Military / Science & invention
Iven Carl Kincheloe Jr.
1928–1958 · test pilot, Air Force officer
Korean War ace and test pilot called 'the First Spaceman' after flying the Bell X-2 to a record altitude in 1956; born in Detroit.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
Edwards Air Force Base, California
aged 30- Also known as
- Iven Kincheloe · Kinch
- Field
- Military, Science & invention
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Kincheloe was born in Detroit in 1928 but grew up in Cassopolis, in southwestern Michigan, as the only child of his parents; fascinated by flying from early childhood, he graduated from Dowagiac High School in 1945 and studied aeronautical engineering at Purdue. As an Air Force fighter pilot in the Korean War he became an ace. He then trained as a test pilot and joined the Bell X-2 rocket-plane program, and on September 7, 1956, he flew the X-2 to 126,200 feet, above more than 99 percent of Earth's atmosphere, a feat that earned him the nickname 'the First Spaceman.' He was chosen for the Air Force's program to put a man in space and was slated to fly the X-15, but he was killed in July 1958 when his F-104 Starfighter failed on takeoff at Edwards Air Force Base. Kincheloe Air Force Base in Michigan's Upper Peninsula was named for him in 1959.
Highlights
- Flew the Bell X-2 to a record altitude of 126,200 feet (1956)
- Nicknamed 'the First Spaceman'
- Flying ace in the Korean War
- Kincheloe Air Force Base, Michigan, named for him (1959–1977)
- Born in Detroit, 1928; raised in Cassopolis, Michigan