"Marty" Knutson (May 31, 1930 - December 11, 2013)[1][2] served as Director of Flight Operations for NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, CA, and also as site manager of the Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility at Edwards Air Force Base in CA, at that time a satellite facility of Ames, from May 1984 through late 1990.
Following service in Korea and participation in developmental testing and operational missions in the F-84 and F-86, he was recruited to fly the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft for the Central Intelligence Agency in 1955.
Knutson joined NASA in 1971 as manager of U-2 flight operations at Ames and was one of several pilots who flew the aircraft on Earth resources science missions.
After the Air Force announced the impending retirement of the SR-71 Blackbird, Knutson successfully sought to acquire three of the airplanes for Dryden.
He was an Associate Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and a charter member of the federal government's Senior Executive Service.