Here at the Paleo-Future blog we look at the work of many visionary people; John Elfreth Watkins Jr, Arthur Radebaugh, Harry Grant Dart, Victor Cohn… but few deserve the title of professional badass of the retrofuture. William P. Suitor no doubt deserves that distinction, risking life and limb to bring us that much closer to a jetpack-filled future.
That’s Suitor in this 1966 footage from Disneyland, this photo from the 1964 New York World’s Fair, and above in a photo from the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee. My generation, (I was just a twinkle in my father’s eye in 1982), probably best knows about the 1982 World’s Fair through the 1996 Simpsons episode, Bart on the Road.
You can find many more great pictures in Suitor’s book, Rocketbelt Pilot’s Manual: A Guide by the Bell Test Pilot.
Previously on Paleo-Future:
Bell Aviation’s Rocket Pack (1964)
Jet Flying Belt is Devised to Carry Man for Miles (New York Times, 1968)
