True Heroes

Cold Calculating Courage

Exploring the Men

Who Made the Space Race

What It Was

John Paul Stapp

G-Loads, Wind Blast, Pure Speed

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stapp One of the Originators of the Crash Test Dummy, Fastest man on Land, Volunteer Human Guinea Pig, Major Person behind Seat Belt Development.

http://www.ejectionsite.com/stapp.htm Test Photo and Best article on Stapp and Test runs. by  Nick T. Spark

http://hometown.aol.com/ntspark/myhomepage/Regulus-Missile.html Nick T. Spark's Site on Regulus Missiles.

http://www.af.mil/history/person.asp?dec=&pid=123006472 USAF Page on Stapp

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=1136 1959 Fact sheet by USAF on Stapp

Col. David G. Simons
Balloon Master, Project Man High
Pain Specialist

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Manhigh Short with good links to pages such as.

http://www.ispyspace.com/Project_Manhigh.html Definitive History and

http://www.ispyspace.com/Manhigh_II_50th.html

http://web.mac.com/bemidji2/iWeb/Site/Man%20High%20Photos.html
Tribute Photo Set From 50th Anniversary Celebration

http://web.mac.com/bemidji2/iWeb/Site/About%20Man%20High/About%20Man%20High.html
About Man High a Complex website of Stories and Photos  documenting the High Altitude Balloon Flights Fifty Years Ago as of 2007

http://www.nmspacemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.php?id=93 Bio

http://history.nasa.gov/afspbio/top.htm Cover sheet NASA History Office

http://history.nasa.gov/afspbio/contents.htm History of Research in Space Biology and Biodynamics Definitive write-up NASA History Office

http://www.sover.net/~devstar/mentor.htm by a Doctor who Followed in Dr Simmons Footsteps in the Study of Pain.

http://www.librarything.com/authorgallery.php?view=tbirdshockeyfan A Few Noted Authors in Photographs, Statues, sketches Worth a look.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animals_in_space The True Pioneers

"Jumping Joe"
Joseph William Kittinger II

Balloon Master, High Jumper, Combat Pilot 3 Tours Nam, POW Hanoi Hilton 11 Months

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kittinger The Big First Step 102,800 Ft Straight Down. Project Excelsior.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Excelsior Many Links

About the Project. Some Good Photos.

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=562 Excelsior Gondola Replica at AF Museum.

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=1114 The Bio. for Jumping Joe

http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Explorers_Record_Setters_and_Daredevils/Kittinger/EX31.htm
A good bio on "Jumping Joe"

http://www.centennialofflight.gov/index2.cfm US Centennial of Flight Commission Home Page

http://nationalaviation.blade6.donet.com/components/content_manager_v02/view_nahf/htdocs/menu_ps.asp?NodeID=1224359112&group_ID=1134656385&Parent_ID=-1

NAHF Joseph Kittinger Jr National Aviation Hall of Fame page on Joe.
Too long a web address for comfort so double the links.

http://nationalaviation.blade6.donet.com/ National Aviation Hall of Fame
Short form should work to hit their home page it scrolls out a web address two screens wide when it loads. Inductee Lists below.

Eras  Early Years | WWI | Golden Age | WWII | Jet Age | Space Age

 http://stratocat.com.ar/indexe.html Current High Altitude Balloon Events plus some history.

http://stratocat.com.ar/bases/usae.htm US Balloon Launch Sites List.

http://www.rb-29.net/index.htm Unsung Heroes Eyes in the Sky.

Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager

Fighter Pilot ETO WWII, POW, Test Pilot, First to Fly Faster than the speed of Sound For the Record on the Level, Others May have done by Accident or in Vertical Dives

http://www.acepilots.com/usaaf_yeager.html  WWII Experience 

http://www.acepilots.com/usaaf_yeager2.html#top His Record Flights

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Yeager Massive Wiki Page about Brigadier General  Yeager

 http://www.chuckyeager.com/ His Own Website

http://history.nasa.gov/x1/chuck.html One Page NASA Blurb

http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Explorers_Record_Setters_and_Daredevils/yeager/EX30.htm

NAHF Charles "Chuck" Yeager

http://members.tripod.com/derekhorne/yeagerx1.html Fan Website with some good Tidbits of info it has format and link problems to some of the Pictures otherwise a good site.

