newswatcher: I believe the guy you are referring to was a U.S. Marine flight surgeon who retired after a long career with everything more or less intact. there was a segment on one of those discovery/history/speedvision chanels that had lots about him. Advantage of the research and development folks is thereis lots of footage of their action, must be a goldmine to even the laziest film producer.
Question off topic: Why does the History Channel turn into the Hitler Channel (name for it at our house) so often?