Captain Iven C. Kincheloe, Jr.

U.S. Air Force

Cassopolis, Michigan

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Iven Carl Kincheloe received his commission in the U.S. Air Force from the R.O.T.C. program at Purdue University in LaFayette, Indiana, in 1949. He graduated with degrees in mechanical and aeronautical engineering. He began his pilot training at Randolph Field, Texas, in the same year, and went on to Air Force Jet Fighter School at Williams Air Force Base, Arizona, where he received his wings. In 1951 and 1952 Iven served with the 4th and 51st Fighter Wings in Korea, completing 30 missions as an F-80 “Shooting Star” pilot and 101 combat missions as an F-86 “Saber Jet” pilot. Captain Kincheloe was America’s 10th Jet Ace in Korea, and at 23, the youngest Ace of the Korean War with five air victories, five destroyed on the ground, and eleven damaged Migs. After Korea “Kinch” went on to England for test pilot’s school. In 1955 he was assigned to Edwards Air Force Base as a test pilot. Captain Iven Kincheloe won world fame when he piloted the Bell X-2 rocket research plane to a world altitude record of 126,200 feet on September 7, 1956. Better than 95% of the plane was above the earth’s atmosphere, making Kincheloe the “first spaceman.” Captain Kincheloe was designated as the prime pilot for the X-15, then being readied for super high altitude flights. On July 26, 1958, just 24 days after his 30th birthday, Iven Kincheloe was killed in an air accident while flying as chase pilot at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert, California, when his F-104 crashed near Rosamond Dry Lake. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on August 1, 1958. In 1959 Kincheloe Air Force Base in Michigan was named to honor Captain Iven Carl Kincheloe