Joe W. Ozier

?»?Joseph W. Ozier was born in Hollis, Okla., in 1924 and began his aviation career as a fighter pilot in the Pacific Theater of World War II. He graduated from Northrop Aero Institute in 1950 and joined Lockheed in 1951 as a production test pilot. In 1954 he became an engineering test pilot and was one of the founders of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP), serving as its first Treasurer. After seeing the engineering drawings of the F-104 Starfighter, the first operational supersonic fighter, manufactured by Lockheed, signed his name to one saying, "That's MY plane!" He became the Chief Experimental Test Pilot for the Starfighter and flew more hours testing it than any other pilot. At the time of his death, he was considered the fastest pilot in the world and was featured in an Argosy magazine article: "Missile With a Man In It." Joe was tragically killed in 1957 at Edwards AFB in Palmdale, California during a "touch-and-go" testing accident when the short, razor-edge wing of the F-104 caught a pile of dirt that lined the runway. He was only 33 years old.