Lt. Col. Donald A. Cornell (USAF, Retired)was born 20 December 1944 in Detroit, Michigan.He retired from the Air Force after serving 20 years, including two tours in Vietnam and work as a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base, California, and Area 51, Nevada.
A graduate of USAF Test Pilot School Class 78B at Edwards in 1978, Cornell was one of the early test pilots for the Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk and Northrop TACIT BLUE technology demonstrator - both at the Air Force Flight Test Center's Detachment 3 at Area 51. He was also involved with the AGM-137 Tri-Service Standoff Attack Missile project, a spinoff of TACIT BLUE. After retiring from the Air Force, he was employed as a pilot and operations officer with EG&G, Special Projects, in Las Vegas. Cornell was a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.