User:Rolly Mutt

Russell Colley

Credited as the founder of the modern "space suit" Colley's first invention for high altitude flight was worn by test pilot Wiley Post. Made of rubber, the Akron, Ohio engineer sewed the prototype pieces together in his basement using his wife's sewing machine.

Colley's other inventions for flight are lesser known but became the standards for the industry.

Colley's talents were diverse and juxtaposed the exacting realm of his everyday endeavors in science. As noted in an Akron Life and Leisure article published in March of 2003, writer James McGarrity wrote that Colley was a founding member of an elite group of watercolor artists known as the Whiskey Painters of America. The Whiskey Painters, started in Akron, Ohio in the 1940's by industrial designer Joe Ferriot still exists. Its current president, Tony Cross, is the last remaining member of the original group Ferriot formed.