Robert Stanley

Robert M. Stanley (August 19, 1912 – July 16, 1977) was an American test pilot and engineer. He became the first American to fly a jet aircraft on October 2, 1942, as a civilian test pilot for Bell Aircraft. He flew the Bell XP-59A Airacomet, which was the United States’ first turbojet aircraft. The flight took place at Muroc Dry Lake, California. The Airacomet is on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Family history: Robert Stanley was born in 1912, to George W. Stanley and Jennie Coffman, and was the youngest of three sons. He married Katherine Norman in 1942 and had one daughter, Karin Jane, and two sons, Robert Morris Jr. and Stephen Eric.