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Template:Infobox Astronaut Iven Carl Kincheloe, Jr.^[1] (July 2, 1928^[2] – July 26, 1958^[3]), nicknamed "Kinch", was an American test pilot, recipient of the Silver Star and DFC, and a double ace in the Korean War.^[3]

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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 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.

[edit] 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,^[4] flew at more than 2 000 mph and to a height of 126 200^[2][4] or 126 500^[3] feet, 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 AFB, and was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

[edit] 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.

[edit] See also

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

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Korean War Aces
• USAF Museum
• Story about exploits @ CombatSim
• "Cassopolis native first man in space" - South Bend Tribune, September 7, 2006
• "Kincheloe monument restored, rededicated" - South Bend Tribune, September 24, 2006
• Photograh of Kincheloe with other pilots of his squadron wearing red caps and scarves, "Sabres and Aces", Air Force Magazine, Sept. 2006, p. 81.
• Iven Carl Kincheloe, Jr. Photograph of his grave marker at Arlington National Cemetery, with brief biography.sl:Iven Carl Kincheloe mlajši