HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCI AND TECHNOLOGY 



Representative Dale Milford (Democrat of Texas), center, with Subcommittee Staff 

 Director Ralph N. Read, right, and William Brooks of NASA's Langley Research Center. 



In a self-portrait delivered before a congressional committee, 

 Milford once stated: 



Unlike the vast majority of Members serving in this body, I have never held a 

 political office of any kind prior to being elected to Congress in 1972. My profession 

 consisted of working in two closely related fields, aviation and meteorology. Prior 

 to coming to Congress, I was a nationally recognized consultant in those helds with 

 an established expertise in air safety. I have personally logged over 6,500 flying hours 

 in every type of aircraft from a small two-seater, that 1 built myself, to DC-10's 

 and helicopters. Therefore, aviation to me is more than just a committee jurisdictional 

 matter. I have spent my entire life working in this held. My first job in 1942 was 

 employment as an aircraft communicator in the old CAA — that is now the FAA. I 

 later became an aircraft controller during World War II and a pilot beginning with 

 the Korean war. 



Milford had also been a television weathercaster prior to his elec- 

 tion. Heavy set and bespectacled, he maintained a good standard of 

 sartorial excellence. Once he had made up his mind on an issue, col- 

 leagues found him difficult to "reason" with. He generally played his 

 legislative cards close to his chest, phlegmatically. 



For most of the period, Milford 's staff director was Ralph N. Read, 

 whose credentials in the aeronautics field were impressive. A graduate 

 of Georgia Tech in aeronautical engineering, Read had been a pilot 

 in the old Army Air Corps, and also saw pilot service in the wartime 



