Lost a man with the "Right Stuff"
- Thread starter dawgoneyall
- Start date
No one ever pressed the envelope with as much bravado as Mr. Yeager. They dont make em like that anymore.
Wow, i just read up on what he did for the last 20 years. Broke the sound barrier at 89 apparently. A friend and I used to play a Chuck Yeager Flight Simulator like 30 years ago- I thought he was old then.
Living a full life is an understatement for Yeager.
Living a full life is an understatement for Yeager.
Not sure a finer American ever lived.
"Yeager went on to break many other speed and altitude records. He was also one of the first American pilots to fly a MiG-15, after its pilot, No Kum-sok, defected to South Korea.[SUP][46][/SUP][SUP][47][/SUP] Returning to Muroc, during the latter half of 1953, Yeager was involved with the USAF team that was working on the X-1A, an aircraft designed to surpass Mach 2 in level flight. That year, he flew a chase aircraft for the civilian pilot Jackie Cochran as she became the first woman to fly faster than sound.[SUP][48][/SUP]
On November 20, 1953, the U.S. Navy program involving the D-558-II Skyrocket and its pilot, Scott Crossfield, became the first team to reach twice the speed of sound. After they were bested, Ridley and Yeager decided to beat rival Crossfield's speed record in a series of test flights that they dubbed "Operation NACA Weep." Not only did they beat Crossfield by setting a new record at Mach 2.44 on December 12, 1953, but they did it in time to spoil a celebration planned for the 50th anniversary of flight in which Crossfield was to be called "the fastest man alive."[SUP][48][/SUP]
The new record flight, however, did not entirely go to plan, since shortly after reaching Mach 2.44, Yeager lost control of the X-1A at about 80,000 ft (24,000 m) due to inertia coupling, a phenomenon largely unknown at the time. With the aircraft simultaneously rolling, pitching, and yawing out of control, Yeager dropped 51,000 feet (16,000 m) in less than a minute before regaining control at around 29,000 feet (8,800 m). He then managed to land without further incident.[SUP][48][/SUP] For this achievement, Yeager was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) in 1954.[SUP][49][/SUP][SUP][e]"
[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Yeager
[/URL][/SUP]
"Yeager went on to break many other speed and altitude records. He was also one of the first American pilots to fly a MiG-15, after its pilot, No Kum-sok, defected to South Korea.[SUP][46][/SUP][SUP][47][/SUP] Returning to Muroc, during the latter half of 1953, Yeager was involved with the USAF team that was working on the X-1A, an aircraft designed to surpass Mach 2 in level flight. That year, he flew a chase aircraft for the civilian pilot Jackie Cochran as she became the first woman to fly faster than sound.[SUP][48][/SUP]
On November 20, 1953, the U.S. Navy program involving the D-558-II Skyrocket and its pilot, Scott Crossfield, became the first team to reach twice the speed of sound. After they were bested, Ridley and Yeager decided to beat rival Crossfield's speed record in a series of test flights that they dubbed "Operation NACA Weep." Not only did they beat Crossfield by setting a new record at Mach 2.44 on December 12, 1953, but they did it in time to spoil a celebration planned for the 50th anniversary of flight in which Crossfield was to be called "the fastest man alive."[SUP][48][/SUP]
The new record flight, however, did not entirely go to plan, since shortly after reaching Mach 2.44, Yeager lost control of the X-1A at about 80,000 ft (24,000 m) due to inertia coupling, a phenomenon largely unknown at the time. With the aircraft simultaneously rolling, pitching, and yawing out of control, Yeager dropped 51,000 feet (16,000 m) in less than a minute before regaining control at around 29,000 feet (8,800 m). He then managed to land without further incident.[SUP][48][/SUP] For this achievement, Yeager was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) in 1954.[SUP][49][/SUP][SUP][e]"
[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Yeager
[/URL][/SUP]
Yeager was in Russia many years later after the MiG-15 and it's competition were long out of service. They knew he had flown it and some of their test pilots asked him what he thought of it. He told them it was a good airplane but he liked the F-86 better. He said he didn't like the way the MiG-15 handled in a power dive. He said the Russians' eyes got wide and one said "You put it in a POWER DIVE?" Evidently that was something you weren't supposed to do. Yeager did it in an unfamiliar plane with unfamiliar controls and instruments.
I got to hear him speak at the Oshkosh airshow one year. He and Bob Hoover, who was the chase pilot on his historic flight, were giving presentations as part of the 50th anniversary of the Air Force officially becoming the Air Force instead of the Army Air Corp. It was a very casual, entertaining speech however I quickly determined that you should never take young kids or someone with tender ears to hear him speak. I was 30 at the time and learned swear words I had never heard before. LOL
To show what kind of man he was beyond the heroic test pilot stuff, every year I went to Oshkosh (3 times) he was flying kids in an old Ford tri-motor as part of the Make A Wish program. He was already a hero with a great legacy so to do something like that made him even more impressive to me.
To show what kind of man he was beyond the heroic test pilot stuff, every year I went to Oshkosh (3 times) he was flying kids in an old Ford tri-motor as part of the Make A Wish program. He was already a hero with a great legacy so to do something like that made him even more impressive to me.
RIP to a great American hero. The Right Stuff is available on HBOMax, for younguns who have never seen it. Even better, read Tom Wolfe’s book.
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