James W. Wood

James Wayne Wood (August 9, 1924 – January 1, 1990; Colonel, USAF) was an American aeronautical engineer, U.S. Air Force officer, test pilot, and astronaut in the X-20 Dyna-Soar program.

Early life and education Wood was born on August 9, 1924, in Paragould, Arkansas. He considered Pueblo, Colorado his home town. Wood earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology in 1954. He was married and had three children.

Test pilot USAF Experimental Flight Test School Class 56D. Front row: Captains Gordon Cooper, James Wood, Jack Mayo and Gus Grissom. Wood served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, and flew 10 combat missions. In the Korean War, he flew more than 100 combat missions.

As a USAF Test Pilot School graduate, he was serving as an experimental test pilot at the Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards AFB, California when selected for the X-20 Dyna-Soar program in April 1960. However, before his selection, he had been an unsuccessful applicant for NASA Astronaut Group 1.

Death Wood died in Melbourne, Florida, on January 1, 1990, of natural causes, aged 65.