Born in El Dorado, Arkansas. BS in chemical engineering from University of Southern Louisiana, 1950; MS in aeronautical engineering, Air Force Institute of Technology. Colonel in USAF, married, three children, selected for X-20 Dynasoar in 1962. Selected for MOL Group 1 in 1965. After cancellation of MOL in 1969, Crews transferred to NASA Flight Crew Operations at the Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas. He remained at NASA as a pilot until his retirement at age 65.

• MOL 3 - - 1972 Early - Assignment: Proposed Prime Crew.

  At the time of the cancellation of the MOL program in June 1969, the first manned mission was planned for early 1972. A crew of two would have spent thirty days in orbit operating sophisticated military reconnaisance equipment and other experiments. Walt Williams told Michael Cassutt that Jim Taylor would have commanded the first MOL flight, and given Williams's background in flight test operations, Mercury. and Gemini, that call was pretty much his at that time. As for the pilot, Al Crews, a holdover from the Dynasoar program, is considered by Cassutt as good a guess as any.