James A. McDivitt oral history (Doug Ward)

Johnson Space Center Oral History Project James A. McDivitt
29 June 1999 12-8
WARD: Just like the Space Shuttle.
MCDIVITT: Yeah, kind—well, actually it was—no, it was a lot more screwed up than
anything else I’ve ever seen! As a matter of fact, it was kind of funny because a month or
two before I was out there, the Secretary of Defense I guess it was, had been out there and
looked at it, and told them that they had to make it into a weapon system. And it reminded
me of a B-17. About the only thing they didn’t have was a side-facing window with a .50-
caliber machinegun in it! I think it was really bad.
WARD: But Dyna-soar really did contribute a lot to Shuttle development.
MCDIVITT: Oh yeah. Well, there were a lot of programs that did. You know, it was a lifting
body concept and the landing thing, but it never flew. But anyway, when I went back and
told him I wasn’t interested in that, I was informed that that was the first time that an Air
Force test pilot had ever turned down a premier, “premier” program that the Air Force had! I
said, “Well, I’m sorry. But it isn’t going to fly.” And of course, it didn’t.
So anyway, there I was, assigned to the X-15 Program, the new project officer on the
F-4, and then I’d been selected to go over to France and flight test a bunch of French
airplanes for about a month. And just before I left, my boss called me in and said, “Jim,
there’s going to be a NASA astronaut selection here while you’re gone. Do you want us to
submit your name?” “No! Absolutely not!” He says, “Why not?” I said, “Well, you know,
I want to fly the X-15. I want to stay here and fly airplanes, and that’s what I want to do.”
And he said, “Okay.” So, he said, “I was hoping you’d say that.”
So anyway, I went over to France and spent a month flight testing a bunch of
their fighters and a bomber. Then came back, and I started getting involved in the X-15