Eagle's Lair
Members Roster

January 24, 2006

Ladies & Gentlemen:

It is with sadness that we learned of the passing of Col. Brian "Hooter" Simpson today. He lost his bout with cancer and is survived by his wife and children. This project and team owes a great deal of gratitude and acknowledgement to this wonderful man.

Here's a link to another site's tribute to him - http://www.setp.org/HTML/LastFlights/

He was the first to ever really listen and the first to believe in us. "He was extremely helpful and patient with us.  At a time when this project was being turned down by neary every airfield in the U.S., it was Col. Simpson who said, "Yes!" to our need for a test facility. This allowed the project to move forward to the next level of testing.

During meetings with base officials that would decide if we would be allowed to conduct mid-speed tests there, it was Col. Simpson who sat back and listened. Then, when others got concerned about an issue, he would express his confidence in our project, refocus the group and move on to the next subject. He was a leader during those meetings and was there the entire day. At lunch, he talked about his love of flying and his disappointment in not being able to fly his favorite aircraft anymore, the F-16, was obvious. Even in the little time I worked with him, I'll miss him." said Ed.

Standing - 3rd from left

When this project concludes, Col. Simpson's contribution to its success will be right up near the top of the list. He was a Great American, and all on the team who were fortunate enough to have met him are proud to have had the honor. We will miss him.

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