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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Ms. Mary D'Angelo-Soble

Capt. Irv Soble flew USAF Air Defense Command F-102A and F-106A fighter-interceptors from 1958-1962. He then flew New Jersey lAir National Guard (NJANG) Tactical Air Command F-86H and F-105B attack-fighters from 1962-1965.

He joined United Airlines as a DC-6/7 Flight Engineer in 1965 and retired 30 years later as a B-747 Captain.

Capt. Soble instructed in sailplanes for more than 15 years as a hobby. In 1980 Capt Soble, his wife Mary D'Angelo-Soble (also a pilot), and James A. McGowan (the world's first paraplegic sky-diver, and would-be first Freedom's Wings International (FWI) pilot) founded Freedom's Wings International. FWI is a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching people with physical disabilities to fly sailplanes with the use of hand-controls. FWI celebrated its 25 anniversary in 2005 with Mary D'Angelo-Soble and Irv Soble still actively serving on its Board of Trustees.

Capt. Soble flew more than 50 accident-free years and in his last international flight sequence before retiring from United Airlines, set two World Speed Records. The first, from Shanghai, China to Tokyo, Japan on February 4, 1995, and the second from Tokyo, Japan to Honolulu, Hawaii on February 6, 1995. That last international flight not only broke the world speed record for that flight (previously held, incidentally, by Capt. Soble), but was credited with being the fastest average speed ever flown in the history of United States commercial aviation (1139.64 kmh or 708 mph).

Capt. Soble and his crew, First Officer Paul C. Mattson and Flight Engineer Kevin D. Garcia, were subsequently awarded Certificates of Honor on March 11, 1996, at the Smithsonian Institution, from the National Aeronautic Association. This recognition was for "One of 1995's Ten Most Memorable Record Flights."