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Clifton Williams

This article is about the American astronaut. For the composer, see Clifton Williams (composer).

Clifton Curtis 'C.C.' Williams (September 26, 1932 - October 5, 1967) was a NASA astronaut and United States Marine Corps Major (United States) who was killed after a mechanical failure caused the flight controls in a T-38 he was piloting to stop responding. The aircraft crashed in Florida near Tallahassee.

Early life

Williams was born on September 26, 1932 in Mobile, Alabama. He was active in the Boy Scouts of America where he achieved its second highest rank, Life Scout. Williams graduated from Murphy High School in Mobile, and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Auburn University (AU), Auburn, Alabama in 1954. Having joined the Navy ROTC while at AU, he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps on August 9, 1954.

He was an associate member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and member of Pi Tau Sigma (national mechanical honorary, and Tau Beta Pi (national engineering society). He was married to Beth Lansche Williams and had two children, Catherine and Jane Dee.

Astronaut

On October 18, 1963, Major Williams was named by NASA as one of their third group of astronauts.

Williams served on the backup crew for Gemini X and had been assigned to the back-up crew for what would be the Apollo 9 mission. This crew placement would have most likely led to an assignment as Lunar Module pilot for Apollo 12. After his death, he was replaced on the Apollo 9 backup crew by Alan Bean who had been his commander on the Gemini X backup crew.

In the 1998 miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, Williams was played by Jim Leavy.

Death

Williams died at the controls of his T-38 near Tallahassee, Florida. His plane went into an uncontrollable aileron roll while he was flying from the Cape to Mobile, Alabama, en route to see his father who was dying of cancer. Williams ejected but he was traveling too fast and was at too low an altitude.

The Apollo 12 mission patch has four stars on it - one each for the three astronauts who flew the mission, and one for Williams. Williams is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.