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).