His unit worked its way across the continent from Casablanca to Tunisia, escorting B-25, B-26 and A-20 bombers as well as performing dive bombing and strafing missions.

After a year's tour in Africa, Murray returned to the United States as a P-47 instructor at Bradley Field near Hartford, Connecticut.

He kept his mouth shut and stuck with the program, and soon was offered the opportunity to be the first permanent test pilot to be assigned to Muroc Airfield (later Edwards Air Force Base) in the California desert.

He finally figured that the rocket motors were installed very slightly offset which, to keep it going straight, was causing him to have to cross control the plane increasingly as it accelerated.

The X-4 he flew was basically a flying wing type aircraft (no horizontal tail) and the X-5 was a variable sweep test platform.

Regional Organization there and was privileged to fly some of Europe's top airplanes at the time, including the Italian Fiat G-91, the French Mystere, and the British Javelin.

He retired with over 20 years of military service and became Boeing's "company astronaut" managing crew integration for the space program.

[7] In 1969 Murray moved to the Ft. Worth area to become Air Force Requirements Engineer for Bell Helicopter in the tilt rotor program.

The family fostered a seventh child, Elizabeth Anne(Betsy) from the time of her birth in 1963 until the couple separated in 1966.

He managed a hunting club, flew some charter work for Mustang Aviation in Dallas, served on the board of the Fort Worth Opera Association,[8] then did some courtroom reporting for the Bosque County newspaper.

[9] They combined their efforts and expertise in renovating the Bosque County Court House and served as charter members of TETRA, a Texas equine trail riding organization.

[10] Murray was awarded the following decorations for his military service: Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with eight oak leaf clusters.