Herbert O . Fisher Herbert O . Fisher ( March 6 , 1909 – July 29 , 1990 ) was an American test pilot and an aviation executive , overseeing aviation projects at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey . He worked for the Curtiss - Wright Corporation . Fisher flew as a pilot for over 50 years , racking up 19 , 351 accident and violation free hours . During World War II Fisher was sent to the China - Burma - India theater to train the Flying Tigers as a civilian . He flew many combat missions and was awarded the Air Medal by Franklin D . Roosevelt . Disproving the public perception of the heroic test pilot , among his peers , the portly Fisher was considered one of the premiere pilots of his time . " Herbert O . Fisher is one of those people who generally went unnoticed . That is until he climbed into the cockpit of an airplane . " Early years . Fisher was born on March 6 , 1909 at Tonawanda , New York , to Harold O . Fisher and Emma Rose Fisher ( née Wortley ) . At the age of 16 , he had his first flying experience at the hands of a barnstormer , and was " hooked " on flying . After completing two years at college , Fisher began to explore aviation as a career . Aviation career . Fisher ' s aviation career began with his signing up with the United States Army Air Corps in 1927 , becoming a member of the 309 Observation Reserve Squadron , Schoen Field , Fort Benjamin Harrison , Indiana . He began flight training in 1928 . In 1931 , as the Secretary for the Aviation Committee of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce , Fisher was actively involved in the aviation interests in the area , including the operation of the municipal airport . Curtiss - Wright . After leaving the military in 1933 , Fisher joined Curtiss - Wright , and was assigned to test pilot duties . In checking out aircraft off the production lines at the Buffalo , New York plant , on his first day , he flew 10 aircraft . During his 15 years with Curtiss - Wright as Chief Production Test Pilot , Fisher recorded thousands of test flight hours in the Curtiss C - 46 Commando , Curtiss P - 36 / Model 75 Hawk , Curtiss SB2C Helldiver s , Curtiss P - 40 Warhawk s and Republic P - 47 Thunderbolt fighters . He flew 2 , 498 P - 40s in his role as a production test pilot . In 1942 , due to wartime priorities that prohibited the use of military aircraft for Hollywood productions , Republic Studios approached Curtiss - Wright in Buffalo to recreate the aerial battle sequences required for " Flying Tigers " , starring John Wayne . A number of P - 40E fighter aircraft waiting for USAAC delivery were repainted in AVG markings , and with the aid of Curtiss test pilots , flew in the film . Fisher ' s screen role was in subbing for John Wayne . At the request of the commander of the Flying Tigers , Claire Chennault , Chief Engineer Don R . Berlin sent Fisher abroad as the best way to have " imparted his experience on those courageous young fellows over there with knowledge they could not possibility have " . During 13 months overseas from 1943 on , despite his being a civilian test pilot , while in the China - Burma - India ( CBI ) theater , Fisher flew as many as 50 missions to prove the P - 40 under combat conditions . He also lectured and conducted P - 40 flight demonstrations in almost every fighter base in the CBI , Middle East , North and Central Africa . Fisher was also instrumental in supporting the introduction of the Curtiss C - 46 at the Engineering and Operation section of the Air Transport Command . On August 6 , 1942 , first - hand experience with a faulty landing gear on an early production C - 46 , led to an example of his coolness in critical situations . While on an acceptance re - flight , the aircraft was loaded with Curtiss executives , and a special guest , fresh from combat in North Africa , Australian P - 40 ace , Group Captain Clive " Killer " Caldwell . With the landing gear stuck in a three - quarters down position , and after an extended eight - hour attempt to release the gear , Fisher calmly belly - landed the C - 46 . With the weight of the aircraft gently pushing the gear back into the wheel wells , a minimum of damage resulted . Caldwell had taken over as the co - pilot on the eight hours of circling over Buffalo , receiving certification that he was checked out on the C - 46 , under the tutelage of Fisher . Recognizing that the new transport was subject to teething problems common to any new type , Fisher was able to assist operational units in the technique of flying and maintaining C - 46 transports . He would eventually fly 96 " research missions " over " The Hump " as a means of testing all the critical systems and troubleshooting a dangerous tendency for the engine fires and explosions that had plagued the C - 46 . CBI C - 46 pilot Don Downie recalled , " Herb Fisher ' s detailed reports were some of the best pilot briefings we had . " Through his hard work and persistence , Fisher also convinced American General Joseph Stilwell , the Vice Commander of the CBI theater , that the new operational procedures would save the lives of hundreds of pilots and passengers . In 1944 , at a special ceremony in Washington , D . C . , President Franklin D . Roosevelt awarded the Air Medal to Fisher in recognition of his service ; he was the first living civilian to receive the honor . Postwar . At the end of World War II , Fisher transferred to the Propeller Division of Curtiss - Wright , in Caldwell , New Jersey , where he served as the Chief Pilot . One of his important assignments was to assess the full potential of propeller - driven aircraft . Compressibility effects . After test flights of a P - 47C on November 13 , 1942 , Republic Aviation issued a press release on December 1 , 1942 , claiming that Lts . Harold E . Comstock and fellow test pilot Roger Dyar had exceeded the speed of sound . In response , Fisher later observed , “ We knew about Mach 1 going clear back to the P - 36 and the P - 40 . . . Nothing could go mph in level flight , but pilots were beginning to dive fighters . We ran into compressibility back in ’ 38 . ” The desire to develop a propeller that maintained its efficiency at transonic and supersonic speeds led the Curtiss - Wright Propeller Division to design and test several different concepts , including a thin , cuffed four - blade and a three - bladed " scimitar " design . Utilizing a specially modified P - 47D - 30 - RE on loan from the USAAF , Fisher undertook over 100 high Mach number precision dives from at speeds from to . The typical flight began above when Fisher would push over into a steep dive , allowing his airspeed to build beyond ( true airspeed ) . He would then execute a pullout at , having to maintain an exacting set altitude within plus or minus five ft . Some of the tests proved hazardous with flexing of the thin blades on the ground run - ups . Test flights also had to be carefully flown as engine power could only be fed in gradually for the same reason . The most serious incident , though one unconnected with compressibility , occurred in August 1948 when a rupture of a high pressure oil line at mph over Allentown , Pennsylvania led to an emergency " blind " landing with the entire aircraft coated in black oil . Several of these dives resulted in speeds of Mach 0 . 83 ; one on 27 October 1949 reached the fastest speed a P - 47 could attain . During the test program , Fisher brought his son , Herbert O . Fisher , Jr . , along for a Mach 0 . 80 dive . The youngster was touted as " the world ' s fastest toddler " . Reversible pitch experiments . Fisher also conducted a program designed to allow aircraft to descend rapidly . It involved reversing all four propellers simultaneously in flight . On a Douglas C - 54 Skymaster transport , the extremely high sink rates of up to 15 , 000 feet per minute in four seconds after reversal , produced a safe method of rapid descent for airliners . The flight would start at 15 , 000 ft . , three miles from the airfield before push over , landing and coming to a full stop in one minute and 50 seconds . Fisher wrote that forward airspeed was well within normal parameters ( ) , with no decrease in controllability . Fisher conducted nearly 200 of these high rate / low speed descents and demonstrated the technique for Generals " Hap " Arnold and Dwight Eisenhower in 1948 . For the latest pressurized airliners and combat aircraft that operated at high altitudes , this was an effective method of safely dumping altitude in the event of an emergency , and was adopted worldwide as a safe procedure . Fisher was also instrumental in developing the use of reversing pitch to rapidly slow an aircraft , which allowed them to land safely on shorter runways , and , in general , greatly reduce the incidence of runway overruns . Later , flying a U . S . Navy Grumman F8F Bearcat fighter , Fisher developed a way to fly " zero - g " , vertical dives . From 20 , 000 ft , the F8F would be nosed down into a vertical dive , while he simultaneously reversed the propeller pitch . This technique allowed a controlled vertical dive at rates of descent that varied between 30 , 000 and 37 , 000 fpm . Later career and associations . After leaving Curtiss - Wright in 1952 , Fisher worked for 23 years as a Special Assistant for Aviation to Executive Director Austin Joseph Tobin at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey . As head of aviation - industry affairs , his work included evaluating requests for fixed - wing and rotary aircraft to use airports in the New York metropolitan region . The airports he supervised included John F . Kennedy , LaGuardia , Newark and Teterboro . During his tenure , Fisher checked out numerous aircraft from wide - body airliners to the executive jets . He retired in 1975 , but continued to be active in aviation and other interests . Over the years , in his role as Special Assistant at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey , Fisher had gained a reputation as a knowledgeable and skilled pilot , as well as being friendly and affable . Likewise , his dapper figure , often in well - cut clothes , led to a painting given to him on retirement , titled , " The man in the flying tuxedo , " that highlighted his many connections to aviation . Other positions Fisher filled included Director of Aeronautics for the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce and instructor at the Embry – Riddle Aeronautical University where he held a Doctorate of Aeronautical Science ( " honoris causa " ) and was a member of their International Advisory Council . The university also has an endowment fund in his name , the Herbert O . Fisher Scholarship . In later years , Fisher was founder and first President of the P - 40 Warhawk Association , a charter member and Past President of the P - 47 Thunderbolt Pilots Association , Past President of the CBI Hump Pilots Association , and Past President of the Yankee Air Force , Northeast Division . Among the many other associations in which he took an active role was as a charter member of the International Fighter Pilots Fellowship , member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots , the Wings Club of New York and the China - Burma - India Veterans Association . In Caldwell , New Jersey , Fisher was on the New Jersey Civil Air Defense Advisory Council and also served as a councilman and police commissioner . Awards and honors . In 1976 , Fisher was inducted into the OX5 Aviation Pioneers Hall of Fame , at the Glenn H . Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport , New York , at the same time as Charles Lindbergh ; he also received the China - Burma - India Veterans Association ' s Americanism Award . In the same year , Fisher was named a General " Jimmy Doolittle Educational Fellow " at the Air Force Association , with the award presented by Barry Goldwater . Joining the ranks of many famous aviators from New Jersey , in 1983 , Fisher was inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum of New Jersey . In 1984 , the Yankee Air Force honoured Fisher as the " Airman of the Year " as well as inducting him in the association ' s Hall of Fame . On May 13 , 2011 , Fisher was also inducted into the Niagara Frontier Aviation & Space Hall of Fame . Accepting on behalf of his father , was Herbert O . Fisher , Jr . Death . At age 81 , Fisher died on July 29 , 1990 , after suffering congestive heart failure . At the time of his death , he lived in the Smoke Rise gated community in Kinnelon , New Jersey , his family home since 1955 .