ISTR reading somewhere there was an Air Force policy that led to fewer
applicants. It may have been (just speculating here) that the Air Force
wanted
to keep the best candidates to fly the fleet of spacecraft it intended to
acquire.

I don't remember where I read it, but that's true. The Air Force was
intending to field a fleet of military space craft, and none other than
Chuck Yeager was a key member of the team developing the pilots for this
future fleet.

They flew modified F-104 Starfighters fitted with rockets and thrusters (for
steering in a near vacuum) to the very edge of space.

The Air Force pilots in that program looked down their collective noses at
the NASA space program as being just "spam in a can", with no role for them
or their training. In many ways, they were right.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"