Abstract
They were strong-hearted, incredibly valorous young men. Any pilot who flew into perilous aerial combat in the Great War (as it was known before it became necessary to number them) and lived to tell of his encounters had a valid reason to believe that the gods were on his side. Especially those who took to the air in the AirCo DH.9 single-engine light bomber airplane.
“You don’t raise heroes; you raise sons. And if you treat them like
sons they’ll turn out to be heroes, even if it’s just in your eyes.”
Walter M. Schirra. Snr . (1893–1973)
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REFERENCES
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Walter M. Schirra, Jr. with Richard N. Billings, Schirra’s Space, Quinlan Press, Boston, MA, 1988
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Ibid
James Cunningham, Honolulu Advertiser article, “Son is a Space Lindbergh, Parents Say,” issue 20 April 1960
William Olcott, Daily Sentinel (Rome, New York) newspaper article, “Astronaut Schirra’s Mom Reminisces,” issue Tuesday, 2 October 1962, pg. 8
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Ibid
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Oradell Local History Collection, “We Have a National Hero,” author unknown, courtesy of Borough Archivist George Carter
Ibid
George Carter email messages to Colin Burgess, 24–30 June 2015
Richard Stolley, Life magazine article, “‘Flying Jennys’ to Next Orbit,” issue 28 September 1962, pg. 96
Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA) newspaper, unaccredited article “Wally Schirra Real American Boy,” issue 2 June 1962, pg. 12
Oradell Local History Collection, “We Have a National Hero,” author unknown, courtesy of Borough Archivist George Carter
Walter M. Schirra, Jr. with Richard N. Billings, Schirra’s Space, Quinlan Press, Boston, MA, 1988
The Times-News newspaper (Hendersonville, NC) unaccredited article, “Mother Recalls Schirra: Real American Boy,” issue 3 October 1962, Pg. 12
M. Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper, Jr., John H. Glenn, Jr., Virgil I. Grissom, Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Alan B. Shepard, Jr., and Donald K. Slayton, We Seven, Simon and Schuster, New York, NY, 1962
Oradell Local History Collection, “We Have a National Hero,” author unknown, courtesy of Borough Archivist George Carter
Jo Schirra telephone conversation with Colin Burgess, 22 February 2011
Wally Schirra family papers, courtesy of the San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives
Howard Benedict, Buffalo (New York) Courier-Express newspaper article, “Schirra Likes Lots of Speed,” issue 4 October 1962, pg. 2
Mark Waters article for Honolulu Star-Bulletin newspaper (title and date not known). Cutting from Schirra family papers at the San Diego Air & Space Museum
Walter M. Schirra, Jr. with Richard N. Billings, Schirra’s Space, Quinlan Press, Boston, MA, 1988
Ibid
Ibid
Fran Foley interview with Wally Schirra for The Library of Congress Veterans History Project, 19 April 2004, Rancho Santa Fe, California
Ibid
Ibid
Freia I. Hooper, article for unknown newspaper from Wally Schirra family papers, San Diego Air & Space Museum, issue October 1990, pg. 111
Wally Schirra private papers collection, San Diego Air & Space Museum
Walter M. Schirra, Jr. with Richard N. Billings, Schirra’s Space, Quinlan Press, Boston, MA, 1988
M. Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper, Jr., John H. Glenn, Jr., Virgil I. Grissom, Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Alan B. Shepard, Jr., and Donald K. Slayton, We Seven, Simon and Schuster, New York, NY, 1962
Zeke Cormier, Wally Schirra and Phil Wood with Barrett Tillman, Wildcats to Tomcats: The Tailhook Navy, Phalanx Publishing Co. Ltd., St Paul, MN, 1995
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Edward Roy, Mountain Mail newspaper (Socorro, NM), “Wally Schirra Was a Great American,” issue 17 May 2007, pg. 8
Unaccredited newspaper clipping from the Schirra family collection, San Diego Air & Space Museum
Zeke Cormier, Wally Schirra and Phil Wood with Barrett Tillman, Wildcats to Tomcats: The Tailhook Navy, Phalanx Publishing Co. Ltd., St Paul, MN, 1995
McDonnell Airscoop magazine, unaccredited article, “One of the Astronauts is Old Friend of M.A.C. Family,” issue June 1959
Fran Foley interview with Wally Schirra for The Library of Congress Veterans History Project, 19 April 2004, Rancho Santa Fe, California
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Untitled typed paper by Wally Schirra, from the Schirra family papers held at the San Diego Air & Space Museum
Zeke Cormier, Wally Schirra and Phil Wood with Barrett Tillman, Wildcats to Tomcats: The Tailhook Navy, Phalanx Publishing Co. Ltd., St Paul, MN, 1995
John Zarrella, CNN, video interview with Wally Schirra, aired in tribute 3 May 2007
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Walter M. Schirra, Jr., interviewed by Roy Neal for NASA JSC Oral History program, San Diego, CA, 1 December 1998
Allen O. Gamble, Personal Recollections of the Selection of the First Seven Astronauts. Paper presented at the Men’s Club of the Bethesda United Methodist Church, Bethesda, Maryland, 10 March 1971. Courtesy of Kris Stoever
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Burgess, C. (2016). A pilot born of pilots. In: Sigma 7. Springer Praxis Books(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27983-1_1
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