Background
Engle received his commission in the Air Force through the Reserve Officers Training Program at the University of Kansas. While in school he was a member of the Professional Engineering Fraternity Theta Tau, and decided to become a test pilot. While working at Cessna Aircraft during the summer, he learned how to fly from a fellow draftsman.
Engle entered flying school in 1957. He flew the F-100 Super Sabre with the 474th Fighter Day Squadron and the 309th Tactical Fighter Squadron at George Air Force Base, California. Chuck Yeager recommended Engle for USAF Test Pilot School, and he was later assigned to the second class of the Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School (ARPS), despite his reluctance to leave "stick and rudder" flying for a space capsule.
After serving as a test pilot in the Fighter Test Group at Edwards Air Force Base, California, Engle was a test pilot in the X-15 research program at Edwards from June 1963 until his assignment to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. Engle had applied with fellow ARPS student Michael Collins to the third NASA astronaut group, but the Air Force withdrew Engle's NASA application and instead chose him to replace Robert M. White in the X-15 program, which pleased Engle.
Engle's parents witnessed his flight of 29 June 1965, which exceeded an altitude of 50 miles (80 km) and qualified him for USAF astronaut wings; he again exceeded 50 miles twice during his career of 16 flights. Despite what he later called "the best flying job in the world", Engle decided to apply again to NASA as he expected to be rotated to another Air Force assignment within a year and hoped to go to the Moon.
Engle has flown over 175 different types of aircraft (25 different fighters) during his career: logging more than 15,400 hours flight time; 9,000 in jet aircraft.
Read more about this topic: Joe Engle
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