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RIP Chuck Yeager
We lost the great aviator, Chuck Yeager today.
Chuck was literally a legend in aviation history, the first man to break the sound barrier, test pilot and Speed and altitude records.
Chuck gained his fame flying the Bell X-1, Glamorous Glennis on October 14, 1947, breaking the sound barrier. (as seen in the movie 'The Right Stuff', BTW, he cameos in the film as a old pilot in the bar Happy Bottom Riding Club)
Chuck flew anything with wings, including the Mig-15 that was grabbed by the US in by a defecting North Korean pilot in 1953. Plus the fastest plane in the world, the X-15. Also the recipient of the Collier and Mackey trophies.
And on the 65th anniversary of breaking the sound barrier, he did it again, flying a F-15. Yeager also was awarded a special silver medal, the Civilian version of the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1976.
I got to meet Yeager at EAA Oshkosh some years ago, listened to one of his lectures. The man was incredible.
Chuck has finally chased down that demon!
Chuck was literally a legend in aviation history, the first man to break the sound barrier, test pilot and Speed and altitude records.
Chuck gained his fame flying the Bell X-1, Glamorous Glennis on October 14, 1947, breaking the sound barrier. (as seen in the movie 'The Right Stuff', BTW, he cameos in the film as a old pilot in the bar Happy Bottom Riding Club)
Chuck flew anything with wings, including the Mig-15 that was grabbed by the US in by a defecting North Korean pilot in 1953. Plus the fastest plane in the world, the X-15. Also the recipient of the Collier and Mackey trophies.
And on the 65th anniversary of breaking the sound barrier, he did it again, flying a F-15. Yeager also was awarded a special silver medal, the Civilian version of the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1976.
I got to meet Yeager at EAA Oshkosh some years ago, listened to one of his lectures. The man was incredible.
Chuck has finally chased down that demon!
Category All / All
Species Unspecified / Any
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File Size 149.2 kB
I was first introduced to Chuck Yeager as a small child through the old MS-DOS video game by Electronic Arts, "Chuck Yeager's Air Combat." It was an early combat flight simulator that had missions that took place in WWII, the Korean Conflict, and Vietnam because that's how long Chuck Yeager's flight career as a combat and test pilot was. The game also had a mission editor that allowed you to create your own missions, and you could even mix planes from different eras. So if you wanted to take a Vietnam War-era F-4 Phantom and use it to slaughter waves of ME-262's (the first operational combat jet fighter, developed by Germany during WWII) you totally could.
My countless hours playing that game caused me to want to learn more about the person that featured prominently in it, and I ended up reading Chuck Yeager's autobiography and doing a report on him in grade school. As others have already mentioned here, the man was a legend and a truly great American hero.
My countless hours playing that game caused me to want to learn more about the person that featured prominently in it, and I ended up reading Chuck Yeager's autobiography and doing a report on him in grade school. As others have already mentioned here, the man was a legend and a truly great American hero.
I kinda hate to be a nitpicker here, but the name he had on the X-1 was "Glamorous Glennis".
"Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds -
and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of -
wheeled and soared and swung high in the sunlit silence.
Hovering there I've chased the shouting wind along
and flung my eager craft through footless halls of air.
"Up, up the long delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
where never lark, or even eagle, flew;
and, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
the high untrespassed sanctity of space,
put out my hand and touched the face of God."
John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
A fitting tribute to a legend.
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds -
and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of -
wheeled and soared and swung high in the sunlit silence.
Hovering there I've chased the shouting wind along
and flung my eager craft through footless halls of air.
"Up, up the long delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
where never lark, or even eagle, flew;
and, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
the high untrespassed sanctity of space,
put out my hand and touched the face of God."
John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
A fitting tribute to a legend.
One of the coolest things I learned about him in school (Grissom Elementary, btw, which may be why they had that set of lesson books) was how close he came to a sub-orbital space flight. Everyone I repeat this to says "No way" and it makes me wish I kept that school book.
His very last flight in the last version of the X-15 was at an altitude where a flick of the wrist would have him in space for a sub-orbital hop. At that height, the X-15 was already essentailly doing reentry in a normal flight. Everyone on the flight line was betting he would take the chance because He tried to get in on the astronaut program and was refused, it was his last flight in an X-15 and the program was ending... -But the flight ended normally.
