Word: gehlbach
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...last things Test Pilot James H. ("Jimmy") Collins did before his final, fatal power dive was to list the crack U.S. test pilots. High on his list was Lee Gehlbach of Great Lakes Aircraft Corp., whom Collins rated "one of the ablest in the field" (TIME, April 1). Few weeks ago able Pilot Gehlbach announced he would take Jimmy Collins' risky place testing a new Navy fighter for Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp. at Farmingdale...
...such talk Pilot Gehlbach's answer is blunt and brief: "I'll fly anything, anytime, anywhere, for money, marbles or chalk...
Last week he took the single-seater experimental fighter to the Navy's proving ground at Dahlgren, Va. for final acceptance tests. Carefully "beefed up" to withstand the terrific strain of power dives and pullouts, the ship was built to outperform and outfight any combat plane in existence. Gehlbach took it up 12,000 ft., kicked it over into a tight spin. The plane never came...
...Gehlbach wrestling with the control stick, vainly trying it at every conceivable position," Commander De Witt C. Ramsey, the Navy's official observer, told newsmen afterward. "Using an old pilot's trick, he even stood upright in the cockpit, hoping the wind pressure on his body would right the plane. Finally, at 2,000 ft., with the earth rushing at him 200 ft. a second, he bailed out and descended easily while the plane hurtled into a nearby pine tree...
...Gehlbach, test pilot for Great Lakes Aircraft Corp., well-known racing pilot. Collins rated him "one of the ablest in the field...