William Joseph "Pete" Knight (November 18, 1929–May 8, 2004) was a U.S. politician, combat pilot, and test pilot. Colonel Pete Knight holds the world’s speed record for winged powered aircraft.

Air Force career

Knight enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1951. While only a Second Lieutenant, he flew an F-89 "Scorpion" at the National Air Show in 1954 and won the Allison Jet Trophy .

Starting in 1958, Knight served as a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base. He was a project test pilot for the F-100, F-101, F-104 and, later, T-38 and F-5 test programs. In 1960, he was one of six test pilots selected to fly the X-20 Dyna-Soar, which was slated to become the first winged orbital space vehicle capable of lifting reentries and conventional landings. After the X-20 program was canceled in 1963, he completed the astronaut training curriculum at Edwards AFB and was selected to fly the X-15.

He had more than his share of eventful flights in the X-15. While climbing through 107,000 feet at Mach 4.17 on June 29, 1967, he suffered a total electrical failure and all onboard systems shutdown. After arching over at 173,000 feet, he calmly set up a visual approach and, resorting to old-fashioned "seat-of-the-pants" flying, he glided down to a safe emergency landing at Mud Lake, Nevada . For his remarkable feat of airmanship that day, he earned a Distinguished Flying Cross.

On October 3, 1967, Knight set a world aircraft speed record by piloting the X-15A-2 to 4,520 miles per hour (Mach 6.7) — a record that still stands today. During 16 flights in the aircraft, Knight also became one of only five pilots to earn their astronaut's wings by flying an airplane in space, reaching an altitude of 280,500 feet.

After nearly ten years of test flying at Edwards AFB, he went to Southeast Asia in 1968 where he completed a total of 253 combat sorties in the F-100. Following his combat tour, he served as test director during development of the F-15 at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. In 1979, he returned to Edwards AFB, and served as a test pilot for the F-16. After 32 years of service and more than 6,000 hours in the cockpits of more than 100 different aircraft, he retired from the USAF in 1982.

Political career

In 1984, he was elected to the city council of Palmdale, California, and four years later became the city's first elected mayor. In 1992, he was elected to serve in the California State Assembly representing the 36th District. He served in the State Senate representing the 17th District from 1996 until his death on May 8, 2004. During his term in the Senate, Knight gained statewide attention as the author of Proposition 22, whose entire text stated, "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."