When an engine fire produced a strong oscillation of the fly-by-wire aircraft in July 1979 while Norman “Ken” Dyson was piloting Have Blue No. 2, he was forced to eject. Dyson survived the crash and went on to pilot the Northrop “Tacit Blue,” even though the jet was destroyed
Norman “Ken” Dyson, a U.S. Air Force (USAF) test pilot and civilian who is most known for his work on the experimental stealth aircraft “Have Blue” and “Tacit Blue,” passed away on August 15, 2019, at the age of 81.
Dyson, according to Air Force Magazine, was a fighter pilot who later transitioned to test flying. He flew the F-100 and F-4 during the Vietnam War before returning to the Air Force as a test pilot. During this time, he conducted weapons development tests in the F-100, F-101, and F-4 as well as early F-15 test flights. He was appointed director of the Air Force’s top-priority combat aircraft program at the time, the F-15 Joint Test Force.
He started working on top-secret projects, such as the Lockheed “Have Blue” stealth demonstrator that served as the basis for the 1976 F-117 Nighthawk, the first stealth attack jet. When an engine fire produced a dramatic oscillation of the fly-by-wire aircraft in July 1979 while Dyson was piloting Have Blue No. 2, he was forced to eject. Dyson survived the crash and went on to pilot the Northrop “Tacit Blue,” even though the jet was destroyed.
The ground-breaking Tacit Blue aircraft, which was constructed in the early 1980s in great secrecy, tested cutting-edge radar sensors and novel stealth technology.
Contrary to the faceted surfaces of the F-117 Nighthawk, Tacit Blue demonstrated that a stealthy aircraft could have curved surfaces, which had a significant impact on succeeding aircraft like the B-2. The design of Tacit Blue also reduced the heat signature given off by the engines, further masking their presence. Tacit Blue was aerodynamically unstable, but it had a digital fly-by-wire system to help control it.
Dyson flew the B-1 bomber through a large portion of its test program after retiring as a lieutenant colonel and starting working for Rockwell, which is now a part of Boeing. Additionally, Dyson piloted the X-31 demonstrator of enhanced fighter maneuverability. In order to collect data on the control in the post-stall flight domain, a multinational project with Germany to study the X-31’s post-stall flight was test-flown at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, in the early 1990s. With the aid of cutting-edge flight control technology and thrust vectoring, which directs engine exhaust flow, the X-31 program successfully demonstrated the value of controllable flight at extremely high angles of attack.
In 1993, Dyson left Rockwell after serving as the company’s chief test pilot and director of flight tests. Dyson got the Legion of Merit, two Distinguished Flying Cross medals, nine Air Medals, and other decorations for his combat and test flying in the Air Force.
Dyson, a past president of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, was also recognized as a distinguished alumnus of the USAF Test Pilot School, an Engineering Fellow of the University of Alabama, and a Distinguished Aerospace Engineering Alumnus of Texas A&M University.
When Have Blue and Tacit Blue (retroactive to 1982) were both declassified, Dyson earned the SETP’s Iven C. Kincheloe award, the highest distinction given by peers, in 1989 for his work on Have Blue and again in 1996 for Tacit Blue. He was inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor in Lancaster, California, in 1997.
Photo by U.S. Air Force
