European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 01, 1968, Darmstadt, Hesse A Cut of cards sent Kittinger on record jump. By James Gunter is Munich Bureau chief sometimes a Man s whole life hinge son the Cut of a deck of cards. It happened like that for it. Col. Joseph w. Kittinger jr., who is not the usual Gambler once Cut the deck with two other Young fliers at Neu Biberg Ger Many to see who would get a Job As test Pilot. Kittinger led him into a testing career which was climaxed aug. 16, i960, by his world record jump of almost 20 Miles from a balloon Gondola the highest dive that any living Man Ever made. Another Man tried a longer leap but was dead when he reached the Earth. The facts of Kittinger s free fall fro the very Edge of space Are enough to make others shiver. He reached a True air Speed of 708 Miles an hour before the thicker atmosphere slowed him he was the first Man to break the sound Barrier without an air plane. Befell for 4 minutes and 37 seconds before his main Parachute made a total of five High Altitude balloon flights into the stratosphere Kittinger said. The object was not to set a world s record but to acquire knowledge on How to protect astronauts and How to design equipment for an in experienced jumper who might have to Parachute to Earth from great air Force officer who took the longest step into the Unknow is now Liaison officer with the army s 10th Spe Cial forces at bad Stoelz Germany and he still parachutes regularly with a sport club to keep in trim. It was in March 1952 when the cutoff the cards determined Kittinger s future was a p47 Pilot with the 86th bomber group at Neu Biberg when our Squadron commander called us together and said he wanted volunteers for an assignment in Denmark to test Fly nato planes he said. Three of us volunteered and we Cut the cards to see who would go. 1 How your life hangs on Small insignificant Copenhagen Kittinger tested 200 the longer i fell letter i Felt. It was 104 degrees below Zero. Said Pioneer Kittinger. Page 12 the stars and stripes fighters in six months and his was then needed at Holloman air i base n.m., when he had a fateful Irving with it. Col. John Paul Sapp. Us was looking for someone to make a flights to altitudes higher than Over it fore to learn whether Man could Oilin the hostile environment there Kittinger was his Volunteer. It a is i when he offered himself for project my High a preliminary to sending a Muma space capsule around the world. Little was known about Ero Jimi in 1955," Kittinger said. There a speculation that it would cause Naus and disorientation. We would Selim Zero Gravity for 50 or go seconds diving in a t33 and going into a of climb and then pushing Over at the we had a Golf Ball on a string m to plane and when the Ball floated we in Zero Gravity. We would take cats along an would float around the 3rapp wanted Kittinger to highly experienced parachutist so � made a series of jumps at Al ccalif., to prepare for project Man and on Juno 2, 1957, he zoomed up 97,000 feet in a balloon launched Mist. Paul Minn. An hour and a half 1ho landed the Craft near the missis placement of some switches seated a problem and an oxygen had Boon inserted backwards so it necessary to get Down before the of a ran out Kittinger said. Stapp was reassigned to to 1laboratory at Wright Patterson air h. Base near Dayton Ohio and asked Igor to Como there for research escape systems. Kittinger knew so.,thing about that already. Not Long Foj. He had been test flying an f10d we Sabre when the Craft exploded onoff and to had to eject. Not one to seek the Dull lift. Ten Ger volunteered shortly after n
