Young Man on the Rise: Hal Graham and the Rocket Belt, 50 Years Later

I should have posted this yesterday.

In Niagara Falls, New York, on the chilly morning of 20 April 1961, Harold Graham strapped on the Bell Rocket Belt. The culmination of years of planning, building, and testing by Wendell Moore's team of Bell Aircraft engineers.

That day, fifty years (and one day) ago, Hal Graham became the first person to fly an untethered rocket belt.

Here's Hal in action, during a demonstration flight at Fort Bragg a few months later:


Hal Graham passed away in 2009. Here's to His Eminence, and all the rocketmen who came after him.

Hal demonstrates the rocket belt on the grounds of the Pentagon in the summer of 1961:

Hal, a baritone ukulele player, sings "My Rocket Belt Daze:"

These fifty-year anniversaries are coming thick and fast. I can feel the Sixties passing by like a cool wind.