James Francis Coleman (June 2, 1918 – May 13, 2014), nicknamed "Skeets", was an American military fighter and test pilot. Born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, Coleman joined the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

in 1941. During the

Pacific Ocean theater of World War II The Pacific Ocean theater of World War II was a major theater of the Pacific War, the war between the Allies and the Empire of Japan. It included the U.S. Pacific Ocean Areas (command). which included most of the Pacific Ocean and its isl ...

, he was a fighter pilot flying

dive bombing A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...

missions. After the war, he received an aeronautical engineering degree from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

. From 1948 to 1950, he oversaw the operation of the now-defunct Del Mar Airport in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He would go on to work in sales and marketing for aviation companies, such as

North American Aviation North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer that designed and built several notable aircraft and spacecraft. Its products included the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F- ...

and

Fairchild Aircraft Fairchild was an American aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company based at various times in Farmingdale, New York; Hagerstown, Maryland; and San Antonio, Texas. History Early aircraft The company was founded by Sherman Fairchild in 19 ...

. In 1951,

Convair Convair, previously Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation, was an American aircraft-manufacturing company that later expanded into rockets and spacecraft. The company was formed in 1943 by the merger of Consolidated Aircraft and Vultee ...

, an airplane manufacturer, was one of two companies contracted by the U.S. Navy to construct and test a vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) fighter. Convair created the

tail-sitter A tail-sitter, or tailsitter, is a type of VTOL aircraft that takes off and lands on its empennage, tail, then tilts horizontally for forward flight. Originating in the 1920s with the inventor Nikola Tesla, the first aircraft to adopt a tail-sit ...

XFY Pogo. Coleman, a Marine reservist and Convair employee, was chosen to be its test pilot when it was ready in 1954. Although the Pogo's liftoffs and transitions went smoothly, Coleman and other pilots had difficulty landing it, which had to be done visually from the cockpit. The Pogo project would prove to be unwieldy and was discontinued.Test & Research Pilots, Flight Test Engineers: James F. 'Skeets' Coleman 1918-
/ref> About the project, Coleman stated, "It was a developmental power plant, it was a developmental airplane, a developmental concept. It's pretty hard to tie all of those together without having a lot of risk." For being the first pilot to successfully maneuver a VTOL fighter, Coleman was awarded the

Harmon Trophy The Harmon Trophy is a set of three international trophies, to be awarded annually to the world's outstanding aviator, aviatrix, and aeronaut (balloon or dirigible). A fourth trophy, the "National Trophy", was awarded from 1926 through 1938 in av ...

in 1954. Coleman resigned from Convair, it was announced on 3 April 1956.Associated Press, "First of Pogo Stick Pilots Resigns Post", ''San Bernardino Daily Sun'', San Bernardino, California, Wednesday 4 April 1956, Volume LXII, Number 186, page 20. In 2014, Coleman died of natural causes at an assisted-living facility in

Oceanside, California Oceanside is a beach city in the North County (San Diego area), North County area of San Diego County, California, United States. The city had a population of 174,068 at the 2020 United States census, making it the most populous city in the Nort ...

. He was 95. He was survived by three children.J.F. 'Skeets' Coleman dies at 95; test pilot for perilous XFY-1 Pogo
/ref>

References

External links

James F. "Skeets" Coleman * piloting the

Convair XFY Pogo The Convair XFY-1 Pogo is an experimental VTOL, V/STOL (vertical/short takeoff and landing) aircraft developed during the early years of the Cold War. It was intended to be a high-performance fighter aircraft capable of operating from small wars ...

''New York Times'' article
archiving Coleman's Pogo test * in a

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cigarette commercial {{DEFAULTSORT:Coleman, J. F. 1918 births 2014 deaths Military personnel from Chicago United States Marine Corps officers United States Marine Corps pilots of World War II UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni American test pilots