Major David G. Simons, M.D., USAF, took this photograph of himself as he neared the peak altitude of 101,516 feet, 19 August 1957. (LIFE Magazine)
19–20 August 1957: At 9:22 a.m., Central Daylight Time (1422 UTC), 19 August 1957, Major David G. Simons, M.D., United States Air Force, lifted off aboard a helium-filled balloon at an open pit mine near Crosby, Minnesota. This was the second flight of Project MANHIGH, MANHIGH II, a series of experiments to investigate the physiological effects of extreme high altitude flight. The balloon and its 1,648 pound (748 kilogram) gondola were deployed from the bottom of Portland Mine as protection from wind while it inflated.
After 2 hours, 18 minutes, Major Simons had reached 100,000 feet (30,480 meters) above the surface of the Earth. The peak altitude, 30,942 meters (101,516 feet), set a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Altitude.¹
Major Simons wore a slightly modfified David Clark Co. MC-3A capstan-type partial-pressure suit and MA-2 helmet for protection should the gondola lose pressure while at high altitude. During his flight, Dr. Simons performed 25 aeromedical experiments.
32 hours, 10 minutes after lift off, at 5:32 p.m., CDT (2232 UTC), 20 August, the MANHIGH II gondola touched down 10 miles (16 kilometers) northwest of Frederick, South Dakota.
Major Simons was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, presented to him 24 August 1957 by Lieutenant General Samuel E. Anderson, at the Air Force Research and Development Command (ARDC) Headquarters, Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland.
The helium-filled MANHIGH II balloon is prepared for launch inside the Portland Mine, 19 August 1957. (Cuyuna County Heritage Preservation Society)David Goodman Simons. (The 1939 Epilogue)
David Goodman Simons was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 7 June 1922. He was the first of two children of Dr. Samuel Shirk Simons, a physician in private practice, and Catherine Rebecca Goodman Simons.
Dave Simons entered the Franklin & Marshall Academy at Lancaster in 1936. He was a member of the science club, and the swimming and tennis teams. He was on the school’s honor roll for 1938 and 1939.
Simon entered Franklin & Marshall College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in September 1940. At the age of 20 years, Simons was described as 6 feet (1.83 meters) tall, weighing 180 pounds (82 kilograms), with brown hair, hazel eyes, and a ruddy complexion.
From 15 August 1942 to 20 January 1944, Simons was on inactive service, assigned the Medical Administrative Corps, Army of the United States. (The MAC was responsible for officer training schools for medical professionals at Carlisle Barracks in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and Camp Barkeley, southwest of Abilene, Texas.) On 21 January 1944, Simons was enlisted as a private, Enlisted Reserve Corps.
Following his graduation from Franklin & Marshall College, Simon entered the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1946.
On 22 March 1946, Private Simons was discharged from the ERC to accept a commission as an officer in the Army Medical Corps.
Lieutenant David Goodman Simons married Miss Mary Elizabeth Heagey, 23 June 1946. They would have five children, one of whom died in infancy. They divorced in 1959.
Lieutenant Simons was assigned to the Aero-Medical Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. He was involved in early experiments which used captured V-2 rockets to launch rhesus monkeys into space. In 1948, Dave Simons was promoted to the rank of captain.
Captain Simons next attended the Air Force Advanced Course in Aviation Medicine at Randolph Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. During the Korean War, he served as a flight surgeon at Yakota Air Base in Japan.
Captain Simons returned to scientific research at the Aeromedical Field Laboratory at Holloman Air Force Base, Alamogordo, New Mexico, where he investigated cosmic radiation.
After divorcing his wife, Mary, Major Simons on 12 June 1959 married Mrs. Vera Winzen (née Wera Maria Habrecht), the divorced founder and owner of Winzen Research, Inc., manufacturers of the MANHIGH balloons and gondolas. They also divorced, 5 May 1969.
Major David G. Simons, M.D., U.S. Air Force, at left, with the Project MANHIGH gondola, Otto C. Winzen, and Vera M. Winzen (the future Mrs. Simons), circa 1957. (Photograph by Joel Yale/LIFE Photo Collection)
Lieutenant Colonel Simons retired from the United States Air Force 30 June 1965.
Dr. Simons married Mrs. Ute Margarete McConnell (née Ute Margarete Jordan) a reference librarian at the Texas Medical Center, 20 May 1971. Ms. Jordan, like Simon’s second wife, was also a native of Germany. They would also divorce.
Dr. Simons became the leading authority on myofascial pain and co-authored a text book on trigger points and chronic pain management, Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual.
