Flying as Co-pilot in a C-47 over Japan on March 12, 1957, Col. Ridley died at age 41 when the transport crashed into a snow-covered Mt. Shirouma, northwest of Tokyo. In 1980, the Ridley Mission Control Center at Edwards Air Force Base was dedicated in Jack Ridley's honor.
In the 1983 film The Right Stuff, Ridley was portrayed (including beyond the time of his death) by Levon Helm. Scenes with the Bell X-1 occurred while Ridley was still alive. However, the scene where Yeager crashes the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter in 1963, occurred after Ridley's death in the 1957 plane crash.
In 1996, Ridley was inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor and was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio, in 2003. He was survived by his wife, Nell, and son Jack Ridley, Jr.
А ведь и правда - Йегера в его крайне неудачный полет провожает покойник:
