U.S. Hang Gliding Pilots

"The Paresev was designed by Charles Richard, of the Flight Research Center's Vehicle and System Dynamics Branch, with the rest of the team being: engineers Richard Klein, Gary Layton, John Orahood, and Joe Wilson; Frank Fedor and LeRoy Barto from the Maintenance and Manufacturing Branch; Project Manager Victor Horton, with Gary Layton becoming Project Manager later on in the Program. Mr. Paul Bikle, Director of the Center, gave instructions that were short and to the point: build a single-seat Paraglider and "do it quick and cheap."

Paresev
E-8713

With the the Paresev 1-A and the 450-hp Stearman sport Biplane as a backdrop the Pilot and crew pose for this picture in 1962.

Starting at left: On the motorcycle is Walter Whiteside, in the Paresev 1-A is test pilot Milton Thompson, Frank Fedor, Richard Klein, Victor Horton, Tom Kelly, Jr., Fred Harris, owner of the Stearman, John Orahood, and Gary Layton.

August 24, 1962
NASA Photo /

+ VIC HORTON, FLIGHT TEST ENGINEER (Deceased), Early experimental research flight test engineer for various aircraft including the YF-12. (The tests of the YF-12 aircraft was for the development of commercial and military supersonic aircraft and the space shuttle).

Very little info. is available on Vic Horton on the internet, however his daughter, Kathleen Bennett (Horton) has graciously supplied the below information:
Victor Horton of NASA Dryden was my father. He began work at Edwards AFB at the Thiokol rocket site then moved down onto the base when NASA first began.
Dad was a flight test engineer. He flew launch panel for X-15, backseat in the hopped up Pontiac for the Parasev program, intimately involved in the entire lifting body program, flew RSO (Rear Seat Officer, this is the person who handles navigation, experiment packages [research] or weapons [military].), with Fitz Fulton in both the YF-12 and SR-71, he also flew as flight engineer on the 747-Shuttle flights and took the shuttle to the Paris airshow. His is the voice talking the pilot down on the NASA footage of the lifting body crash used in the opening scenes of the TV show "Six Million Dollar Man". The ban on sonic booms over national parks resulted from one of his blackbird flights that boomed me at church camp in Yosemite one summer. He once said the hairiest flight he ever had was backseat to Chuck Yeager above the treetops down the Kern River Canyon in a T-38.
Dad's mentor was Milt Thompson. Dad himself mentored many young people at Dryden, including Bob and Marta Meyer, married RSOs for the Strategic Reconnaisance.
Richard Hallion's book about NASA Dryden history "On the Frontier", Milt Thompson's "Flying Without Wings", and Dale Reed's "Wingless Flight" are excellent resources to read for information about the glory days at Edwards. (Edwards AFB, NASA Dryden RFC, and Muroc Dry Lake are all the same place, different names at different times.) Dad died in 1991.