As “home movies” go, wow. Fourth- and fifth-graders watched Wednesday morning as their school’s namesake came alive. His widow, Dorothy, recalled going to the White House to meet President Eisenhower and embraced Capt. Iven Carl Kincheloe’s presenter for induction into the National Aviation Hall of Fame as one of four members of the 2011 class.

That white-haired man in the black tuxedo would be Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon in July 1969.

Kincheloe and Armstrong “crossed the same borders” from Cass County and Ohio to arrive at Purdue University in Indiana.

When Kincheloe went on to the Air Force, Armstrong headed into the Navy.

“Kinch proved to be a superb fighter pilot” in Korea, Armstrong said.

A good person

“Most important to me, he was a good person. I was always honored to be able to call him my friend. We’ll never know what he might have achieved had he been granted a longer career, but we can be certain that he would have been at the pinnacle of his profession,” Armstrong said.

On Dec. 17, 2010, the 107th anniversary of the Wright brothers’ first powered flight, the National Aviation Hall of Fame announced Kincheloe’s inclusion.

The biggest surprise was that the 1945 Dowagiac graduate from Penn Township, known as the first man in space when he shot to celebrity status soaring 100,000 feet into the heavens, wasn’t already enshrined alongside Cass County’s Leigh Wade, inducted in 1974.

Kincheloe’s biographical clip was narrated by no less than movie star George Clooney’s dad, Nick.

The experience came courtesy of Dan Hamill, a retired American Airlines pilot who lives in Pokagon Township and nominated Kincheloe when he realized he had been overlooked.

Kincheloe’s class July 16 joined 207 “legends of flight” previously inducted since the hall’s 1962 founding. With the U.S. Air Force, Kincheloe became a Korean war double ace, shooting down 10 planes, and record-setting Jet Age test pilot.Had he not died young, Kincheloe might have gone on to become an astronaut like Apollo 11 moon walkers Armstrong (1979) and Buzz Aldrin (2000).

The 50th annual enshrinement dinner took place in Dayton, where it is known as the “Oscar Night of Aviation.”

Socializing with Armstrong “was the absolute coolest part,” according to Hamill, who flew for American Airlines for 25 years.

He felt confident about Kincheloe’s enshrinement because so many of the 100 voters “personally knew him.”

Hamill never knew Mrs. Kincheloe, of Burbank, Calif., but she asked that he be seated at the same table as her and Armstrong, so Hamill chatted with and shook hands with Armstrong, who quit signing autographs when he learned they were being hawked on eBay, although the Eagle Scout makes an exception for Boy Scouts.

“He didn’t get killed during a test flight,” Hamill said, “but as a chase pilot.”

His engine failed and his parachute didn’t open in time when he ejected at low altitude in 1958, leaving a young son and a daughter born two months after his death. Kincheloe is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Pioneering record

The pioneer set the altitude record, 126,000 feet, or about 25 miles high, which doesn’t sound very high anymore,” considering airliners cruise at 135,000 feet. “At that time, it was decided that space began at 100,000 feet, so he was considered the first astronaut.”

Hamill impressed upon students that his presentation encompasses geography, physics, science and math as well as history.

“When you grow up, this is how it all comes together.”

Hamill explained that when Armstrong talked about Mach, it is named for a German scientist; Mach 1 being the speed of sound.

Objects speeding through the air create friction. “The problem at the time was temperature,” he said. “They didn’t have metals that could take that much heat. They could go fast, but couldn’t keep the airplane from melting.”

Hamill played up that when Kincheloe encountered hurdles being admitted to test pilot school and was assigned as a gunnery instructor at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, he channeled his discouragement into seizing an opportunity in England through a Royal Air Force exchange program.

“A good choice,” Hamill said. “If he waited for a slot here, he may never have gotten in.”

The classes were visited by another Dan, Smith, the former principal who launched rockets every spring and hosted real astronauts at Kincheloe.