Wikimedia Commons/USAF
Robert Stanley’s Rocket-Powered Pilot Rescue System in Vietnam
When pilots got shot down in Vietnam, their lives hung by a thread—or more precisely, by a rocket. Robert Stanley started his aviation firm in a Buffalo basement in 1948, then moved to Aurora, Colorado in 1954.
His plant grew fast and soon became the city’s top employer. But his real game-changer was the Yankee Escape System.
Unlike push-style ejection seats, Stanley’s system pulled pilots out with a rocket tied to their parachute. The Navy loved it so much they rushed to install it in their Skyraiders…