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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Ms. Christine Haynes

Lt. Colonel William E. Haynes (1924 - 2010) began dreaming of being a fighter pilot at the age of twelve. In 1942, Bill volunteered for the Army Air Corps. He graduated navigator school as a second lieutenant in 1945 and was training pilots in Louisiana when World War II ended. In 1949, Bill joined the Air Force and trained as a jet fighter pilot. He was assigned to the 23rd Tactical Fighter Squadron in Munich in the early 1950s. In 1956, he graduated the USAF Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Afterward, he was assigned to test armament systems at Eglin AFB in Florida.

Since the early 1950s, Bill had set his sights on joining America's manned space program. In 1960, he was assigned to the USAF Space Systems Division in Southern California. He worked on the DynaSoar program, the USAF's answer to the Mercury program. While there, he obtained a Master's in Research & Development Management from the University of Southern California. In 1965, he was named Deputy Commander of the Minuteman Test Force at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

In June 1967, Bill began a one-year tour in Vietnam serving primarily with the Third Tactical Fighter Wing, stationed at Bien Hoa. He flew 187 combat missions in an F-100 and for eight months was the commander of the 90th Tactical Fighter Squadron (known as "The Dice"). Bill earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star, Air Medal and Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry for his service in Vietnam.

In 1969 Bill left the Air Force and began a twenty-two-year career with private military and aerospace contractors working on various aspects of manned space flight. Working at Martin Marietta Corporation, Dornier, Aerospace Corporation, SAIC and others, he worked on Skylab and space crew systems. He led systems engineering for the Skylab Earth Resources Experiment Package.

Bill never got to space, but he spent his life trying. He was close friends with Apollo 11 astronaut, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, and in the summer of 1986, he accompanied Aldrin on a private visit to the USSR.

Bill is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 7.