Darrell E.Cornell 1932-1984

Darrell Cornell was Chief Test Pilot and Manager of Flight Operations at Northrop's Aircraft Division. A former Air Force pilot, Cornell joined Northrop in 1962 and moved to the Aircraft Division's flight test unit at Edwards Air Force Base in 1965. He was appointed Chief Test Pilot in 1980. He was killed on October 1-th 1984 at Suwon AB, while performing a demonstration flight for the ROKAF. The F-20 (N4416T) he was piloting stalled after a series of climbing rolls performed with flaps and gear extended. Cornell was not able to recover the aircraft from the uncontrolled stall. Cornell was also the lead test pilot for the RF-5E Tigereye, a reconnaissance version of the low cost F-5E fighter aircraft. He was an astronaut candidate with NASA in 1963, although he was not selected to join Group 3.