| Notes |
- Charles A. Bassett II
February 28, 1966
Charles A. Bassett II was born December 30, 1931 in Dayton, Ohio. He
graduated from Ohio State University and Texas Technological College,
receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering. Bassett and
his wife, Jean, have two children, Karen and Peter.
Bassett was an Air Force Captain. He graduated from the Air For
Experimental Pilot School and the Aerospace Research Pilot School. Bassett was
one of the third group of astronauts named by NASA in October 1963. On
November 8, 1965 he was selected as a pilot of the Gemini 9 missio
Charles A. Bassett, II and Elliot M. See, Jr. the command pilot for
the Gemini 9 flight, were killed on February 28, 1966 during an instrument
landing approach at McDonnell Aircraft Corporation's St. Louis plant.
Arlington National Cemetery Website
Charles Arthur Bassett II
Captain, United States Air Force
Born at Dayton, Ohio, December 30, 1931, he attended Ohio State
University from 1950-52 and graduated from Texas Tech at Lubbock with high
honors in electrical engineering, getting his B.S. degree in 1960. He d
graduate work at the University of Southern California and entered the United
States Air Force in October 1952 as an Aviation Cadet.
He trained at Stallings Air Force Base, North Carolina, Bryan A
Force Base, Texas, and Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, completing advanced work
in April 1954. He went to the Pacific with the 8th Fighter Bomber Group and
was promoted to First Lieutenant in May 1955. He returned for pilot duties at
Suffolk County Air Force Base, New York, serving until April 1958 when he took
the electrical engineering course at the U.S. Air Force Institute of
Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
He was promoted to Captain in January 1960 while on duty at Edwards
Air Force Base, California, as an electrical engineer. In November 1960 he
went to Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, to attend Squadron Officer School and
returned to Edwards as an experimental test pilot in the Fighter Projec
Office. He had about 2,800 hours flying time in jets. He reported to NASA's
Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston, Texas, January 7, 1964 and subsequently
became a Gemini 9 Astronaut.
He died with fellow Astronaut, Elliott M. See, Jr., when their T-38
jet crashed on approach to St. Louis, Missouri, on February 28, 1966. O
bright winter morning, the last day of February 1966, the Gemini IX foursome
checked into Ellington Air Force Base, Texas, for flight clearance to S
Louis in two dual-seat T-38 jet aircraft. They planned to spend several days
practicing on the rendezvous simulator at the McDonnell plan
At Ellington, the four fliers learned that weather in St. Louis was
gloomy: 180-meter overcast, visibility 3 kilometers, rain, and fog, with
little change expected. Instrument flight rules would be required. See called
the St. Louis air traffic controllers, saying he would see them in a couple
of hours. He and Cernan discussed the different runways at Lambert Field in
St. Louis. See then climbed into the front seat of one T-38, with Basse
easing into the back seat. Stafford and Cernan got into the other plane. They
took off from Ellington at 7:35 a.m. See and Bassett led, with Stafford and
Cernan flying wing position.
Reaching St. Louis just before 9 o'clock, See radioed the Lambe
Field control tower and learned that the overcast had lifted to 240 meters
since his earlier call, but the visibility had dropped to 2.4 kilometer
Light snow flurries now mixed with the rain and fog. As the aircraft descended
through the overcast, the pilots found themselves too far down the runway to
land. See elected to keep the field in sight and he circled to the left
underneath the cloud cover. Stafford followed a missed approach procedure and
climbed straight ahead into the soup to 600 meters, intending to make another
instrument approach. He landed safely on his next attempt.
Meanwhile, See had continued his left turn. The aircraft angled toward
McDonnell Building 101, where technicians were working on the very spacecraft
See and Bassett were scheduled to fly. Apparently recognizing that his sink
rate was too high, See cut in his afterburners and attempted a sharp right
turn; but it was too late. The aircraft struck the roof of the building and
crashed into a courtyard. Both pilots were killed.
NASA named a seven-man board to investigate the accident. Led by
Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr., the board looked into all aspects of the
tragedy - aircraft maintenance, pilot experience, medical histories, and
weather conditions. Shepard's group listened to testimony from everyone who
had anything to say, sifted the wreckage for clues, and drew conclusions. They
found nothing wrong with the aircraft; it had functioned properly to the
moment of impact. Within the past six months, See and Bassett had renew
their instrument flying certificates. Before and during the flight, both men
had been in good physical and mental condition, as attested by medical
examinations and by reported pre- and in-flight conversation
Furthermore, See was reputed to be an excellent test pilot. Careful,
judicious, and technically competent, he should never have crashed at all.
Weather appeared to have been the major contributing cause, and pilot error
prompted by a desire not to lose sight of the field had carried them too low.
On Wednesday, 2 March 1966, Spacecraft No. 9, on its way to the flight
dock for shipment to Cape Kennedy, passed an American flag flying at half-mast
at the McDonnell plant. The next day, Elliot See and Charles Bassett, attended
by their fellow astronauts, were buried in Arlington National Cemetery across
the Potomac from the Nation's capital.
NASA assigned the Gemini IX prime crew positions to Stafford and
Cernan, marking the first time in the agency's manned space flight history
that a backup crew had taken over a mission. On 21 March James Lovell a
Edwin Aldrin were given the backup duties. There would be no delay in t
launch schedule.
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Bassett Family Association Database
1931 - 1966 (34 years)