Back in '79-'80 my younger brother was the crew chief for the first F-16 officially put into service for the Air Force up at Hill AFB in Ogden Utah. His planes tail number was 001 for all us number freaks, they referred to it as balls one! I got to ride out to the plane with the pilots and crew in the van to the flight line, cool stuff. The first Israeli pilot to train and fly the B model (two seater) was Ilan Ramon. I just remember thinking this guy is the same age as me at the time, 22 and he was flying F-16's. Wow! Bad Ass. And my 20 year old brother was in charge of the plane. Amazing!
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches...el_030201.html