“Kittinger gave freely of his time to help other record attempts, including Red Bull’s Felix Baumgartner’s breaking of Kittinger’s own free-fall altitude record in 2012.”
It’s a man of integrity and truly committed to a cause who will give freely of his time to help with other record attempts, including attempts that might break his own record. We should all be so selfless.
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The1950’s was truly an amazing time for aviation. The shear magnitude of the leaps in technology in such a short time, I would argue will never be equaled. However many of those amazing achievements needed guys, like Joe Kittinger, putting their life on the line to move the needle.
A true hero of aviation!
Long ago I had the opportunity to enjoy a flight in a New Standard D-25, which featured a front cockpit that was actually a “conversation pit.” Pilot In Command - Joe Kittinger. That’s right, Col. Joe Kittinger, one of my aviation heroes, was barnstorming, hopping rides at a fly-in, including the most graceful, slow-motion lazy 8s ever. Before the flight I asked him “Are you Joe Kittinger, the balloon pilot?” He smiled just a bit and said “That’s me.” At the time I did not know about his service during the Vietnam war, nor about his time as a POW. We exchanged a few sentences, in which I let him know I considered his Excelsior jumps to be acts of unbelieveable courage. He let me know he was just fulfilling his assignment, to a favorable conclusion.
RIP Col Kittinger, who undoubtedly was an inspiration for countless kids growing up in the early 60s. What an amazing life and career.
A piece from today’s best aviation writer about one of the giants of our past. Reading this was a great way to start the day. Thank you, Paul.
The key to a long life, well into your 90’s, seems to be, as Hoover, Yeager, and now Kittinger have demonstrated, is to do insanely risky and dangerous things during your working career! I think that shows how special they were, to survive it all, and still be around decades later, they were probably also amazed.
Outstanding man and an outstanding article about him. Thanks Paul!
Deke Slayton flew 56 combat missions in the European theater in B-25s during WWII so Glenn was not the only “Original Seven” that flew in WWII. I recall seeing his leather jacket in some museum on the Space coast with the various patches from WWII.
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The envelopes were made here in Minnesota and some early test flights were done here from my home airport, (KSGS, Fleming Field in South St Paul MN). The last Kittinger flights were done in New Mexico. Large concrete holdowns were used to keep the balloons tied down until time to launch. Over the years most of them were removed as the airport was remodeled but we still have one large hold down here on the airport.
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And now a French company claims to be only a year or two from sending tourists up to the stratosphere in a balloon for only €100,000 a pop, wine included.
You’re right. I was thinking of those who flew in Mercury, which Slayton did not because of his heart condition that wasn’t really a condition.
It’s been my good fortune to be able to meet a number of aviation luminaries—and Joe Kittinger was one of the most interesting!
SO MANY GOOD STORIES START WITH “I WAS SITTING AT A BAR……”—and this is one of them. I was flying a Falcon 10 corporate jet—one of the fastest light jets ever made, and like all good airplane stories, I WAS at a bar! We were in Orlando, Florida—home to an aviation-themed bar at Rosie O’Grady’s Flying Circus—itself a part of Church Street Station—the 4th largest tourist attraction in Florida. I went there—not because the complex was so huge (it seated over 1000) or for the Dixieland entertainment—but because (like the name) it supported a traveling airshow, consisting of balloons, skydivers, and aerobatics.
