Word: pilot
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...plane as a youngster ("It was in the family"), has logged 3,000 military flight hours (1,700 in jets). He flew 90 Korean combat missions (one MIG downed, one Distinguished Flying Cross, two Air Medals), served in peacetime as a Navy carrier flight instructor, as a test pilot helped develop a whole family of transonic jets: the Cutlass, the Fury, the Demon. Most recent assignment: test pilot for the new Mach 2 F4H McDonnell fighter. Last week Schirra's son, Marty, 8, chortled to his third-grade classmates: "My Dad is going on a rocket to the moon...
...Christian Scientist. Born: East Derry, N.H.; graduated U.S. Naval Academy, '44 (462nd in a class of 913). In World War II, Al Shepard saw Pacific combat on the destroyer Cogswell, then won his wings ('47), and after a Mediterranean tour with the fleet qualified as a test pilot, flew high-altitude research missions, helped develop the Navy's in-flight refueling system and carrier landings of the F2H-3 Banshee. With 3,600 flight hours (1,700 in jets), he was tapped as a fast-rising comer, sent to the Naval War College ('58), then...
...brown hair. Methodist. Born: Shawnee, Okla. After a hitch in the Marines he attended the University of Hawaii, got an Army commission, transferred to the Air Force. Rolled up 2,300 flying hours (1,400 in jets), graduated Air Force Institute of Technology, '56 (aeronautical engineering), was test pilot for experimental fighters at Edwards Air Force Base...
...mechanical engineering). "Gus" Grissom broke in as a World War II air cadet, then went back to school, rejoined in 1950, flew 100 Korean combat missions (D.F.C., two Air Medals). Later he took advanced work in aeronautical engineering at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio, became a test pilot, logged up 3,200 flight hours (2,100 in jets). Says he: "My career has been in service to my country, and here is another opportunity to serve...
...aviation cadet in 1942, in World War II bombed Europe (56 missions) and Japan (seven missions), won two Air Medals. Discharged, he went back to school, put in 1½ years as aeronautical engineer for Boeing aircraft. Recalled in 1951, he served in Germany, was picked as a test pilot, recorded 3,400 flight hours (2,000 in jets). Says he: "We have gone about as far as we can on this globe. We have to go somewhere, and space is all that is left." And he adds: "I would give my left arm to be the first...