Albert Scott Crossfield

Naval Aviator, Flight Instructor, Test Pilot, First Man to Fly Faster than Mach 2, Chief Engineering Test Pilot for North American Aviation's X-15 Project, Helped Design the Apollo Command and Service Modules, In his Own Words "I am an aeronautical engineer, an aerodynamicist and a designer. Scott was Killed in a Single Plane crash  19, April 2006 See link for details.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Crossfield Complete Bio

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/improvingflight/crossfield.html Obituary

http://www.ntsb.gov/Pressrel/prsrel2007.htm National Transportation Safety Board Press release listings Scott Crossfield's accident listed on 27, Sept 2007

http://www.ntsb.gov/Pressrel/2007/070927.htm Basic Summery Page

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20060501X00494&key=1 Full Report

http://www.scottcrossfieldfoundation.org/ Scott Crossfield Foundation "encouraging further achievements in aerospace education" carrying the Dream of Flight to the next Generation

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/FactSheets/FS-035-DFRC.html Rocket Aircraft used in First Mach 2 test Flights

http://www.centennialofflight.gov/user/news_releases/press_fastestMan.htm

"FASTEST MAN ALIVE" RECALLS 50th ANNIVERSARY OF HISTORIC FLIGHT

http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/D-558-2/index.html Photo link page

http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/index.html Main photo gallery page well worth many visits as it is the Official source for NASA Flight Test Photos

"This collection contains digitized photos of many of the unique research aircraft flown at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, California. These images date from the 1940s to the present. No copyright protection is asserted for these photographs. See Using NASA Imagery and Linking to NASA Web Sites for more information. Multiple resolutions are available. All are 24-bit color JPEGs. The FAQ will answer some frequently asked questions."

http://history.nasa.gov/x15/cover.html X-15 Project History  NASA Mach 3 plus Research Rocket Plane

http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/X-15/index.html NASA Photo Set

http://nationalaviation.blade6.donet.com/components/content_manager_v02/view_nahf/htdocs/menu_ps.asp?NodeID=-574054513&group_ID=1134656385&Parent_ID=-1

NAHF A. Scott Crossfield Record setter /Test Pilot Vast improvements in Aviation Safety Due to Scott's Efforts.

http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Safety_Issues/others/index.htm The Safety Page from the International Aviation Safety Association.

http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/menu/index.htm the International Aviation Safety Association.

http://www.faa.gov/news/speeches/news_story.cfm?newsId=7170

Speech to International Society of Air Safety Investigators

"Downward Pressure on the Accident Rate"
Nicholas A. Sabatini, Herndon, VA
May 12, 2006  Scott is mentioned in 6th from last paragraph with an explanation of why the build them, fly them find out what you did wrong philosophy is no longer good enough

http://www.faa.gov/ Federal Aviation Administration

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/Biographies/Pilots/bd-dfrc-p021.html Official Dryden Obit for Scott.

http://www.space.com/news/cs_060420_crossfield_obit.html More Useful sites

http://www.avweb.com/news/profiles/182924-1.html March 21, 2001 Profile and Interview by Joe Godfrey of Scott Crossfield see box below excerpted and Modified from interview page.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0189321/ Internet Movie Data Base listing for Scott. He did 2 Pieces "Test Pilots" in 1989 on VHS and "Spaceflight" in 1985 for TV. Current Availability unknown.

http://www.astronautix.com/astros/crofield.htm Bio and List of Flights

http://www.astronautix.com/ Encyclopedia Astronautica

25,498 pages - 9,398 images and growing.

http://www.firstflight.org/shrine/scott_crossfield.cfm First to Fly Three times the speed of sound.

http://www.firstflight.org/index.cfm First Flight Society

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/ascrossfield.htm Arlington National Cemetery Tribute Site page on Scott details of crash and disposition of aircraft.

 http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/ Arlington National Cemetery Tribute Site A Private Effort Well Worth the Look With Beautiful Pictures and Poetry.
 

