This silent, raw footage dates to March 19, 1954 and shows human factors experiments involving Col. John Paul Stapp, who in December of that same year rode a rocket sled called the Sonic Wind at speeds up to 632 miles per hour at Holloman, New Mexico. This set a ground speed record and put Stapp into the books as “Fastest Man on Earth”. The film starts with footage of the preparation of the Sonic Wind at :30. At 1:08, Northrop Aircraft crew strap Dr. Stapp into the rocket sled. An aluminum wind screen can be clearly seen in the front of the sled. At 5:20, the test is underway with the rocket sled screaming down the Holloman test track and hitting a water brake, which rapidly decelerates it and Dr. Stapp. At 7:00, Dr. Stapp assists ground crew in unbelting himself from the sled and at 7:34 he walks off under his own power.

John Paul Stapp, M.D., Ph.D., Colonel, USAF (Ret.) (11 July 1910 – 13 November 1999) was a career U.S. Air Force officer, USAF flight surgeon and pioneer in studying the effects of acceleration and deceleration forces on humans.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com