As some of you may know, during the pursuit to put a man on the moon...there were several American (and Soviet) astronauts killed along the way.  Most were lost in one form or another during their training.

On October 5, 1967, an astronaut named Clifton C. Williams (known as C.C.) became one of those to die.  He was flying in a T-38 Talon near Tallahassee, Florida when his aircraft went into an uncontrollable aileron roll.  He ejected but was flying too low and too fast.  He was en route to Mobile, Alabama to visit his terminally ill father.

Williams had been selected in the 1963 class of astronauts (3rd group) and served as the backup pilot on the Gemini-X mission.  When he was killed he was a member of the Apollo 9 backup crew serving as the backup Lunar Module Pilot.  This assignment put him in line to serve as the prime LMP on Apollo 12, the second manned lunar landing.  Had he not been killed, he would have undoubtedly been the fourth man to walk on the moon.  He was replaced on the Apollo 12 crew by astronaut Alan Bean.  Williams never flew in space.

As a memorial to Williams, the crew of Apollo 12 added a star to their mission insignia in his honor.  On the Apollo 12 patch, there is 4 stars...one for each member of the crew and one for Williams.  His Marine Corps astronaut wings were also left on the surface of the moon during Apollo 12.


September 26, 1932-October 5, 1967

Fascinating and sad.  I never even heard of him and I was a child of the space race.