Tony LeVier, ca. 1960s

Tony Levier landed at Tucson September 4, 1932 carrying one passenger he identified as “crew”.  He was flying a Wallace aircraft, NC209N.  Based in Los Angeles, CA (he noted in the Register “east side”), he and “crew” were westbound from El Paso, TX to Yuma, AZ, probably on their way back to Los Angeles.  There was no reason given for their flight, and LeVier emphasized that by writing “none” in the Remarks column of the Register. 

However, in 1932 the 19 year-old LeVier took second place in the cross-country air race during America’s first junior pilot air meet, Long Beach, CA in a Wallace Touroplane.  His stop at Tucson may have been in conjunction with that competition.  Does anyone know? You may view an image of NC209N, a Touroplane B model with folding wings, here.  Image, right, from the Cabot Award brochure cited in the left sidebar.

Born February 14, 1913 in Duluth, MN, LeVier came on the scene at the right time to make his mark late in the Golden Age.  He started flying in 1928 at age 15.  His motivation was Lindbergh’s trans-Atlantic flight.  When he heard news of Lindy’s flight he announced to his mother, “I’m going to become an airplane pilot!”  His mother said, “That’s wonderful Tony, just remember to be a good one.”  This kind of parental encouragement echoes that of Robert Buck’s upbringing.

LeVier did learn to fly and received his commercial license in 1932.  From 1932-1939 he was a flight instructor, charter pilot and barnstormer.  In 1939 he took a job in the experimental department of Douglas Aircraft on the B-19 project.  He flew for a year (1940) with Midcontinent Air Line, then, as WWII approached, as test pilot with General Motors, Laboratory Division.  He became a legendary test pilot of the WWII era.

He joined Lockheed Aircraft in 1941, beginning his career ferrying Hudson bombers for the RAF.  He joined the Lockheed Engineering Flight Test Organization in 1942 and was assigned to test the P-38 Lightning.  He took the P-38 through the test regimen that solved the “Mach tuck” problem.  Later, he was assigned to England as Special Technical Representative with Eighth Fighter Command under Lt. Gen. James Doolittle.

Following is a table that summarizes his Lockheed test pilot duties late in WWII and afterwards.  He was appointed Chief Engineering Test Pilot at Lockheed in 1945.

In 1950 LeVier was the third pilot to exceed Mach 1.  He was appointed Director of Flying Operations for Lockheed’s California Division on May 23, 1955.  He retired from Lockheed April 29, 1974 almost 42 years after he visited us in Tucson.  In 1985 he inaugurated Safe Action in Flight Emergency, Inc., a non-profit program dedicated to training civilian pilots in handling life-threatening situations.

In the 1930s and into the 1940s (paralleling some of his Lockheed duties), he entered competitions.  The following table summarizes his air race experiences.

Please direct your browser to this link for a nice summary of air race history.  At Lockheed LeVier crossed paths with fellow test pilot Kenneth Hunter, another record setter of the Davis-Monthan Airfield Register.

On June 2, 1995 he received the Godfrey L. Cabot Award from The Aero Club of New England.  The award was justified.  From the Cabot Award brochure we learn that, over his career, Tony LeVier accumulated 10,000 flight hours during 24,000 flights (some of them must have been very brief) in 260 airplane types.  As Lockheed’s Engineering Test Pilot he made the first flights on eleven of Lockheed’s “Skunk Works” aircraft (tabulated above).  

Along the way he was involved in 101 air accidents and incidents, including 8 crashes, 58 near crashes, 5 tailspins to “low” altitudes, 26 forced landings, 5 canopy losses, 20 pilot errors, 1 mid-air collision and 9 near mid-air collisions.  Such is the life of an engineering test pilot.

Tony LeVier was responsible for several inventions and contributions to airplane ergonomics and safety.  For example, in 1944 he conceived the idea to turn the pilot’s stick grip counter-clockwise in the XP-80 to enable the pilot (who manipulated the stick with his right hand) better use and control of the aircraft.  The same year he conceived the idea to place aircraft trim switches on top of the control stick grip: now universally used on all military and some civil aircraft around the world.  In 1949 he conceived the first practical afterburner ignition system for jet fighters.

He was a member of numerous aviation organizations, from the National Aviation Hall of Fame and Society of Experimental Text Pilots (charter member), to the I.O.C. (International Order of Characters).

LeVier was author of numerous articles in popular and technical publications, mostly related to safety.  In 1954 he published an autobiography entitled “PILOT” in collaboration with John Guenther.  This book is easily found for sale at numerous web book sources.  From people I have spoken with who knew LeVier, he had a monumental ego.  Not surprising, given the work he did.  Tony LeVier passed away in California on February 6, 1998.

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Dossier 2.1.110

UPLOADED: 06/06/07 REVISED: 10/12/07