Bob Harris

Apparently he passed through my club airfield on a cycling trip once - unfortunately that was years before I started flying so I never got to meet him.. Reading the relevant back issues of Soaring I found the story of the record fascinating. I was also stunned by how much flak he drew in the letters section following it from some of his fellow pilots.

It's true he set the record without pressure suits, pressurization or sponsorship but that's because that magnificent flight of his set the record pretty much as high as it could be set without access to those things!