Herman Salmon

Salmon was born in 1913 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Pennsylvania-born engineer Harry Britton Salmon and his wife Bertha Wilhelmine née Wagner.United States Census Bureau, National Archives and Records Administration His first flight in an aircraft was at the age of 14; by 18 he was a licensed pilot. During the 1930s he flew as a barnstormer, parachute stuntman and race pilot.{{cite web|url=http://www.wisconsinaviationhalloffame.org/inductees/salmon.htm|publisher=Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame|title=Hall of Fame Inductees, Herman R. "Fish" Salmon|accessdate=24 September 2012}} By 1940 he was living in Los Angeles, California with his first wife Evelyn.

He started work at Lockheed in 1940 ferrying Hudsons to Montreal for the Royal Air Force. In 1945, he was transferred to the engineering test piloting division by Tony LeVier, who was the new head of the department.

As engineering test pilot, he spin tested the P-38 Lightning and dive tested the P-80 Shooting Star, the XF-90 penetration fighter prototype, and the F-94C Starfire. He certification tested two of the models of the Constellation for the Civil Aeronautics Administration. He made the first flights of such aircraft as the L-188 Electra, P-3 Orion, YF-104A Starfighter, and the XFV-1 tailsitter, which was named in his honor. He succeeded Tony LeVier as chief engineering test pilot, until he retired from Lockheed in 1978.

A new class of air racing was introduced at the 1947 National Air Races in Cleveland, Ohio, sponsored for three years by the Goodyear corporation. The first year Herman achieved a third place flying a Cosmic Wind plane with a speed of 158.8 mph (256 km/h). The Cosmic Wind was designed and built by a group of Lockheed employees, including Tony LeVier. In 1948 Herman finished first, and in 1949 fifth.{{cite web|url=http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2000/10/stuff_eng_bruun_goodyear.htm |publisher=IPMS Stockholm.org |title=The Goodyear Trophy, 1947 |accessdate=24 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723221806/http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2000/10/stuff_eng_bruun_goodyear.htm |archivedate=23 July 2012 }}

In 1968, Salmon was the recipient of the coveted Kitty Hawk Memorial Award for distinguished achievement as a test pilot.

Salmon continued to teach flight crew and ferry aircraft. In 1974 he flew as a passenger on the maiden flight of the then-recently restored Westland Lysander piloted and owned by Dwight Brooks.Aeroplane Monthly A Lizzie flies again article in the December 1974 issue

In 1980, he was killed in Lockheed L-1049H Super Constellation N74CA that he was ferrying to Alaska, when it crashed on take off from Bakalar municipal airport in Columbus, Indiana. Also killed in the crash were flight engineer Leland J. Sanders and a passenger. Five others survived the crash including Salmon's son and copilot, Randall.Aviation Week & Space Technology, 30 June 1980 and 16 February 1981; {{cite web|url=http://www.indianamilitary.org/Bakalar%20AFB/Publications/ConstellationCrash.htm|title=3 Dead in Fiery Plane Crash Here|publisher=The Republic (Columbus, IN), 23 June 1980|accessdate=16 March 2016}}; {{cite web|url=https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/AAR8014.pdf|publisher=National Transportation Safety Board|title=Aircraft Accident Report--Air Traders International, Lockheed 1049H, N74CA, Columbus, Indiana, June 22, 1980|accessdate=16 March 2016}}

Herman Salmon had logged about 17,250 flight hours.

In 1994, he was inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36298146/the_los_angeles_times/|title=Aerospace Walk of Honor Inducts 5|last1=Johnson|first1=Chip|newspaper=The Los Angeles Times|location=Los Angeles, California|date=September 19, 1994|page=53|via=Newspapers.com}}

Since 1971 the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, of which Salmon was a Fellow, has made an annual award "to recognize the most outstanding technical paper published in Cockpit magazine". The selection criteria include:

• Contribution to flight testing
• Contribution to the exchange of information between test pilots that would not otherwise be generally available.{{cite web|url=http://www.setp.org/criteria/herman-r-salmon-technical-publications-award.html|publisher=The Society of Experimental Test Pilots

|title=Herman R. Salmon Technical Publications Award|accessdate=24 September 2012}}

• Herman
• Herman R. Salmon Technical Publications Award
• List of accidents and incidents involving the Lockheed Constellation
• List of aviators by nickname
• Salmon (surname)

{{Reflist}}

• LeVier, Tony, with John Guenther, Pilot. 1954 (reprinted 1990).
• Pace, Steve, Lockheed Skunk Works. Motorbooks: Osceola WI, 1992.

• {{YouTube|hUMl3YlSX8M|The Story of a Test Pilot}}: a documentary on Salmon
• [http://www.wisconsinaviationhalloffame.org/inductees/salmon.htm Biography from Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame]
• [http://www.cityoflancasterca.org/about-us/departments-services/parks-recreation-arts/special-events/aerospace-walk-of-honor-program-has-been-concluded/honorees/1994 City of Lancaster, Aerospace Walk of Honor, 1994 Honorees] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308193709/http://www.cityoflancasterca.org/about-us/departments-services/parks-recreation-arts/special-events/aerospace-walk-of-honor-program-has-been-concluded/honorees/1994 |date=2016-03-08 }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salmon, Herman}}

Category:1913 births

Category:1980 deaths

Category:Accidental deaths in Indiana

Category:American test pilots

Category:Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States

Category:Lockheed people

Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1980