A few years back, I put a lot of effort into trying to identify a possibly pressure-suited 1940s US Navy balloonist at NAS Lakehurst. One unresolved lead related to a prototype full-pressure suit (the Strato Model 7) developed for the US Navy in 1947. There are some great pictures of the Model 7 in Dennis R. Jenkins’ “Dressing for Altitude: U.S. Aviation Pressure Suits—Wiley Post to Space Shuttle” on pp.180-182. One even clearly shows the face of the person testing it:
Who is this man? The only person mentioned in the text as testing the suit was John B Werlich:
It was tested in the Mayo Clinic altitude chamber up to 53,000 feet with satisfactory physiological results, but Akerman did not describe how flexible the suit was under pressure. John B. Werlich, a former Army pilot, tested the acceleration protection of the suit on the Mayo centrifuge under the direction of Earl Wood.
I’m guessing the reinforced porthole behind the man is part of the Mayo Clinic altitude chamber, but it’s not clear to me from Jenkins’ text whether the person who tested the suit there was also Werlich.
Anyway, I did some image searches recently, and found this 1959 image of rocket sled testing at AFB Holloman, and wondered whether it might be the same man (but a decade older, with a shorter haircut, and not half as happy, but to be fair if your male genitalia had just been pressed into your body at 10G you’d probably look the same):
Is this the same guy? What do you think?
As an aside, one of the few mentions I found of Lt. Col. John B. Werlich (based at Wright Patterson) was some brief mentions of him and his wife Dorothy in some oral interviews relating to his brother Arthur from the Sign Oral History Project, which some Cipher Mysteries readers might already know about.
I think you are mistaken here, somewhere. Dorothy was John David Werlich’s wife, so, unless the “B” of John B. Werlich is a mistake, there could be two pilots by the name of John Werlich. However according to Dorothy’s obituary (you can easily find it online) John David Werlich was an Army pilot during WWII, he retired after the war, but was called back in active duty for the Korean War and remained with the Army reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel. So that matches with the given description.
Sorry for the double post. There are plenty of lt. col. John David’s pictures online. Judge by yourself.
worth a try?
https://libraryguides.mayo.edu/archives_catalog
Karl: unless I’m mistaken, I think Nick Pelling be in need of a well versed authority on manned space travel early experimentation; notably the testing of pressure suits designed to overcome stratospheric hazards likely to be encountered in future space travel.
Well, bless your heart, John. Unfortunately, unlike genealogical research (which has been a hobby — arguably, a passion at times — of mine for 45+ years) this is not a topic I have any experience or interest in. Although if there is something archival needing in-person access in DC or the NoVA area that I can help Nick with, I’ll be happy to accommodate him if I can (the Maryland side of the DC area is doable, but more of a hassle).
NP: NAWCAD Lakehurst Naval Base New Joisey being buzzed by unidentified flying objects. Described as being sophidticated large hovering drones, seen in the night sky for the past month, and locals are concerned that no counter measures have been taken by the USN or explanation as to what they themselves might be up to.
There is word in Todmorden that the second image resembles poor Zigmund Adamski in his younger years!
As a side note, I wish the South Australian coroner would get a wiggle on and lift your most prolific commenters out of cyber purgatory! I miss those heady SM mystery days of new finds from Trove and other archives!
Delilah Doobeshore: Coroner David Whittle won’t bend a little, or even wiggle til purgatory goes to hell and be done with it. Then prolific commenters can move ahead with their own home grown initiatives and not have to put up with mostly irrelevant Trove links for the correct answers.
looking at an AI enlarged image it seems Mr Werlich had a glass eye. It could just be an abberation of an enlargement.
Similar to the guy in white
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/US_Navy_061116-M-4217A-005_U.S._Marines_attached_to_the_31st_Marine_Expeditionary_Unit_%28MEU%29_pull_on_a_rope_against_Chinese_Marines_during_a_tug-of-war_contest.jpg
Guy in white here a doppelganger.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/BP_Oil_Flood_Protest_NOLA_Carriages_No_Oil_In_Our_Wetlands.JPG
DM: Can’t tell with John Werlich or Tod Morden but, first three guys on the tug ‘o’ war team are sure to be right handers by my reckoning …just like Somerton Man.
DD: as an aside to my sledging, I can’t but help agree with the ostensibly disguised critique in order to fein politeness. I can’t speak for others, if there be any leftover “prolifics” of the “heady” days. All I can say in my own defence is that I don’t set the agenda for SM discussion topics mostly Tbt re Pete’s back issues which I simply go along with though much to my eternal chagrin. You’ll have observed NP’s CM blog lost all interest in serious SM research when the FB &C sponsored Carl Webb show came to town capturing the on line discussion ratings much to my chagrin. Now their gone, I’ll just carry on til the Col. Sanders finger lick’n chickens come home to roost.