E-5743
Air Force test pilot Capt. Iven Kincheloe stood in front of the Bell X-2 (46-674) on the ramp at Edwards Air Force Base, CA. Behind the X-2 were ground support personnel, the B-50 launch aircraft and crew, chase planes, and support vehicles.
Kincheloe had flown nearly 100 combat missions in Korea in an F-86 and was credited with shooting down 10 enemy aircraft. He then graduated from the Empire Test Pilot’s School in Great Britain in December 1954, whereupon he was assigned to Edwards Air Force Base. He made four powered flights in the X-2. On September 7, 1956, he reached an altitude of 126,200 feet. After the death of Capt. Mel Apt and the loss of the X-2 #1 on September 27, 1956, in the first Mach 3 flight, Kincheloe was assigned as the Air Force project pilot for the X-15. Before he had a chance to fly that rocket-powered aircraft, Kincheloe himself lost his life on July 26, 1958, in an F-104 accident.1956NASA Photo / USAF› X-2 Project Description