Jerauld R. Gentry (original) (raw)

Jerauld Richard "Jerry" Gentry (May 16, 1935 – March 3, 2003) was a United States Air Force (USAF) test pilot and Vietnam combat veteran. As chief USAF pilot of the Lifting Body Research Program, he helped validate the concept of flying a wingless vehicle back to Earth from space and landing it like an aircraft—an approach used by the Space Shuttle and to a greater degree by vehicles such as the Lockheed Martin X-33 and NASA X-38. Gentry completed thirty lifting body flights including the first flight of the Martin-Marietta X-24A and the second flight of the Northrop HL-10.