Charles Bassett

Notable people · Aviation · Space

Charles Bassett

Dayton-born Air Force test pilot and Gemini 9 crewman who was killed with Elliot See in a T-38 crash in St. Louis in 1966, shortly before the flight.

Born December 30, 1931, Dayton
Died February 28, 1966, St. Louis (McDonnell Aircraft Building 101, Lambert Field)

Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

At a glance

Born: December 30, 1931, Dayton (Montgomery County) source
Died: February 28, 1966, St. Louis (McDonnell Aircraft Building 101, Lambert Field) source
Buried: Arlington National Cemetery, Section 4, Grave 195 source
Also known as: Charles Bassett, Charles A. Bassett II, Charlie Bassett
Education: Berea High School, Berea, OH, to 1950
: Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 1950-1952
: Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, 1958-1960, B.S. electrical engineering
Known as: Aviation, Space
Organizations: NASA, US Air Force

Life story

Charles Bassett was born in Dayton in 1931. He was a Life Scout who built gasoline-powered model airplanes, made his first solo flight at 16 and got a private pilot license at 17. He graduated from Berea High School in 1950 and attended Ohio State from 1950 to 1952.

He joined the Air Force as an aviation cadet in October 1952, was commissioned in December 1953 and flew F-86 Sabres at Nellis. He married Jeannie Martin in 1955 and later finished a Texas Tech electrical engineering degree with honors (1958-60).

He was picked as pilot for Gemini 9 on November 8, 1965. On February 28, 1966, he died in a T-38 crash near St. Louis, before the flight.

Ohio ties

Dayton (1931)
birthplace Montgomery County · source
Berea (to 1950)
Berea High School, class of 1950; soloed at 16 at the old Cleveland airport and earned a private pilot licence by 17 Cuyahoga County · source
Columbus (1950-1952)
student at Ohio State University (aeronautical engineering), left to become an Air Force pilot Franklin County · source

Timeline

1931 Born in Dayton on 30 December. source
1948 About age 16, made his first solo flight at the old Cleveland airport while a Berea High School student, paying for lessons by greasing and fuelling planes. source
1950 Graduated from Berea High School and entered Ohio State University, where he studied until 1952. source
1952 Entered the Air Force as an aviation cadet in October. source
1953 Graduated from flight training at Bryan Air Force Base, Texas, in December and was commissioned a second lieutenant. source
1955 Married Jean Martin on 22 June, after flying F-86 Sabres with the 8th Fighter-Bomber Group in Korea, where he arrived too late for combat. source
1960 Graduated from Texas Technological College with a B.S. in electrical engineering with honors, under the Air Force Institute of Technology program. source
1962 Graduated from the Air Force Experimental Flight Test Pilot School (Class 62A) as best all-round student, then the Aerospace Research Pilot School. source
1963 Selected by NASA in October in the third group of astronauts, with special responsibility for training and simulators. source
1965 Named pilot of Gemini 9 on 8 November, with Elliot See as command pilot. source
1966 Killed on 28 February when NASA T-38 No. 901, flown by See in rain and low cloud, struck McDonnell Building 101 at Lambert Field, St. Louis. source
1966 Buried at Arlington National Cemetery on 4 March, the same day as See. source
1971 His name was on the plaque beside the Fallen Astronaut sculpture that David Scott left at Hadley Rille on the Moon on 2 August during Apollo 15. source
1993 Named a Texas Tech Distinguished Engineer. source
1996 Texas Tech dedicated an Electrical Engineering Research Laboratory building in his honour in November. source

What Charles is known for

Selected pilot for Gemini 9 (8 Nov 1965), planned spacewalk
Killed in T-38 crash near Lambert Field, 28 Feb 1966
Selected pilot, Gemini 9

Stories

Solo at 16 over Cleveland

Bassett's flying started in northeast Ohio. As a Berea High School student he soloed at 16 at the old Cleveland airport and had his private pilot licence by 17, paying for his lessons by greasing and fuelling airplanes. He started aeronautical engineering at Ohio State in 1950 but left to become an Air Force pilot. Years later, in a 1966 encyclopedia article, he wrote that he hadn't done much with his life yet but would someday orbit the Earth, and that it was worth 33 years of school to get a chance to go to the Moon. He was killed in February 1966, before his first spaceflight.