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/astronau.htm American Astronauts buried at Arlington National Cemetery

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Scott-Crossfield X-15 accidents listed Which  Scott survived.

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=A.%20Scott%20Crossfield&page=1 Current Listing of books Scott helped write.

Iven Carl Kincheloe, Jr. Test Pilot, F-86 Ace Korean War, Pilot in Bell X-2 Project, First to Fly above 100,000 Ft., Selected for Astronaut Training, Killed in F-104A Crash

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/kinchel.htm Tribute page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iven_Carl_Kincheloe,_Jr. Good Page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_X-2 General History very good.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_%22Skip%22_Ziegler Jean "Skip" Ziegler Killed in Captive Flight test of X-2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milburn_G._Apt Milburn G. Apt Killed in Mach 3 Test Flight of Bell X-2 Achieved Mach 3 in a dive.

Cause of Aircraft loss Inertia coupling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inertia_coupling

http://www.chuckyeager.com/specialfeatures/X-1A1.htm A Set of pages which Describe Chuck Yeager's near Fatal Flight in the X-1A1 where Inertial Coupling Reared it's Ugly head. Full Flight transcript on Pages.

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/FactSheets/FS-079-DFRC.html Bell X-2 Starbuster Fact sheet. NASA Dryden

http://history.nasa.gov/monograph31.pdf American X-Vehicles an Inventory X-1 to X-50 Centennial of Flight Edition. A 65 page PDF document.

 http://www.afa.org/magazine/Sept2006/0906aces.pdf Another PDF Korean War Color Photos 9 pages. Photo Iven on page 5 with his squadron mates.

The 6555th Aerospace Test Wing
Missile and Space Launches Through 1970

by Mark C. Cleary

Click on shield

http://www.fas.org/spp/military/program/other.htm

http://www.fas.org/spp/military/program/index.html

http://www.fas.org/spp/index.html

http://www.fas.org/index.html

Federation of American Scientists
Useful but sometimes out of date
Source of information

John Herschel Glenn Jr.,
"Magnet Ass"

WW II Marine Transport and Fighter Pilot 59 Combat Missions in F4U Corsairs, Flight Instructor, 63 combat Missions in Korea Flying F9F Panthers, Second tour 27 Missions In F86 Sabers  with USAF Getting 3 MiG-15 Kills in Last 9 days before the Cease Fire, Test Pilot NAS Pax River Testing Weapons at various altitudes, First Mach 1+ Supersonic Transcontinental Flight in a Vought F8U1 Crusader as part of Project Bullet, Selected For Astronaut Training by NASA as part of project Mercury, 3rd Us Astronaut to fly in space First US Astronaut to Orbit the Earth, US Senator, Oldest US Citizen to Fly in Space at 77 on the STS-95 flight by Space Shuttle Discovery

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Glenn Very Good Starter Page.

http://www.johnglennhome.org/john_glenn.shtml Part of the The John and Annie Glenn Museum Foundation Pages

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronaut_Hall_of_Fame Facts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:U.S._Astronaut_Hall_of_Fame_Inductees Updated each May.

http://www.aeroengineer.net/history/f8/f8bullet.html Project Bullet Brief Report

http://home.att.net/~jbaugher1/f8_3.html Vought F8U-1P (RF-8A) Crusader Brief History

http://cr4.globalspec.com/blogentry/6327/July-16-1957-John-Glenn-s-Transcontinental-Supersonic-Flight More flight details

http://www.voughtaircraft.com/heritage/products/html/f8u-1.html Manufacturers site

http://www.voughtaircraft.com/  and http://www.voughtaircraft.com/museum/index.htm Current Vought Company Resources online.

http://library.osu.edu/sites/archives/glenn/glenn.php John Glenn Archives

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/bios/glennbio.html NASA Biography for John H. Glenn

http://www.voughtaircraft.com/heritage/special/index.html Aircraft, Weapons etc of Note.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Mercury Take a Week to check all the Links out.

http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mercury/mercury.htm Take another week to check out the official history.

http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mercury/ Mercury 7 Archives at NASA

http://www.thespaceplace.com/history/mercury2.html Additional Source on flights.

