He graduated from the Purdue University in 1949 and enlisted the Air Force; Captain USAF; graduated from the Empire Test Pilot's School in December 1954; on 07.09.1956 he became the first human ever to fly above 100,000 feet; selected as one of the first three X-15 pilots; on 27.03.1958 he was named chief, Manned Spacecraft Section, Fighter Operations Branch of the Flight Test Operations Division; selected for the MISS project ("Man In Space Soonest"); it was planned to put a man into space in October 1960; the project was cancelled due of financial and technical problems; he was killed in the crash of an F-104; Kinross Air Force Base in Michigan's Upper Peninsula was renamed Kincheloe Air Force Base in his memory.