William J. Knight

Air Force career

Knight enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1951. As a second lieutenant, he piloted an F-89 at the 1954 National Air Show, taking home the Allison Jet Trophy. After finishing the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology and the Air Force Experimental Flight Test Pilot School (Class 58C) in 1958, he became a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

He worked as a project test pilot on the F-100 Super Sabre, F-101 Voodoo, F-104 Starfighter, T-38 Talon, and F-5 Freedom Fighter programs. In 1960, he was chosen among six test pilots for the X-20 Dyna-Soar program, which aimed to create the first winged orbital space vehicle. When that program ended in 1963, he went through astronaut training at the Aerospace Research Pilot School (Class 63A) and was picked to fly the X-15.

On October 3, 1967, he flew the X-15A-2 to 4,520 miles per hour (Mach 6.70), setting a world speed record for manned aircraft that remains unbroken. He also earned his Astronaut Wings during 16 X-15 flights, reaching 280,500 feet and becoming one of only five pilots to fly an airplane into space.

After nearly a decade of test flying, Knight deployed to Southeast Asia in 1968, flying 253 combat missions in the F-100 during the Vietnam War. Following that tour, he served as test director for the F-15 Eagle at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, and later as program director for the International Fighter (F-5) Program. In 1979, he returned to Edwards AFB as a test pilot for the F-16 Fighting Falcon. He retired as a colonel in 1982, having spent 32 years in the Air Force and logged over 6,000 hours in more than 100 different aircraft.

Political career

In 1984, Knight was elected to the Palmdale, California city council, and four years later became the city's first elected mayor. He was elected to the California State Assembly representing the 36th District in 1992, and served in the State Senate representing the 17th District from 1996 until his death on May 7, 2004. Knight gained statewide attention in 2000 as the author of Proposition 22, known as the "Knight Initiative," which banned same-sex marriage in California. The proposition passed with 61.4% approval.

Knight's brother and son are gay; his younger brother died of AIDS-related complications in 1995 at age 60. Knight's son David married his partner in 2004 during a period when San Francisco registered same-sex marriages, though those marriages were later nullified. The California Supreme Court found Proposition 22 unconstitutional in 2008.

Did You Know?

• Knight's youngest son, Steve Knight, later held the same California State Assembly seat (36th District) that his father had held.
• Knight's younger brother died of AIDS-related complications in 1995 at age 60; Knight said of his brother's homosexuality, 'We never talked about it.'