Source

The approach to Building 101

On 28 February 1966 See and Bassett left Ellington Air Force Base, Texas, in T-38 No. 901 for two weeks of simulator training at McDonnell Aircraft in St. Louis, with their backups Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan in a second jet. Lambert Field had rain, fog and low cloud. Both jets overshot on the instrument approach; Stafford flew a standard missed approach, but See tried to circle low and land visually. At 8:58 a.m. his jet clipped the roof of Building 101, where the Gemini 9 and 10 spacecraft were being assembled, lost a wing and crashed in a parking lot. Both astronauts died instantly; 17 people inside had mostly minor injuries, and the Gemini 9 spacecraft was not damaged. A NASA panel led by Alan Shepard blamed pilot error in the bad weather.

Source

A name left on the Moon

Bassett never reached space, but his name did. In August 1971 Apollo 15 commander David Scott left a small aluminium figure by the Belgian artist Paul Van Hoeydonck, the Fallen Astronaut, at Hadley Rille, with a plaque listing 14 American and Soviet astronauts and cosmonauts who had died. The eight Americans on it include Bassett, See and Theodore Freeman.

Source

Honors and things named for them

Space Mirror Memorial, Kennedy Space Center
Fallen Astronaut plaque on the Moon (Apollo 15)
Texas Tech Electrical Engineering Research Laboratory building named for him, 1996

Named for Charles Bassett

Texas Tech Electrical Engineering Research Laboratory building (dedicated November 1996) (Lubbock, Texas) source

Family

wife: Jeannie Martin

Sites to know

Homes, graves, markers, museums and monuments; the numbered ones are on the map.

1 Berea High School campus, 165 East Bagley Road (Bassett's school; the 1929 building was demolished in 2020 and the campus is now Berea-Midpark High School) (demolished)
Berea Cuyahoga County · source
Crash site: McDonnell Aircraft Building 101, Lambert Field (unknown)
St. Louis, Missouri source
Grave of Charles A. Bassett II, Arlington National Cemetery, Section 4, Grave 195
Arlington, Virginia source

Ohio places

Where Charles Bassett was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.

Born: Dayton, Montgomery County ZIP 45402 · Dayton · Montgomery County
School: Berea (Berea High School), Cuyahoga County ZIP 44017 · Berea · Cuyahoga County
School: Columbus (Ohio State University), Franklin County ZIP 43210 · Columbus · Franklin County

Documents

Primary records: patents, letters, court and government files, nominations and old county histories, each at the archive that holds it.

NASA Biographical Data: Charles A. Bassett II (Captain, USAF), NASA astronaut (deceased) 1966, NASA Johnson Space Center

Pictures

Free to use with the credit shown. Select a picture for the original and its license.

Astronaut Charles Bassett training for the Gemini 9 mission.
Public domain
ARPS Class III graduates (L-R) Front row: Ed Givens, Tommie Benefield, Charlie Bassett, Greg Neubeck & Mik...
Public domain
Astronaut Group Three announced on October 18, 1963. They are (seated, left to right) Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., Wil...
Public domain
Fourteen NASA astronauts pose for group pictures at Stead Air Force Base in Nevada after a three-day stay in t...
Public domain
Astronaut William A. Anders is shown during a geological field trip to Iceland. Also in attendance is Astronau...
Public domain
Charles A. Bassett II, pilot, Gemini 9 mission
Public domain
The original Gemini 9 prime crew, astronauts Elliot M. See Jr. (left), command pilot, and Charles A. Bassett I...
Public domain
Portrait of the Gemini 9 prime and backup crews. Seated are the Prime crew consisting of Astronauts Elliot M. ...
Public domain
S66-15620 (January 1966) --- Gemini-9 backup crew portrait with astronauts Charles A. Bassett II (left), backu...
Public domain
The original Gemini 9 prime crew, astronauts Elliot M. See Jr. (left), command pilot, and Charles A. Bassett I...
Public domain
The original Gemini 9 prime crew, astronauts Elliot M. See Jr. (left), command pilot, and Charles A. Bassett I...
Public domain
Grave of Charles Bassett at Arlington National Cemetery
Public domain