Later, Dr. Simons was Clinical Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. David G. Simons, M.D., Ph.D., Hon., Lieutenant Colonel, United States Air Force (Retired), died at his home in Covington, Georgia, 5 April 2010. He was 87 years old.
Captain Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr., U.S. Air Force, seated in the gondola of Project MANHIGH I, 2 June 1957. Captain Kittinger is wearing a slightly-modified David Clark Co. MC-3A capstan-type partial-pressure suit (S836) and ILC Dover MA-2 helmet for protection at very high altitudes. (U.S. Air Force)Project MANHIGH I balloon and gondola. (U.S. Air Force)
2 June 1957: At 6:23 a.m., Central Daylight Time (11:23 UTC), Captain Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr., United States Air Force, lifted off from Richard E. Fleming Field (SGS), South Saint Paul, Minnesota, in the gondola of a helium balloon designed and built by Winzen Research Inc.
At 8:04 a.m. (13:04 UTC), Captain Kittinger reached a pressure altitude of 95,000 feet (28,956 meters). This was only 400 feet (122 meters) short of the balloon’s theoretical pressure ceiling. Using U.S. Weather Bureau data, the linear altitude of the balloon was calculated to have been 97,000 feet (29,566 meters).¹
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) was not asked to certify this flight, so an official record was not set.
Project MANHIGH I was intended to test various equipment and human physiology in a near-space condition. Cosmic radiation was a particular concern. This was the first of many high-altitude research balloon flights that Kittinger would make.
. . . A Winzen crew conducted the launching, as provided by the Man-High contract, in collaboration with members of the Aeromedical Field Laboratory and other units at Holloman. The 475th Air Base Squadron, Minneapolis, provided additional helicopter support. The vehicle was a two-million-cubic-foot plastic balloon, 172.6 feet in diameter, which quickly reached the planned ceiling altitude of 95,000 feet, setting a new record for manned balloons. Test specifications called for a twelve-hour flight. However, because of an oxygen leak (due to an improperly connected valve) and also certain communications difficulties, Colonel Stapp and Mr. Winzen decided that Captain Kittinger should come down after not quite two hours at altitude. The balloon pilot was not happy with the decision, replying by radio, “Come and get me.” But he did come down, and landed successfully at 1257 hours none the worse for his experience.
— History of Research in Space Biology and Biodynamics, Part II, Chapter 3, NASA History Office, December 1958.
Kittinger landed next to a stream approximately 7 miles (11 kilometers) south-southwest of Alma, Minnesota. The total duration of his flight was 6 hours, 36 minutes. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the first of six he would receive during his career in the Air Force.
Ground track of Project MANHIGH I balloon, 2 June 1957. (U.S. Air Force)
The Project MANHIGH balloon and gondola were designed and built by Winzen Research, Inc., South St. Paul, Minnesota. The gondola was used in all three MANHIGH flights (Kittinger, June 1957; Simons, August 1957; McClure, October 1958).
The balloon was constructed of polyethelene sheet with a thickness of 2 mils (0.002 inch/0.051 millimeter). The seams were bonded using a heat-sealing technique which had been developed by Otto Winzen. When fully inflated with helium, the envelope had a volume of 2,000,000 cubic feet (56,634 cubic meters) and diameter of 172.6 feet (52.6 meters).
Illustration of Project MANHIGH gondola. (U.S. Air Force)
The gondola is 8 feet high and 3 feet in diameter (2.4 × 0.9 meters). It consisted of a cast aluminum section with 6 portholes which served as the primary load-bearing unit of the gondola. The rest of the gondola consisted of an aluminum alloy cylinder and two hemispherical end caps. The capsule was pressurized and filled with a 60-20-20 mixture of oxygen, nitrogen, and helium.
The gondola was suspended from an open 40.4 foot (12.3 meter) diameter parachute, which was, in turn, attached the gas balloon’s suspension rigging. Four explosive devices could sever the attachments and release the gondola and parachute.
The balloon, parachute and associated equipment weighed 1,012 pounds (459 kilograms). The gondola and installed equipment weighed 598 pounds (271 kilograms) and carried another 246 pounds (112 kilograms) of used lead-acid batteries as ballast. Kittinger, with his personal equipment, food and water, added 240 pounds (109 kilograms) to the payload. Finally, there was 70 pounds (32 kilograms) of equipment for experiments, cameras and film. The total weight came to 2,166 pounds (982 kilograms).
The Project MANHIGH gondola is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
Project MANHIGH gondola at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. (U.S. Air Force)
Joe Kittinger flew three combat tours during the Vietnam War for a total of 483 combat missions. On 1 March 1972, flying a McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II, he shot down an enemy Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21. He was himself shot down on 11 May 1972. He and his Weapons System Officer, 1st Lieutenant William J. Reich, were captured and spent 11 months at the Hanoi Hilton.
