Jan. 28, 1934—Oct. 22, 2009

Harold M. Graham, the first man to fly untethered using the Bell Rocket Belt, died Thursday in Nashville, Tenn., after a brief illness. He was 75.

Mr. Graham, an engineer at Bell Aerosystems, stepped in as test pilot for the rocket backpack in early 1961 after its developer, Wendell Moore, suffered a broken knee during a test. He went on to perform 36 tethered flights, learning to maneuver the device, and 87 free flights.

His first untethered flight came on April 20, 1961, when he flew for 13 seconds near the Niagara Falls airport, covering 112 feet.

He told a Buffalo Evening News reporter in 1961 that flying with a rocket on his back was “quite a delightful experience,” adding, “Flying in the rocket feels as though someone is lifting you up by your arms. There is no undue acceleration or pain.”

Mr. Graham demonstrated the rocket pack for President John F. Kennedy at Fort Bragg, N. C., in October 1961, flying over a strip of water and landing in front of the president. He also gave demonstrations for military brass, including one in the courtyard of the Pentagon.

He and a team from Bell then gave demonstrations of the device in many cities in the United States—including at Super Bowl I in Los Angeles in 1967—and worldwide, including Canada, Mexico, Germany and France, generating huge public interest. The device also made a silver screen appearance in the 1965 James Bond film “Thunderball.”

The Army, which funded development of the device, was disappointed in its capabilities, however, and dropped the project.

Born in Buffalo, Mr. Graham grew up in Kenmore and was a graduate of Nichols School and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He joined Bell in 1960 after working as a heat-transfer engineer for Graham Manufacturing Co. in Batavia, a company founded by his father.

After he stepped aside as a Bell Rocket Belt pilot, Mr. Graham left Bell to work as a mechanical analyst at Joy Manufacturing and later for Buffalo Forge. Having earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Buffalo while at Bell, he then earned a master’s degree in accounting at the University of Illinois.

He subsequently moved to Skaneateles, taught at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, became a certified public accountant and started his own CPA firm in Syracuse. He also tried farming part time.

In the mid-1980s, living in Auburn, he became an independent software developer, working from his home. He also served as a justice of the peace in Auburn.

He retired to the Chattanooga, Tenn., area in the early 1990s and pursued his passion for flying. He fitted a classic small plane with modern electronics and flew extensively around the country, for pleasure and on charter flights. He put a logo of the Bell Rocket Belt on the tail of the plane.

“People would come around and say, ‘You’re the rocket man, aren’t you?’ said his nephew, Graham Sears. “He had to keep a bunch of 8-by-10 photos in his valise for the old-timers who would come around.”

Surviving are his ex-wife, the former Marge Komp; two sons, Mitchell and Scott; and a sister, Irene Hart.

He will be remembered with memorial parties in Tennessee and at his family reunion in August in Pennsylvania.

—Dale Anderson