Dick Lawyer signed cover

Dick Lawyer, (an unfortunate name usually reserved for the lowest form of life on the planet!) was a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Fighter Weapons School and of the Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School (now the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base).
His Air Force career included two combat tours during the Vietnam War, as well as a time as chief of fighters at Edwards.
One little-known facet of Lawyer's career was his selection in 1965 as one of the first astronauts to the Air Force's classified Manned Orbiting Laboratory program. This program, later cancelled without sending any astronauts into space, was to man a military space station with Air Force astronauts using a modified Gemini spacecraft.
After his Air Force retirement in 1982, Lawyer served as flight test manager for Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin Corp.) at Edwards.
He then went on to join the National Test Pilot School and later another Mojave Airport business, Flight Systems Inc. There, he served as chief test pilot, piloting the first flight of the QF-4 drone.