Colonel Dyson’s testing of top secret aircraft put him on the ground floor of stealth technology, flying Have Blue, the prototype for the F-117A Stealth Fighter, and Tacit Blue, which demonstrated radically different stealth technologies from Have Blue.
After four years as a fighter pilot, Dyson attended the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School prior to testing weapons in the F-100, F-101 and F-4 aircraft. He flew the F-100 and F-4 aircraft in the Vietnam War before returning to Edwards AFB as an instructor at the USAF Test Pilot School and later as an F-15 test pilot and Director of the F-15 Joint Test Force. He began classified work in 1976, where he flight tested Have Blue and Tacit Blue until 1982.
After Air Force retirement, Dyson joined Rockwell and flew throughout the B-1B test program. He flew the first flight of the X-31 Post Stall Aircraft in 1990 and flew the X-31 through its early testing. He retired from Rockwell as Chief Test Pilot and Director of Flight Test in 1993.
Dyson was awarded the Kincheloe Award in 1989 for test flying Have Blue and in 1996 for Tacit Blue after these programs were declassified. He has also received the Legion of Merit, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, nine Air Medals and Aviation Week & Space Technology’s Aerospace Laurels. Dyson is an Engineering Fellow of the University of Alabama, a Distinguished Alumnus of the USAF Test Pilot School and was named to the Aerospace Walk of Honor in 1997
