Robert Stanley

Robert Morris Stanley (August 19, 1912 – July 16, 1977) was an American test pilot and engineer. He became the first American to fly a jet aircraft as a test pilot for Bell Aircraft.

Early life Robert Morris Stanley was born in El Reno, Oklahoma on August 19, 1912, to George and Jenny (Coffman) Stanley. His family moved to Venice, California where he finished high school and then enrolled at the California Institute of Technology majoring in aeronautical engineering. At the 1939 National Soaring Contest in Elmira, New York, he flew it to an altitude record of 17,284 feet, more than doubling the old record.

Stanley was promoted to engineering vice president at Bell Aircraft and oversaw the design of the world's first supersonic aircraft, the Bell X-1 and X-2.

Stanley Aviation In 1948, Stanley left Bell and started the Stanley Aviation company in his basement in Buffalo, New York.

Personal life He married Katherine Norman in 1942. They had three children, one daughter and two sons. He enjoyed white water rafting on the Colorado and Green Rivers in Colorado with his family and also traversed the Grand Canyon by raft.

Death and honors Stanley died July 16, 1977, flying with his two sons, along with the wife of one son and fiancé of the other, in the crash of the Stanley company's Aero Commander. The plane encountered severe wind-shear on approach to Fort Lauderdale International Airport and broke up in flight. Stanley's body was lost at sea.

Stanley was selected to the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1990. Stanley was selected to the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame in 1973. Stanley was an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. the Bell XP-59A Airacomet, and the Stanley Nomad.