This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Death Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/JW.2ADE/8496 Message Board Post: Edwards Captain Dies in Crash Captain Iven C Kincheloe, experimental test pilot assigned to the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base, was killed on July 26, when the F-I04 he was ,flying crashed near Rosamond Dry Lake, some 10 miles from the main runway in the southwest corner of this Air Force facility. After normal take-off at 9:15 a.m., Captain Kincheloe was proceeding in a southwesterly direction toward Palmdale on a test support mission when the crash occurred. An investigation into the cause of the accident, begun shortly after the crash, is stilI underway. Captain Kincheloe had been designated as the Air Force pilot on the X-15 Program. Captain Iven C.. Kincheloe was born on July 2, 1928, in Detroit, Michigan. He entereg the Air Force from the Air ROTC program at Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana in 1949. While in college he was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon and the Lettermen's Club and, participated in both football and track. He graduated with degrees in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering. He began his pilot training, at Randolph Field, Texas, in 1949, and received his wings at. the Air Force Jet Fighter School, Williams Air Force Base, Chandler, Arizona. In 1951 and 1952 Captain Kinchelae served with the 4th and 51st Fighter Wings in Korea. He completed 101 combat missions in the North American F-86 fighter and 30 missions in the Lockheed F-80 fighter. Captain Kincheloe was Americas 10th Jet Ace in Korea with credit of ten aircraft destroyed; one probable destroyed, and eleven damaged. His medals and ribbons include the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying' Cross with two Oak Leaf Clusters and four Air Medals. From 1952 to 1953 Captain Kincheloe served as an instructor in the Gunnery School, NelIis Air Force Base, Nevada, and in 1953 and 1954 he completed the course in the School of Aeronautics, Empire Test Pilot School, Farnborough, England. He served as an e exchange. officer with the Royal Air Force. The Captain was assigned to Edwards AFB on 25 January 1955 as an experimental Flight Test Piilot in Fighter Operations Branch AFFTC, Edwards Air Force Base, California, and was the Air Force Project Officer on the F -106 and was one of the two Air Force Project Officers on the F-I04. He had participated in the flight development of all the present "Century" series aircraft for the Air Force and was one of the project pilots assigned to the Bell X-2 research rocket plane which he flew to an altitude of 126.200 feet on September 7, 1956. This still stands as a world's record. He was awarded the Mackay Trophy for "accomplishing the most meritorious flight" of l956 by a member of the Air Force. He had flown over 70 different types of aircraft, both American and foreign. Captain Kincheloe's technical background included membership in the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences, American Rocket Society and the American Society of MechanicaI Engineers. Capain Kincheloe is survived by his wife. Dorothy, and one child, Robert Karl 1½ . His parents, Mr. and Mrs. I\ven C. Kincheloe, Senior live near Cassopolis, Michigan. Memorial services were held in the Edwards Base Chapel, 4:00 p.m. Tuesday. Captain Kincheloe will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va. Posted by East Kern Genealogical Society Courtesy of Mojave Desert News California City, Kern, CA Published: 31 Jul 1958