Retired Maj. Gen. Hugh Boyd Manson, former Air Force Flight Test Center commander, died on Oct. 4 in Los Gatos, Calif. Manson, 98, died in his sleep after a brief illness, according to the San Jose Mercury News’ Oct. 16 obituary. He will be interred on Saturday at St. Andrews Cemetery in Darien, Ga., states the obituary. Born in Darien in 1915, Manson received his pilot’s wings in 1939. For part of World War II, he commanded a bomb squadron in the Pacific theater. Among his assignments after the war, he led a fighter-interceptor wing in Britain, directed operations for US Air Forces in Europe, and headed the task force that oversaw the activation of Atlas ICBMs at Dyess AFB, Tex. As his last assignment, Manson commanded the flight test center and Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards AFB, Calif., a job he began in January 1966. Among the aircraft tested there during his tenure were: the C-5A, F-4E, F-111A, U-2R, X-15, and XB-70A, according to Edwards’ Oct. 16 release. Manson retired from the Air Force in February 1969. He went on to become vice president of Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design the Air Force said.