Captain Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr., United States Air Force. Captain Kittinger is wearing the wings of an Air Force Senior Pilot and an Air Force Basic Parachutist Badge. The red, white and blue striped ribbon represents the Distinguished Flying Cross. (U.S. Air Force)
Joe Kittinger holds six Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) world records for distance set with balloons. Three are still current.² In 2012, he was technical advisor for Felix Baumgartner as he set a new world record for the highest parachute jump from the Red Bull Stratos balloon and gondola. Kittinger died 9 December 2022.
Vera Winzen, founder and owner of Winzen Research, Inc. The Project MAN-HIGH gondola is in the background. (Joel Yale)
Winzen Research, Inc. was formed in 1949 by Otto Christian Winzen, an aeronautical engineer, and his wife, Vera M. Habrecht Winzen. Both were immigrants from Germany. Mr. Winzen had previously worked for the gas balloon laboratory of General Mills, Inc. Mrs. Winzen had borrowed money from her parents to start the company and held a 2/3 ownership of the company. She ran the factory and trained its workers. She also had four U.S. patents related to balloon construction.
Otto Christian Winzen was born 24 October 1917, at Cologne, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. He was the son of Christian Winzen and Lilly Lerche Winzen. At the age of 19, Winzen sailed from Bremen, Germany, aboard the Norddeutsche Lloyd passenger liner S.S. Europa, on 29 June 1937. He arrived at New York City, New York, United States of America, on 5 July 1937.
Winzen studied aeronautical engineering at University of Detroit Mercy, a private Roman Catholic university in Detroit, Michigan. It was the first university to offer a complete 5-year degree program in aeronautical engineering. While there, he met the world famous aeronaut, Jean Felix Picard, and his future wife, Vera Habracht.
Reportedly, during World War II, Otto Winzen was interred as an enemy alien.
Otto Winzen later married Marion Grzyll. He committed suicide 23 November 1979 (the first Mrs. Winzen’s 59th birthday).
Major David G. Simons, M.D., U,S, Air Force, at left, with the Project MANHIGH gondola, Otto C. Winzen, and Vera M. Winzen (the future Mrs. Simons), circa 1957. (Photograph by Joel Yale/LIFE Photo Collection)
Wera Maria Habrecht was born 23 November 1920 at Heidenheim, Germany. She was the first of two children of Max Theodore Habrecht, a commercial photographer, and Maya Widenmann Habrecht. The family emigrated to the United States in 1923, with Mr. Habrecht traveling there first. Mrs. Habrecht followed later with her children, Wera and Roland. They first sailed from Hamburg, Germany, 13 November 1923, to the British seaport of Grimsby, Lincolnshire, aboard the passenger/cargo ship S.S. Dewsbury. On 16 Novemberl the family boarded S.S. Montlaurier at Liverpool, England, and then sailed for New York City. The Habrecht family settled in Detroit, Michigan.
Vera M. Habrecht, 1939. (The Triangle)
With her first name “americanized,” Vera M. Habrecht attended Cass Technical High School in Detroit, Michigan, graduating in 1939. She then studied art at the Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis School of Art, both in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Miss Habrecht was introduced to Mr. Winzer by Professor Picard. They were married 1 February 1941, in Detroit.³ They divorced in 1958.
Mrs. Winzer was herself an aeronaut. In 1957 she competed in the 30th Annual International Gas Balloon Races in Holland.
During Project MANHIGH, she met Major David G. Simons, M.D., U.S.A.F. Major Simons flew the MANHIGH II mission, 19–20 August 1957. They were married 12 June 1959. It was the second marriage for both. This marriage also ended in divorce, 5 May 1969. Dr. Simons died 5 April 2010.
On 26 May 1975, she married her third husband, Clifford Charles La Plante, at Arlington, Virginia.
While conducting pollution research Mrs. La Plante, under the name Vera M. Simons, set a Comité International d’Aérostation (the FAI Ballooning Commission, or CIA, world record for the Longest Flight for a Female Pilot, at 133 hours, 45 minutes, 1 October 1979.⁴
Vera Maria Habrecht Winzer Simons La Plante died at Austin, Texas, 31 July 2012, at the age of 91 years.
Vera Simons with a gas balloon, Holland, 1975. (NASM)
¹ Air Force Missile Development Center Technical Report MANHIGH I, AFMDC-TR-59-24, Pages 33 and 35
² FAI Record File Numbers 1045, 1046, 1047
³ Some sources state that Mrs. Winzen had been married previously, and that she had a daughter from that marriage. TDiA has not found any information to support this claim.
