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Louis W. Schalk II ’48 No. 16585 29 May 1926 – 16 Aug 2002 Died in Arlington, VA Interred at West Point Post Cemetery, West Point, NY in the small farming town of Alden, IA. He had an idyllic boyhood, hunting, fishing and participating in many school activities. He quarterbacked the school football team and played on the basketball team. He played first cornet in the band and won a state competition with a cornet solo. He was the top student in his high school class, the class president, voted most popular, most likely to succeed, best looking, and more. He was, as his sister Barbara recalled, a “golden boy.” Lou was encouraged to apply for West Point by his mother, whose older brother was a graduate. Entering in 1944, Lou became a star on the soccer team and participated in track. He also sang in the Glee Club and the Chapel Choir. Well-liked by his classmates, he was relaxed and easygoing, had a good sense of humor, and was always good company. A good student, he graduated slightly above the middle of his class. Lou chose to enter the new U.S. Air Force upon graduation. He was excited about becoming a military pilot at the beginning of the jet era. After completing pilot training in 1949, he was assigned to a jet fighter wing stationed in Germany. Then, after returning to the States and serving for a time as a flight instructor, he attended the Air Force Experimental Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, CA, graduating at the top of his class. He was then assigned there to conduct test flights on the newest fighter aircraft. It was an exciting and satisfying experience for him, if sometimes hazardous. In 1957, Lou resigned from the Air Force and accepted a job as a test pilot for Lockheed. He flew test flights on advanced versions of the F-104 Starfighter and other Lockheed aircraft. Two years after joining Lockheed, Lou was appointed Chief Test Pilot for the famed Lockheed “Skunk Works,” which was building a new, secret aircraft of radical design for photo and electronic reconnaissance flights over hostile territory. Lou helped design the aircraft cockpit and then, beginning in April 1962, flew all of the initial test flights out of the secret Groom Lake base in the Nevada desert. The aircraft was the remarkable SR-71 “Blackbird,” which began flying operational missions in 1968. In his test flights, Lou reached a top speed of Mach 3.287 (2,287 mph) and altitudes over 90,000 feet. He was the first pilot in the world to fly at Mach 3 in sustained level flight in a jet-powered aircraft. In 1964, Lou “hung up his helmet” at Lockheed and joined the North American Rockwell Autonetics Division in Washington, DC. In the mid 1970s he left the aviation industry and formed a small, commercial real estate company. Later, he established a practice as a certified real estate appraiser in which he was active until his death. Lou was married three times. His first marriage, to Lorraine Johnson, ended in divorce in 1957. In 1958, he married Doris Facon. They were divorced in 1975. In 1999, he and Louise Cochran were married at West Point, with family members attending. Lou lived a very full life. He enjoyed music and had a large collection of popular records. He loved dancing; he and Louise belonged to the Big Band Society and other dance groups. He enjoyed growing flowers and tomatoes. There were frequent barbecues with family in the backyard, where he cooked his favorite offering, barbecued ribs. He loved hunting and fishing, and he was an avid skier, who spent many happy days with family members and friends at his ski cottage in Pennsylvania and on the slopes in Western states. He was an ardent fan of the Washington Redskins and attended their home games regularly, frequently serving a gourmet tailgate meal to his guests before the game. Lou received many honors and accolades for his aviation accomplishments. In 1964, the Society of Experimental Test Pilots presented him the Iven C. Kincheloe award, the organization’s highest honor. In 1996, he was named an “Eagle” by the Flight Test Historical Foundation. In 1999, he was the honoree at the Aerospace Walk of Honor of Lancaster, CA, located near Edwards AFB, a prestigious award previously received by Jimmy Doolittle, Chuck Yeager, and Neil Armstrong, among others. On 27 Apr 2002, a few months before his death, over 1400 visitors attended the 40th anniversary of Lou’s first Blackbird flight at the Blackbird Airpark in Palmdale, CA. Lou was there, autographing posters and talking with aviation enthusiasts who were not aware that he was in the advanced stages of leukemia. On 31 May 2003 Lou was posthumously inducted into the Iowa Aviation Hall of Fame in an impressive ceremony at which his widow Louise gave the acceptance speech. On the interesting Website of Roadrunners Internationale, an organization which chronicles the history of the U-2 and Blackbird programs and celebrates those who participated, the following tribute to Lou Schalk’s contribution appears: “He became a Cold War warrior through his heroic exploits as a pioneering test pilot. He willingly faced the task of experimental flying that put him in harm’s way every time he climbed into the cockpit of the Blackbird. His aeronautical accomplishments tested the confines of space as he set new speed and altitude records. He rewrote aviation history and paved the way for a renewed national reconnaissance effort after the capture of Francis Gary Powers when his U-2 was shot down over Russia on 1 May 1960.” Unfortunately Lou never received the contemporary public recognition he merited for the records he set—which still stand today— because of the secrecy surrounding the Blackbird program at the time. In addition to his widow Louise, Lou is survived by his brother Dr. Thomas G. Schalk and sister Dr. Barbara Thomas; sons Thomas and Louis III; and daughter Nancie Johnson and their children. As Lou joins the “ghostly assemblage” of the Long Gray Line of graduates who served their nation, it may indeed be said “Well done, be thou at peace.” We shall not forget, Lou. Classmate Arnold Braswell, with the assistance of family members

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