Iven Carl Kincheloe, Jr.

Infobox Astronaut
name =Iven Carl Kincheloe, Jr.
type =USAF Astronaut

---

nationality =American
date_birth =July 2, 1928
date_death =July 26, 1958
place_birth =Detroit, Michigan
place_death =Edwards Air Force Base, California
occupation =Test Pilot
rank =Captain, USAF
selection =1958 MISS Group
time =
mission =None
insignia =

Iven Carl "Kinch" Kincheloe, Jr. [Iven Carl Kincheloe, Jr. is on his [http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/kinchel.htm grave marker] at Arlington National Cemetery. However, his first name is sometimes spelled Ivan. cite web|last=Bryan|first=C. D. B.|year=1979-09-23|url=http://www.nytimes.com/1979/09/23/books/1979wolfe-right.html|title=The Right Stuff|publisher=The New York Times|accessdate=2006-04-02 ("The Right Stuff", however, consistently uses Iven). cite web|year=1997|url=http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/crippen-rl.html|title=Astronaut bio: Robert L. Crippen|publisher=NASA, Johnson Space Center|accessdate=2006-04-02] (July 2, 1928cite web|last=Burns|first=Curtis A.|year=1975|url=http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/afp/kinch.htm|title=Capt. Iven C. Kincheloe, Jr.|publisher=National Museum of the United States Air Force|accessdate=2006-04-02] – July 26, 1958cite web|url=http://www.af.mil/history/person.asp?dec=&pid=123006465|title=Captain Iven C. Kincheloe Jr.|publisher=Air Force Link|accessdate=2006-04-02] ) was an American test pilot, recipient of the Silver Star and Distinguished Flying Cross, and a double ace in the Korean War.

Early life

Kincheloe was born in Detroit, Michigan but grew up in Cassopolis, Michigan. He was interested in aircraft from a very young age. He attended Purdue University, where he majored in aeronautical engineering, joined the ROTC and was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon-Indiana Alpha fraternity. In the summer of 1948, the ROTC cadet was able to meet Chuck Yeager and sit in the cockpit of the Bell X-1.

Korean War

After graduating in 1949, Kincheloe received his commission in the U.S. Air Force. He spent a year as a test pilot flying the F-86E at Edwards Air Force Base before being promoted to first lieutenant and transferred to Korea in September 1951. During the war, he flew F-80s on 30 missions and F-86s on 101 missions, downing five MiG-15s (becoming an ace and earning the Silver Star) before returning to the U.S. in May 1952. At this time, he had reached the rank of captain.

Post-war career

After the war, he again became a test pilot, participating in the testing of F-100 Super Sabre, the F-101 Voodoo, the F-102 Delta Dagger, the F-104 Starfighter, the F-105 Thunderchief, and the F-106 Delta Dart. In the mid-1950s, Kincheloe joined the Bell X-2 program and on September 7, 1956,cite book|last=Taylor|first=Michael J.H.|coauthors=Christopher Chant (other chapters)|title=The world's greatest aircraft|year=1999|publisher=Regency House Publishing Ltd.|location=Hertfordshire|language=English|id=ISBN 1-85605-523-X|pages=388|chapter=The chronology of flight 1940 to 1999-03-25|quote=The Bell X-2 research aircraft is flown by Capt. Iven C. Kincheloe to an altitude of 126,200 ft (38,466m).] flew at more than convert|2000|mi/h|km/h|abbr=on and to a height of convert|126200|ft|m (some sources list 126,500), the first flight ever above 100 000 feet. For this he was nicknamed "America's No. 1 Spaceman". The X-2 program was halted just three weeks later after a fatal crash resulted in the death of Mel Apt in a flight in which Apt became the first person to exceed Mach 3. Three years later, Kincheloe was selected as one of the first three pilots in the next rocket-powered aircraft program, the X-15, and would have been part of the Man In Space Soonest project. He was killed in the crash of an F-104A at Edwards Air Force Base, and was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

Legacy

In September 1959, Kincheloe Air Force Base in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan was renamed in his honor; the base closed in September 1977. A monument also stands a few miles east of his hometown of Cassopolis, Michigan; it is an angular stone slab twelve feet high bearing a silver model of the X-2 pointed skyward. In 1992, he was inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor.

The Iven C. Kincheloe Award is named in his honor.

ee also

*List of Korean War air aces
*Elmer W. Harris, fellow Korean squadron pilot

References

External links

* [http://www.acepilots.com/korea/kincheloe.html Korean War Aces]
* [http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=1113 USAF Museum]
* [http://www.combatsim.com/memb123/htm/2002/07/flak/ Story about exploits @ CombatSim]
* [http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060907/News01/609070412 "Cassopolis native first man in space"] - "South Bend Tribune", September 7, 2006
* [http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060924/News01/609240424 "Kincheloe monument restored, rededicated"] - "South Bend Tribune", September 24, 2006
* [http://www.afa.org/magazine/Sept2006/0906aces.pdf Photograh of Kincheloe with other pilots of his squadron wearing red caps and scarves] , "Sabres and Aces", "Air Force Magazine", Sept. 2006, p. 81.
* [http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/kinchel.htm Iven Carl Kincheloe, Jr.] Photograph of his grave marker at Arlington National Cemetery, with brief biography.