May 3 marks 70 years since first jet engine test at AEDC
Gen. Thomas Power, then-commander of the Air Research and Development Command, center, punches the start button on May 3, 1954, to initiate the first turbojet engine test in the new Engine Test Facility at Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn., while Brig. Gen. Sam Harris, commander of what was then known as the Arnold Engineering Development Center, left, looks on. Not only did this begin the engine test in ETF, but it also represented the first simulated flight test of an engine at AEDC. Seated at the ETF control room console are test crewmen J.D. Higgenbottom, foreground, and I.F. Bailey. (U.S. Air Force photo)