NAHF John H. Glenn Jr. National aviation Hall of Fame Bio

http://www.acepilots.com/korea_glenn.html Combat record

Aircraft Glenn Flew

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F8F_Bearcat Pax River NAS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FR_Fireball Pax River NAS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F4U_Corsair Combat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-86_Sabre Combat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F9F_Panther Combat

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mercury/index.html NASA Mission History for Project Mercury

http://history.nasa.gov/40thmerc7/intro.htm 40th anniversary of Astronaut selection for Project Mercury

http://www.nasa.gov/missions/index.html NASA Mission Index Past, current and Future Flights

http://www.navair.navy.mil/ Patuxent River NAS Website Home of Naval Air Systems Command the Fact sheets list current issued systems.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Air_Station_Patuxent_River Base History

http://www.navair.navy.mil/nawcad/ Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division

Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( Wernher von Braun)

German Rocket Engineer, Visionary Pioneer, Hardware Man, Father of Saturn V Moon Rockets

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun Good Bio.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V  The Big Bird

http://history.nasa.gov/ap11ann/kippsphotos/saturn5.html Image set Apollo 11 Moon Landing Flight.

http://www.apolloarchive.com/apollo_gallery.html NASA Apollo Moon Flight Photo Archive huge archive of all mission including untitled Hasselblad Camera photos taken during the flights.

Neil Alden Armstrong

Naval Aviator Korean War Flying F9F Panthers, NACA Test Pilot logging over 900 test Flights, BS aeronautical engineering from Purdue University and a Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from USC, Pilot Consultant on the X-20 Dyna-Soar Project, X-15 Pilot, Project Gemini Astronaut, Project Apollo Astronaut, First Human To set Foot on the Moon. Deputy Associate Administrator for aeronautics for DARPA 18 Months, University Professor of Aerospace Engineering at University of Cincinnati for 8 years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Armstrong Bio

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-20_Dyna-Soar Project Details

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_5 Backup crew

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_8 A Wild Ride

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_11 Crew Trainer and CAPCOM for Mission

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Landing_Research_Vehicle High Danger and Serious Practice for Moon landing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:LLTV_crash.jpg A Test Pilot Punching Out of a LLTV Variant of the Device

http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/LLTV-952.html Surviving Machine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11 The Real Deal: First Steps on the Moon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11_in_popular_culture The Public Reaction.

http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/main.html Apollo Lunar Surface Journal By Those who Flew the Missions with Massive backup of Archive material including Crew Training Manuals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA Neil spent 18 months here.

http://www.darpa.mil/ DARPA Home Page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Cincinnati  where he taught for eight years

http://ohsweb.ohiohistory.org/places/nw01/index.shtml Neil Armstrong Air & Space Museum

Buzz Aldrin

USAF Jet Jockey 66 Combat Mission in Korea 2 MiG Kills, Graduate of the US Military Academy West Point NY, Aerial Gunnery Instructor Nellis Air Force base, Assistant to The dean at the Air Force Academy, PhD in Astronautics from MIT with a thesis entitled Line-of-sight guidance techniques for manned orbital rendezvous http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/12652 Read only PDF Download successful page 69 of paper is missing from archive copy Contained formulas from an outside source listed in text an some commentary on it. How to find and rendezvous with an orbiting body.

He Returned to the Air force with assignments to the Gemini Target Office of the Air Force Space Systems Division in Los Angeles Followed by Test Pilot School at Edwards AF Base.

He was Selected in the Third Class of Astronauts in Oct 1963 and was back up on Gemini 9A helping the Crew successfully complete it's mission with revised orbital calculations.

