Clayton Scott, 101, Aviation Pioneer
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Clayton Scott, who served as Bill Boeing’s personal pilot and later become a top Boeing Co. test pilot, died September 28 in Seattle. He was 101.
Scott was born July 15, 1905, in Coudersport, Pa., and later moved to the Pacific Northwest. An early aviation buff, Scott owned his own airplane by 1928.
He is on the record books for making the first landing and takeoff at Boeing Field, after an emergency forced him to touch down on the then-uncompleted airfield.
In the 1930s, Scott had a chance encounter with Bill Boeing, founder of Boeing Co., when Scott was refueling his airplane at a marina in Alert Bay, British Columbia, where Boeing was refueling his yacht. Boeing hired Scott to be his personal pilot.
Scott also served as chief production test pilot for Boeing’s company from 1940 to 1966, flying both military and commercial planes.
He was reputed to be the nation’s oldest pilot.
The municipal airfield in Renton, south of Seattle, was renamed Clayton Scott Field last year, to celebrate Scott’s 100th birthday.
Scott’s wife, Myrtle, died in October 1998.
