1. William Brian Binnie was a United States Navy officer and one of the test pilots for SpaceShipOne, the experimental spaceplane developed by Scaled Composites and flown from 2003 to 2004.
11 Facts About Brian Binnie
1. 2.
Binnie was born in West Lafayette, Indiana, on April 26,1953, where his Scottish father William P Binnie was a professor of physics at Purdue University.
3.
The family returned to Scotland when Binnie was five, and lived in Aberdeen and later in Stirling.
4.
When Brian Binnie was a teenager the family moved to Boston.
5.
Brian Binnie earned a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from Brown University.
6.
Brian Binnie earned a master's degree from Brown in fluid mechanics and thermodynamics.
7.
Brian Binnie was rejected by the United States Air Force, and enrolled at Princeton University, where he earned a master's degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering He served for 21 years in the United States Navy as a naval aviator, reaching the rank of commander.
8.
Brian Binnie graduated from the US Naval Test Pilot School in 1988.
9.
Brian Binnie copiloted the Atmospheric Test Vehicle of the Rotary Rocket.
10.
On December 17,2003, the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers' first powered flight, Brian Binnie piloted the first powered test flight of SpaceShipOne, flight 11P, which reached a top speed of Mach 1.2 and a height of 12.9 miles.
11.
In 2014 Brian Binnie joined XCOR Aerospace as senior engineer and test pilot, after working as a test pilot and program business manager for Scaled Composites for many years.