Iven Carl "Kinch" Kincheloe Jr.{{efn|Iven Carl Kincheloe Jr. is on his grave marker at Arlington National Cemetery. However, his first name is sometimes spelled Ivan. The Right Stuff, however, consistently uses Iven}} (July 2, 1928 – July 26, 1958) was an American pilot. He served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War, in which he was recognized as a flying ace. He continued as a test pilot after the war, participating in the Bell X-2 program, in which he set an altitude record of in 1956. For this suborbital flight above most of the atmosphere, he became known as "The First Spaceman". He was selected for the Air Force's program to put a man in space, but was killed in a plane crash in 1958. Early life and education Born July 2, 1928, in Detroit, Michigan, Kincheloe grew up in Cassopolis in the southwest part of the state, the only child of Iven C. Kincheloe Sr. (1894–1966) and Frances Wilder Kincheloe. Interested in aviation from a very young age, he graduated from Dowagiac High School in 1945 and attended Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Kincheloe joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC), was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity (Indiana Alpha), and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering in 1949. In the summer of 1948, the ROTC cadet met test pilot Chuck Yeager and sat in the cockpit of the Bell X-1. Korean War Upon graduation from college, Kincheloe received his commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force and entered flight training. After earning his pilot wings in August 1950, he spent a year as a test pilot, flying the F-86E at Edwards Air Force Base, California, was promoted to first lieutenant, and transferred to Korea in September 1951. During the war, he was assigned to the 25th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, he flew F-80s on thirty combat missions and F-86s on 101 combat missions, downing five (becoming an ace and earning the Silver Star) before returning to the U.S. in May 1952. At this time, he had reached the rank of captain. Post-war career After the war, Kincheloe was a gunnery instructor at Nellis Air Force Base outside Las Vegas, Nevada, then resumed his activity as a test pilot (subsequent to his prior flight test activities associated with the F-86E), graduating in December 1954 from the Empire Test Pilots' School