I have the suspicion he bet heavily against himself through a buddy... ;)
You finally made it, Chuck, Godspeed!
His very last flight in the last version of the X-15 was at an altitude where a flick of the wrist would have him in space for a sub-orbital hop. At that height, the X-15 was already essentailly doing reentry in a normal flight. Everyone on the flight line was betting he would take the chance because He tried to get in on the astronaut program and was refused, it was his last flight in an X-15 and the program was ending... -But the flight ended normally.
I have the suspicion he bet heavily against himself through a buddy... ;)
You finally made it, Chuck, Godspeed!
Chuck Yeager flew in the Bell X-1 and the Bell X-1A experimental aircraft, but he never flew in the North American X-15. There were 12-pilots that were part of the X-15 program (one of which was Neil Armstrong), but Chuck Yeager was not among them.
Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lis.....f_X-15_flights
Chuck Yeager did however have a minor involvement in the X-15 program, but it was as the co-pilot of one of the NB-52 mothership planes that launched an X-15 from it. This was for only one single flight, and the flight was aborted. Don't get me wrong-- Chuck Yeager accomplished many things and is a legend, but piloting the X-15 wasn't one of his many feats.
Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lis.....f_X-15_flights
Chuck Yeager did however have a minor involvement in the X-15 program, but it was as the co-pilot of one of the NB-52 mothership planes that launched an X-15 from it. This was for only one single flight, and the flight was aborted. Don't get me wrong-- Chuck Yeager accomplished many things and is a legend, but piloting the X-15 wasn't one of his many feats.
Actually, the story you told sounds like a blend of the experiences of Chuck Yeager and Joseph A. Walker. Walker was one of the twelve X-15 test pilots, and on his last flight with the plane he flew it higher than anyone, attaining an altitude of 67.0-miles above the Earth. This exceeded the Kármán Line of 62-miles up, which is the Internationally recognized edge of space. 8 of the 12 pilots of the X-15 flew higher than 50-miles up, earning them the distinction in the U.S. to be called astronauts, but only Walker flew above the Kármán line, and he did it in the X-15 twice.
"There are old pilots and bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots."
He did much of the flight stunts in the John Wayne movie Jet Pilot. Turned down a second star to keep flying. Turned down a ride on the space shuttle because he wouldn't be flying it. While touring the USSR, he met the designer of tat MiG-15. The Russian was astounded that Yeager survive a dive in the jet.
Civil Air Patrol renamed the Aerospace Education Program for Senior Members Award (AEPSM) after him. After retirement, he did endorsements for AC Delco, The NRA, Diet Coke...and Civil Air Patrol. "You don't have to be a pilot to be important..."
His autobiography was to be the basis for a movie, said the Detroit News back in the late 80s. The film would cover his life up to the X-1. It was even reported that scenes with a P-51 would be filmed in Europe, but that never happened.
He was also an avid outdoorsman. Saw him hunting red stag in NZ on Buck McNeely's Outdoor Life show a few years ago. He also appeared at a Grand Opening event at Cabela's in Dundee, MI as a CAP search exercise was underway that same weekend.
He did much of the flight stunts in the John Wayne movie Jet Pilot. Turned down a second star to keep flying. Turned down a ride on the space shuttle because he wouldn't be flying it. While touring the USSR, he met the designer of tat MiG-15. The Russian was astounded that Yeager survive a dive in the jet.
Civil Air Patrol renamed the Aerospace Education Program for Senior Members Award (AEPSM) after him. After retirement, he did endorsements for AC Delco, The NRA, Diet Coke...and Civil Air Patrol. "You don't have to be a pilot to be important..."
His autobiography was to be the basis for a movie, said the Detroit News back in the late 80s. The film would cover his life up to the X-1. It was even reported that scenes with a P-51 would be filmed in Europe, but that never happened.
He was also an avid outdoorsman. Saw him hunting red stag in NZ on Buck McNeely's Outdoor Life show a few years ago. He also appeared at a Grand Opening event at Cabela's in Dundee, MI as a CAP search exercise was underway that same weekend.
The man had balls of steel being a test pilot during his time. They didn't have computer simulations back then. The only way they could learn how an aircraft would handle in certain situations was to fly the thing. He flew Mustangs in Europe and Sabers in Korea. I remember an interview where he told how they knew if they were fighting a North Korean in a MiG-15 or a Russian.
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