Jack Ridley (pilot) - Death and Legacy

Death and Legacy

Flying as a passenger in a C-47 over Japan on March 12, 1957, Col Ridley died at the age of 42 when the transport crashed into a snow-covered mountainside northwest of Tokyo. In 1980, the Ridley Mission Control Center at Edwards Air Force Base was dedicated in Jack Ridley's honor. Ridley was portrayed (albeit beyond the time of his death) by Levon Helm in the 1983 film The Right Stuff. In 1996, Ridley was inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor and was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio, in 2003. He was survived by his wife, Nell, and son Jack Ridley, Jr.