Clifton Williams

Clifton Curtis Williams Jr. (September 26, 1932 – October 5, 1967) was an American naval aviator, test pilot, mechanical engineer, and major in the United States Marine Corps. He was selected as a NASA astronaut but tragically never went into space. Williams was killed in a plane crash caused by a mechanical failure in a NASA T-38 jet trainer. The crash occurred while he was piloting the aircraft to visit his parents in Mobile, Alabama. He activated the ejection seat, but it failed to save him. Williams was the fourth astronaut from NASA's Astronaut Group 3 to have died. He had received his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Auburn University in 1954 and joined the Marine Corps thereafter.