James A. McDivitt oral history (Doug Ward)

Johnson Space Center Oral History Project James A. McDivitt
29 June 1999 12-9
Program. And we finally got an F-4 in and we were starting to do a little work on it. And
then my conscience began to bother me because I knew I was a good pilot, and the Air Force
had sent me to Michigan, the Air Force had sent me to Test Pilot School, the Air Force sent
me to Aerospace Research Pilot School, and I had always done well academically. And, “Oh
golly, you know. Should I do what I really want to do? Or should I do what I—make the
best contribution I think I can to the country?” And I mean, that sounds kind of dorky today
but that’s the way I felt!
And so, one night—late in the evening I called Bob White up. He was the X-15 pilot
that was leaving. And I was pretty sure that he was the guy that had selected me to replace
him, and I didn’t want to let him down. And so, I went over there.
I called him and asked him if he had some spare time. So, I went over there and we
sat around and drank beer for four or five hours and talked the whole thing through. And he
told me that I should really do what I thought was best, and that I wouldn’t be putting him in
a bad light by sort of backing out of the X-15 Program. And so anyway, he said that he’d—
but by then the astronaut selection had been closed for about a month, maybe two months.
And so, he said he’d see what he could do with respect to the Air Force, because the Air
Force was having a selection process in front of the NASA process.
So, we met down at the flight operations the next morning at about five o’clock. He
called back to the Pentagon. He was a big deal in the Air Force. Even though he was only a
Lieutenant Colonel, he was “the” pilot at the time. Called back and talked to some of his
General friends; and they agreed they would accept my application a couple of months late.
So, we had to get it out right away. I couldn’t type; he could. So, this Lieutenant Colonel sat
down and typed the Captain’s application! So anyway, we got the application done; and we
had to get it out right away. Remember, no faxes in those days. We had to use the mail. So,