IVEN C. KINCHELOE, JR., USAF

Iven Carl Kincheloe, Jr., was born on 2 July 1928 in Detroit, Michigan. In 1945 he entered Purdue University, where he studied aeronautical engineering as a member of the Air Force ROTC unit. He graduated in 1949 with bachelor of science degree in aeronautical and mechanical engineering.-1161

Kincheloe received his wings at Williams AFB, Arizona, in 1951. In early 1952 he was promoted to captain and entered the Korean War with the 5th Interceptor Wing. He flew 131 missions and shot down five MiG-15s, becoming the 10th jet ace. For his outstanding service he received the Silver Star and the Distinguished Flying Cross with two oak leaf clusters. After he returned to the United States, Kincheloe was a gunnery instructor at Nellis AFB, Nevada, and in 1953 he was accepted into the Empire Test School in Farnborough, England. While in England, he received a master of science degree in aeronautical engineering from Oxford in December 1954.-117

Kincheloe flew the X-2 to an altitude of 126,200 feet, and became famous as "America’s first spaceman." On 27 March Kincheloe was named chief of the manned spacecraft section, fighter operations branch, of the flight-test operations division that was responsible for training the Air Force pilots who were to participate in the X-15 flight program. Kincheloe became the first Air Force project pilot for the X-15; unfortunately, however, he died before he had a chance to fly the airplane. On 26 July 1958, Kincheloe took off on a routine chase mission in an F-104. At 2,000 feet altitude the engine failed. Although Kincheloe was able to roll the airplane inverted to enable the downward-firing ejection seat, he was too low for his parachute to open.

A biography of Kincheloe, First of the Spacemen: Iven C. Kincheloe, Jr., by James J. Haggerty, Jr. (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1960), was published in 1960, and a CD-ROM biography of "Kinch" was aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-70 in July 1995.

During the course of his career, Kincheloe accumulated 3,573 flying hours in 70 American and foreign aircraft. Numerous honors followed his death. One of the most meaningful came from his peers, when the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP) renamed its prestigious Outstanding Pilot Award in his honor. His most public tribute, however, took place far away in his home state when Kinross AFB in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula was renamed Kincheloe AFB in his memory.-1181