Gemini 12 Pilot with Massive new training methods for a successful EVA Program on that Mission. Methods he Pioneered are still in use today.

Second Human to Step on the Moon/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Point Basic Info and History

http://www.usma.edu/ Academy Website

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_9A Back-up

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_12 Pilot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11 Lunar Module Pilot

Locations And Organizations

White Sands Missile Range

(Originally White sands Proving Ground)

http://www.wsmr.army.mil/wsmr.asp Official Site

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Sands_Missile_Range Short Page

http://www.vivanewmexico.com/sw.wsmr.html Old page With Visitor briefing for tourists

http://www.wsmr-history.org/History.htm Official Site History

http://www.wsmr-history.org/index.htm White Sands Missile Range Museum Pages

Side Note the First atomic Bomb was tested at the Trinity Site half way up the east edge of the range fan.

http://www.fullbooks.com/Trinity-Atomic-Test-Sitex2979.html

Cape Canaveral

http://www.astronautix.com/sites/capveral.htm General History with Launch Site coordinates and rough listing of launches.

http://www.spaceline.org/capehistory.html Pre space, Early Launches, Later Launches and future plans in three sections.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Canaveral Land History

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Canaveral_Air_Force_Station USAF side of Base

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy_Space_Center NASA operational area.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Canaveral,_Florida City Information.

http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/visitKSC/NASAtours/thenNow.asp Take a Tour.

http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/ Visitor Homepage for NASA Kennedy Space Center.

http://history.nasa.gov/ NASA History site.

http://www.nasa.gov/ Main NASA Home Page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA Large Detailed Page.

This is a Work in Progress
Recommendations accepted.

Name Order is as They Catch My Eye While Surfing

http://www.acepilots.com/index.html#top
Pilots with Five Confirmed Air To Air Kills

Ejection Seats
&
Escape Systems

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ejection_seat A Good General History.

http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/ Project Get out and Walk.

http://webs.lanset.com/aeolusaero/Articles/seat_history.htm Another good History Site.

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/equip/eject.htm Description of Operation and A Risk Assessment List

http://www.ejectionsite.com/frame_safe2002.htm SAFE Association Web Page with Individual system Details.

http://safeassociation.com/ Safe Association.

About SAFE

Original Name: Space and Flight Equipment Association - 1956
Name Changed to: Survival and Flight Equipment Association - Dec 1969
Name Changed to: SAFE Association - Nov 1976

http://www.ejectorseats.co.uk/milestones_in_ejection_seat_hist.htm  Martin Baker Aircraft Ltd. 7000 Successful use of a Martin Baker Ejection Seat.

http://www.martin-baker.co.uk/ Ejection Seat Maker Since WW II.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin-Baker Overview of Company.

http://www.zvezda-npp.ru/english/00.htm Russian Designer and Maker of K-36DM Ejection Seat System One of the Best Ejection Seats currently in Service.

http://www.caterpillarclub.org/irvin/irvin.htm What is the Caterpillar Club?

http://www.caterpillarclub.org/ the Caterpillar Club

http://www.ejectorseats.co.uk/ Eject Eject Site a Fantastic source of information For those in Charge of Displays at Museums, Collectors of Aircraft System, people with a serious need to know what has already been tried before.

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=104719 Ongoing discussion.

http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA380710
Defense Technical Information Center Abstract.

http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/ Defense Technical Information Center Main Page. For those with Clearances in Order and a Certified Need to Know.

http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/M2-F1/HTML/EC97-44183-4.html M2-F1 Lifting Body Ejection Seat development. NASA Dryden Flight Research Center.

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/home/index.html NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. Main Page.

http://ejectionseat.topflightimaging.com/ A Pair of Martin Baker MK-H7  USAF Ejection Seats Both from the Aft Position in F4-G's owned by a Private Collector.

http://topflightimaging.com/index1.html Aviation and Train Buff Paradise Tons of Photos.

First Posted 31, Aug 2008

Reposted on 11, September 2008