My co-pilot wandered off in search of other entertainment, and I took a seat at the bar—next to a gent that was perhaps 20 years older than I was. I was admiring the photos of all of the aerial activities that decorated the bar, and the guy next to me asked “Are you a pilot?” “What do you fly?” I told him that I was a corporate pilot, and flew airplanes, gliders, helicopters, balloons, and skydived—he introduced himself as Joe Kittinger (!!!). Joe ran the aerial demonstration teams for Rosie O’Grady’s Flying Circus—(specializing in balloons, aerobatics, skydiving, and other aerial acts). I recognized his name from his accomplishments in setting the world’s freefall record. I told him about my own aviation career—skydiving—aircraft flown, and that I owned 2 AX-7 Raven balloons. (O’Grady’s also owned Raven balloons). He bought me a drink “on the house”, and we traded stories about aircraft flown for about an hour—of course, most of his were military, and mine civilian. He asked if I’d ever flown supersonic—I hadn’t at the time, though the Falcon tiptoed right up to the line—(as an aviation writer, I later was able to take a T-38 supersonic.) I asked about his high-altitude skydives—he hadn’t done much freefall in preparation, except for spending time with the Army Golden Knights team learning stability and control in freefall. When asked about any special techniques for the high altitude jumps, he nonchalantly replied “No, nothing special—I was most worried about the oxygen and suit heater on the balloon ride up—other than that, it was simply to make sure the communications, cameras, and life-support systems were disconnected from the balloon system and connected to the freefall system, make sure the camera’s were on, and step off the edge.” All went well, except for when his glove slid down in freefall, creating frostbitel. Asked about the landing—“There wasn’t much for me to do–my faceplate was frosted on my helmet, and with the pressure suit, I couldn’t do much movement.” WHAT A GREAT CHANCE MEETING!
Side note: My mentor for corporate flying was Glenn Hovland—pilot for Hormel Foods—Austin, MN. Glenn was involved in early very high altitude balloon research as a prelude to the space program—created by Ed Yost (who later owned Raven Balloons) from Sioux Falls. The high altitude balloons were built by General Mills, from Minneapolis (they had built barrage balloons during WW II)—Glenn chased those balloons and pilots all over North America, and introduced me to Yost, Ben Abruzzo, and Per Lindstand. Joe Kittinger later made the first solo trans-Atlantic balloon flight.
My palms sweat just looking at Kittinger and Baumgartner photos at those altitudes. The man had cojones for sure and any one of those attempts could have ended badly. RIP
Met Colonel Joe at a Daytona Beach community college in '81 when, as I remember, he was the Chief Pilot for Rosie O’Gradys Bar in Orlando. He showed film of himself and talked about his career particularly Excelsior. As I was a skydiver then he spoke of a world for which, at the time, he was the only traveler. US Parachute Association did a story long ago about him (The Highest Step in the World) and the signed picture from it is framed on my wall. A right lively guy who was a pretty good speaker. RIP, Colonel.
Paul, many thanks for the nice write-up on Joe Kittinger. He was a speaker with The Aviation Speakers Bureau for many years always getting wonderful comments on his program. We had him speak to a group in April 2022. At his age, this is pretty impressive. Col. Joe had a wonderful sense of humor. He and his charming wife, Sherry, constantly made friends on their extensive travels. Joe’s humor shows in this book title too, “Come up and Get Me”–a very good read. When he was commander of the Triple Nickel Squadron in Vietnam, the pilots dyed the mascot dog red to match Joe’s hair. The pilots really liked Joe and they knew he’d think it was funny. He did.
Well spoken, Paul. I had the honor and privilege of meeting, speaking, and even flying with Joe in Orlando. Aviation writer/humorist Ralph Hood was known to say “Half my lies are not true”. I suspect all of Joe’s “lies”, when it came to aviation, were actually true! I could listen to them for hours, and wish I could still. He was a great pilot, and a great man. The risks he took saved many lives, and, he would be happy to tell you, would have saved many more if more of his research and proven theories of high altitude ejection had made it through the bureaucratic channels. All of us who fly, who will fly, or have ever flown, owe gratitude to Colonel Joe Kittinger for the example he set and the flyways he paved.
Paul,
Several years ago, a friend of mine , Dutch Von Ehrenfried and I flew to OSH in my Viking. Dutch flew the WB57F high altitude aircraft. Joe Kittinger was in OSH that year and the two of them had a very interesting discussion about the B57 and Joe’s accomplishments. It was one of the most enjoyable times I have ever had in Oshkosh.
Well put, John.