1963, had some of the features of a space station. A crew of two would launch in a modified Gemini capsule, the Gemini-B, and on reaching the desired orbit, would be able to go through a hatch in the back of the Gemini into the MOL's work and accommodation spaces.

After spending thirty days in space, the crew would climb back into the Gemini-B capsule and deorbit. At a relatively low altitude, under 100 miles, the orbit of the MOL would decay and it would soon be destroyed by re-entry.

Then-Captain Richard E. Lawyer was selected for the MOL in its first group of pilots -- they avoided the word, "Astronaut" -- selected. That group was announced on November 12, 1965 -- forty years to the day before Lawyer would pass away. The original MOL pilots were all USAF Test Pilot School or Naval Test Pilot School graduates. Lawyer mentioned to us with some pride that he graduated the USAF TPS, but he -- characteristically -- never got around to mentioning that he was distinguished graduate of his class, we had to learn that elsewhere. It probably helped him that he started his Air Force career with an Aero Engineering degree from USC -- but he never mentioned that to us, either.

When the program was cancelled, officers under 35 years old were permitted to sign on as NASA astronauts. All did, and all went on to fly in the Shuttle program -- one went on to be NASA Administrator. But then-Major Dick Lawyer was a few months too old. He, like the other "overage" pilots (except for one who took a non-astronaut position with NASA), returned to the USAF where he served in numerous assignments with distinction before retiring in the early 1980s as a Colonel. His last assignment was deputy commander of Eglin Air Force Base, at the time a significant test center.

Characteristically, Col. Lawyer expressed no bitterness at the cancellation of the MOL, or the bureaucratic rule that would have let him go into NASA had he only been born in 1933, not '32. When we pressed him, he admitted being "disappointed." And after that disappointment he, again characteristically, bounced back.

(Seen here, from left to right around an MOL model: Michael J. Adams, USAF; Albert H. Crews, USAF; John L. Finley, USN; Richard E. Lawyer, USAF; Lachlan Macleay, USAF; Francis G. Neubeck, USAF; James M. Taylor, USAF; and Richard H. Truly, USN).

We maintained an interesting correspondence with Col. Lawyer for a while as a result of his long-lost space suit resurfacing. It turns out not to have been at all unusual for his name to be on a space suit -- he was the MOL astronaut charged with pressure suit development. "I was the main suit subject (or should I say Guinea Pig?). When we needed 2 subjects, I enlisted the aid of another MOL Pilot. At various times Mac Macleay, Jack Finley, or Bob Overmyer would join me."

The MOL program indeed pushed pressure suit design farther forward than contemporary NASA or USAF programs. We have provided Col. Lawyer's comments on pressure suits (edited from several email messages), and his corrections to our MOL article, as separate sidebars to this article.

Lawyer believed he knew why there has been no book about the MOL program -- and it isn't just the classified nature of the mission. "MOL did not seek publicity, in fact we all tried to avoid it. Our General told us that in his career, he had dealt with the media on a number of occasions, and came off second best on every one of those occasions.
So, I doubt that a comprehensive book about MOL will ever be published."

To the very end, Col. Lawyer kept his vow to keep his country's secrets. While very forthcoming about other aspects of the MOL program, he would not say a word about its mission. We at Aero-News reported it as a surveillance platform, a forerunner of spy satellites, and we stand by that report; but when he contacted us, Col. Lawyer said at the very beginning, "I am not at liberty to deny or confirm the reported mission for MOL." So we steered away from that subject with him. Only later did we learn that he used the exact same words with his numberless civil aviation friends, and even his family.

While Dick Lawyer loved to fly, he also loved the outdoors. We found the picture of DIck with a Halibut he caught in 2003 on the charter operator's website. Characteristically -- that word again -- he had finished planning next year's fishing trip just before he passed away, according to Cathy Hansen in the Mojave Desert News.

Dick Lawyer is survived by his wife Gayle and a constellation of kids and grandkids, and an orbit of friends that seems to encompass all Mojave Airport, and others far beyond. He was irrepressible and is irreplaceable.

The nation will express its gratitude and respect for Col. Lawyer's service on January 5, 2006, when he will be interred with full military honors -- taking his secrets honorably with him -- at Arlington National Cemetery, just across the river from the Pentagon, on the former grounds of Robert E. Lee's country home.

The National Test Pilots School will honor Lawyer with a memorial service on -- appropriately enough -- December 17th, the anniversary of powered flight. You can bet there'll be a jet in the air.

Note: ANN extends our prayers and sentiments to Col. Lawyers family and friends... we see too few of his ilk... and we are all the poorer for his passing. Fair winds, Colonel...--Jim Campbell, Aero-News Network, E-I-C

FMI: www.setp.org