The U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School (TPS) graduated the following notable alumni who made significant contributions to the aerospace field.
 The school's mission is to produce experimental test pilots, flight test engineers, and flight test navigators to lead and conduct test and evaluation of aerospace weapon systems.
 The school was established on September 9, 1944 as the Flight Test Training Unit at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (AFB) in Dayton, Ohio.
 To take advantage of the uncongested skies and superb flying weather, the school was moved on February 4, 1951 to its present location at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert of Southern California.
 Edwards AFB is the home of the Air Force Flight Test Center and has been an integral part of flight testing for over fifty years.
Robert Franklyn "Bob" Overmyer (July 14, 1936 – March 22, 1996), (Col, USMC), was an American test pilot, naval aviator, aeronautical engineer, physicist, United States Marine Corps officer, and USAF/NASA astronaut.
 He was born in Lorain, Ohio, but considered Westlake, Ohio his hometown.
 Overmyer was selected by the United States Air Force as an astronaut for its Manned Orbiting Laboratory in 1966.
 Upon cancellation of this program in 1969, he became a NASA astronaut and served support crew duties for the Skylab program and Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.
 In 1976, he was assigned to the Space Shuttle program, and flew as pilot on STS-5 in 1982, and as commander on STS-51-B in 1985.
 He was selected as a lead investigator into the Space Shuttle "Challenger" disaster, and retired from NASA in 1986.
 Ten years later, Overmyer died in Duluth, Minnesota while testing the Cirrus VK-30 composite homebuilt aircraft.
The U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School (USAF TPS) is the Air Force's advanced flight training school that trains experimental test pilots, flight test engineers, and flight test navigators to carry out tests and evaluations of new aerospace weapon systems and also other aircraft of the U.S. Air Force.
 This school was established on 9 September 1944 as the Flight Test Training Unit at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (AFB) in Dayton, Ohio.
 To take advantage of the uncongested skies, usually superb flying weather, and the lack of developed zones in the event of crashing, the test pilot school was officially moved to its present location at Edwards Air Force Base in the northwestern Mojave Desert of Southern California on 4 February 1951.
Henry Charles Gordon (December 23, 1925 – September 24, 1996), (Col, USAF), was an American aeronautical engineer, U.S. Air Force officer, test pilot, and astronaut in the X-20 Dyna-Soar program.
Colonel Jackie Lynwood "Jack" Ridley (June 16, 1915 – March 12, 1957) was an aeronautical engineer, USAF test pilot and chief of the U.S. Air Force's Flight Test Engineering Laboratory.
 He helped develop and test many Cold War era military aircraft but is best known for his work on the Bell X-1, the first aircraft to achieve supersonic flight.
 He was highly respected among fellow test pilots, most notably Chuck Yeager, for his engineering skills.
The Royal Australian Air Force's Aircraft Research and Development Unit (ARDU) plans, conducts and analyses the results of ground and flight tests of existing and new Air Force aircraft.
 ARDU consists of four flights located at RAAF Bases Edinburgh, Amberley, Richmond and Williamtown, staffed by qualified test pilots, flight test engineers and flight test system specialists.
 Up until 2016 the Squadron also conducted flight test for the Australian Army with Army personnel also working within the unit.
 The flight test crew are long course trained at test pilot schools including the United States Air Force Test Pilot School, the United States Naval Test Pilot School, the Empire Test Pilots' School, the École du personnel navigant d'essais et de réception and the National Test Pilot School.
Kenneth O. "K.O." Chilstrom (born April 20, 1921) is a retired United States Air Force officer, combat veteran, test pilot, and author.
 He was the first USAF pilot to fly the XP-86 Sabre, chief of fighter test at Wright Field, commandant of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, and program manager for the XF-108 Rapier.
 Chilstrom was a pilot in the first jet air race and delivered the first air mail by jet.
 He flew over eighty combat missions in the Italian Campaign of World War II and tested over twenty foreign models of German and Japanese fighters and bombers to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses.
The Right Stuff is a 1983 American epic historical drama film.
 It was adapted from Tom Wolfe's best-selling 1979 book of the same name about the Navy, Marine and Air Force test pilots who were involved in aeronautical research at Edwards Air Force Base, California, as well as the Mercury Seven, the seven military pilots who were selected to be the astronauts for Project Mercury, the first manned spaceflight by the United States.
 "The Right Stuff" was written and directed by Philip Kaufman and stars Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Sam Shepard, Fred Ward, Dennis Quaid and Barbara Hershey.
 Levon Helm is the narrator in the introduction and elsewhere in the film, as well as having a co-starring role as Air Force test pilot Jack Ridley.
Edward Higgins White II (November 14, 1930 – January 27, 1967), (Lt Col, USAF), was an American aeronautical engineer, U.S. Air Force officer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut.
 On June 3, 1965, he became the first American to walk in space.
 White died along with astronauts Virgil "Gus" Grissom and Roger B. Chaffee during prelaunch testing for the first manned Apollo mission at Cape Canaveral.
 He was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal for his flight in Gemini 4 and then awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor posthumously.
James Alton "Jim" McDivitt (born June 10, 1929), (Brig Gen, USAF, Ret.)
, is an American former test pilot, United States Air Force pilot, aeronautical engineer, and NASA astronaut who flew in the Gemini and Apollo programs.
 He commanded the Gemini 4 flight during which Edward H. White performed the first U.S. spacewalk, and later the Apollo 9 flight which was the first manned flight test of the Lunar Module and the complete set of Apollo flight hardware.
 He later became Manager of Lunar Landing Operations and was the Apollo Spacecraft Program Manager from 1969 to 1972.

Question: What aeronautical engineer, USAF test pilot and chief of the U.S. Air Force's Flight Test Engineering Laboratory starred in "The Right Stuff"?
Answer: Jack Ridley