Marshall E. Headle (March 21, 1893

Winthrop, Massachusetts Winthrop is a town in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 19,316 at the 2020 census. Winthrop is an ocean-side suburban community in Greater Boston situated at the north entrance to Boston Harbor, close to Logan Int ...

, United States - May 14, 1945) was a U.S. test pilot. He is best known for his participation in the first Lockheed Aircraft company projects.

Biography

In 1913, Marshall Headle graduated from the Massachusetts State College and decided to go to France after the start of

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He enlisted as a soldier, and soon became captivated by the flying machines he discovered during the conflict. He then asked to be transferred to the French Air Force and learned to fly. After the entry of the United States in the conflict, he joined the US Air Service as an instructor in

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...

and in

Issoudun Issoudun () is a commune in the Indre department, administrative region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is also referred to as ''Issoundun'', which is the ancient name. Geography Location Issoudun is a sub-prefecture, located in the east ...

. After the war, he continued to fly in the

US Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through com ...

before becoming chief test pilot for Lockheed, succeeding

Wiley Post Wiley Hardeman Post (November 22, 1898 – August 15, 1935) was a famed American aviator during the interwar period and the first pilot to fly solo around the world. Also known for his work in high-altitude flying, Post helped develop on ...

. From 1935, his position at Lockheed evolved and he traveled the world on behalf of the company conducting demonstration flights as well as training for global customers.Google book
Lockheed, The people behind the story
/ref> A high-

altitude chamber A hypobaric chamber, or altitude chamber, is a chamber used during aerospace or high terrestrial altitude research or training to simulate the effects of high altitude on the human body, especially hypoxia (low oxygen) and hypobaria (low ambien ...

accident ended his flying career and led to a premature death May 14, 1945, at the age of 52. He had flown over 300 types of aircraft. In particular the first flight of Lockheed P-38 Lightning.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Headle, Marshall Aviators from Massachusetts 1893 births 1945 deaths