Personal Life
Kelsey married Caryl Rathje and they had three sons: Benjamin Jr., Peter and David. Kelsey continued to fly after retirement. He owned a Cessna 190 and worked to restore a Pitts Special.
Kelsey wrote about aeronautical subjects and gave lectures. In 1959, he was honored by MIT with the Jerome C. Hunsaker Visiting Professor of Aerospace Systems award. In carrying out the duties of the award, Kelsey appeared in March 1960 at MIT, the University of Maryland, College Park and in Los Angeles to give a talk about the factors which determine the optimum size of aircraft. The engineering lecture was published in 1960.
In September 1977, Kelsey was invited to participate in a 50th anniversary symposium celebrating the P-38 Lightning, organized by Lockheed veterans. Tony LeVier, Kelly Johnson and some Lightning aces shared a panel discussion with him, and Kelsey participated in interviews recalling the history of fighter development in World War II.
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