Herbert O. Fisher

In 1976, Fisher was inducted into the OX5 Aviation Pioneers Hall of Fame, at the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport, New York, at the same time as Charles Lindbergh; he also received the China-Burma-India Veterans Association's Americanism Award. In the same year, Fisher was named a General "Jimmy Doolittle Educational Fellow" at the Air Force Association, with the award presented by Barry Goldwater. Joining the ranks of many famous aviators from New Jersey, in 1983, Fisher was inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum of New Jersey. In 1984, the Yankee Air Force honoured Fisher as the "Airman of the Year" as well as inducting him in the association's Hall of Fame. On May 13, 2011, Fisher was also inducted into the Niagara Frontier Aviation & Space Hall of Fame. Accepting on behalf of his father, was Herbert O. Fisher, Jr.

At age 81, Fisher died on July 29, 1990, after suffering congestive heart failure. At the time of his death, he lived in the Smoke Rise gated community in Kinnelon, New Jersey, his family home since 1955.

After leaving Curtiss-Wright in 1952, Fisher worked for 23 years as a Special Assistant for Aviation to Executive Director Austin Joseph Tobin at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. As head of aviation-industry affairs, his work included evaluating requests for fixed-wing and rotary aircraft to use airports in the New York metropolitan region. The airports he supervised included John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia, Newark and Teterboro. During his tenure, Fisher checked out numerous aircraft from wide-body airliners to the executive jets. He retired in 1975, but continued to be active in aviation and other interests. Over the years, in his role as Special Assistant at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Fisher had gained a reputation as a knowledgeable and skilled pilot, as well as being friendly and affable. Likewise, his dapper figure, often in well-cut clothes, led to a painting given to him on retirement, titled, "The man in the flying tuxedo," that highlighted his many connections to aviation.

Some of the tests proved hazardous with flexing of the thin blades on the ground run-ups. Test flights also had to be carefully flown as engine power could only be fed in gradually for the same reason. The most serious incident, though one unconnected with compressibility, occurred in August 1948 when a rupture of a high pressure oil line at 590 mph (950 km/h) mph over Allentown, Pennsylvania led to an emergency "blind" landing with the entire aircraft coated in black oil. Several of these dives resulted in speeds of Mach 0.83; one on 27 October 1949 reached the fastest speed a P-47 could attain.

Fisher conducted nearly 200 of these high rate/low speed descents and demonstrated the technique for Generals"Hap" Arnold and Dwight Eisenhower in 1948. For the latest pressurized airliners and combat aircraft that operated at high altitudes, this was an effective method of safely dumping altitude in the event of an emergency, and was adopted worldwide as a safe procedure. Fisher was also instrumental in developing the use of reversing pitch to rapidly slow an aircraft, which allowed them to land safely on shorter runways, and, in general, greatly reduce the incidence of runway overruns.

Through his hard work and persistence, Fisher also convinced American General Joseph Stilwell, the Vice Commander of the CBI theater, that the new operational procedures would save the lives of hundreds of pilots and passengers. In 1944, at a special ceremony in Washington, D.C., President Franklin D. Roosevelt awarded the Air Medal to Fisher in recognition of his service; he was the first living civilian to receive the honor.

At the request of the commander of the Flying Tigers, Claire Chennault, Chief Engineer Don R. Berlin sent Fisher abroad as the best way to have "imparted his experience on those courageous young fellows over there with knowledge they could not possibility have". During 13 months overseas from 1943 on, despite his being a civilian test pilot, while in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater, Fisher flew as many as 50 missions to prove the P-40 under combat conditions. He also lectured and conducted P-40 flight demonstrations in almost every fighter base in the CBI, Middle East, North and Central Africa.

In 1942, due to wartime priorities that prohibited the use of military aircraft for Hollywood productions, Republic Studios approached Curtiss-Wright in Buffalo to recreate the aerial battle sequences required for Flying Tigers, starring John Wayne. A number of P-40E fighter aircraft waiting for USAAC delivery were repainted in AVG markings, and with the aid of Curtiss test pilots, flew in the film. Fisher's screen role was in subbing for John Wayne.

Fisher was also instrumental in supporting the introduction of the Curtiss C-46 at the Engineering and Operation section of the Air Transport Command. On August 6, 1942, first-hand experience with a faulty landing gear on an early production C-46, led to an example of his coolness in critical situations. While on an acceptance re-flight, the aircraft was loaded with Curtiss executives, and a special guest, fresh from combat in North Africa, Australian P-40 ace, Group Captain Clive "Killer" Caldwell. With the landing gear stuck in a three-quarters down position, and after an extended eight-hour attempt to release the gear, Fisher calmly belly-landed the C-46. With the weight of the aircraft gently pushing the gear back into the wheel wells, a minimum of damage resulted. Caldwell had taken over as the co-pilot on the eight hours of circling over Buffalo, receiving certification that he was checked out on the C-46, under the tutelage of Fisher. Recognizing that the new transport was subject to teething problems common to any new type, Fisher was able to assist operational units in the technique of flying and maintaining C-46 transports. He would eventually fly 96 "research missions" over "The Hump" as a means of testing all the critical systems and troubleshooting a dangerous tendency for the engine fires and explosions that had plagued the C-46. CBI C-46 pilot Don Downie recalled, "Herb Fisher's detailed reports were some of the best pilot briefings we had."

After test flights of a P-47C on November 13, 1942, Republic Aviation issued a press release on December 1, 1942, claiming that Lts. Harold E. Comstock and fellow test pilot Roger Dyar had exceeded the speed of sound. In response, Fisher later observed, "We knew about Mach 1 going clear back to the P-36 and the P-40 ... Nothing could go 600 mph (970 km/h) mph in level flight, but pilots were beginning to dive fighters. We ran into compressibility back in '38."

After leaving the military in 1933, Fisher joined Curtiss-Wright, and was assigned to test pilot duties. In checking out aircraft off the production lines at the Buffalo, New York plant, on his first day, he flew 10 aircraft. During his 15 years with Curtiss-Wright as Chief Production Test Pilot, Fisher recorded thousands of test flight hours in the Curtiss C-46 Commando, Curtiss P-36/Model 75 Hawk, Curtiss SB2C Helldivers, Curtiss P-40 Warhawks and Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighters. He flew 2,498 P-40s in his role as a production test pilot.

Fisher's aviation career began with his signing up with the United States Army Air Corps in 1927, becoming a member of the 309 Observation Reserve Squadron, Schoen Field, Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. He began flight training in 1928. In 1931, as the Secretary for the Aviation Committee of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, Fisher was actively involved in the aviation interests in the area, including the operation of the municipal airport.

Herbert O. Fisher (March 6, 1909 – July 29, 1990) was an American test pilot and an aviation executive, overseeing aviation projects at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. He worked for the Curtiss-Wright Corporation. Fisher flew as a pilot for over 50 years, racking up 19,351 accident and violation free hours.

Fisher was born on March 6, 1909 at Tonawanda, New York, to Harold O. Fisher and Emma Rose Fisher (née Wortley). At the age of 16, he had his first flying experience at the hands of a barnstormer, and was "hooked" on flying. After completing two years at college, Fisher began to explore aviation as a career.