Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Service Planned for Former Head of B-2 Bomber Program
A memorial service for Frank T. Birk, a retired Air Force colonel and test pilot who once commanded the B-2 Stealth bomber test program here, is planned for Friday.
Birk, 46, died Aug. 2 in Germany from injuries suffered in the crash of Rockwell International Corp.’s Ranger 2000, a prototype trainer jet. Birk began working as a senior engineering test pilot for Rockwell after his May, 1992, retirement from the Air Force.
A former Vietnam combat pilot, Birk was the chief test pilot for the B-2 and had more than 200 hours in the bomber, including the first transcontinental flight for congressional inspection.
The memorial service is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday in the B-2 hangar at Edwards Air Force Base. Off-base people wishing to attend should ask for base access at the guard gates.
The family has asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Society of Experimental Test Pilots Scholarship Foundation, P. O. Box 986, Lancaster, Calif. 93584, or the Assn. of Graduates, Frank T. Birk Memorial Fund, 3116 Academy Drive, Suite 100, U. S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo. 80840.
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