OT: General Chuck Yeager dead at 97
December 7th, 2020 at 10:41 PM ^
Wow, I didn't know he was still alive! That is a nice, long life. RIP General Yeager.
December 8th, 2020 at 8:35 AM ^
It's worth noting his best friend, Bud Anderson, is still alive. They flew together in WWII.
December 7th, 2020 at 10:43 PM ^
How fitting, on Pearl Harbor Day.
RIP to a legend.
December 7th, 2020 at 10:48 PM ^
He was Chuck Norris before Chuck Norris.
December 7th, 2020 at 10:57 PM ^
a true American Bad ass!
December 7th, 2020 at 11:41 PM ^
Well said WW96!!
One of so many who fought for our freedom.
RIP Mr. Yeager?
December 8th, 2020 at 10:50 AM ^
Yep, and his autobiography - "Yeager" (with Leo Janos) - is a must read. A real American hero
December 7th, 2020 at 11:09 PM ^
There's a life well lived.
December 8th, 2020 at 12:15 AM ^
If you have the time, I recommend reading The Right Stuff. If Chuck Yeager is just a name that sounds vaguely familiar, read the book and see what a legend he was.
December 8th, 2020 at 1:43 AM ^
He has a quick cameo in the film version where he shakes hands with Sam Shepard, who played Yeager in the film, in a bar.
December 8th, 2020 at 8:28 AM ^
I'd like a coka cola. In a clean glass. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgYH64y8DgU
December 8th, 2020 at 4:45 AM ^
Excellent book, and it contains one of my all-time favorite lines:
When telling of an out-of-control plane falling out of the sky and about to crash, Tom Wolfe describes it as "having the same glide angle as a set of car keys."
I also heartily recommend Yeager's autobiography. Good read.
December 8th, 2020 at 7:54 AM ^
Yeager's autobiography along with The Right Stuff were the two books I read in my teenage years that inspired me to go into the military and become a pilot myself.
Not only was Yeager a great test pilot and broke the sound barrier, he was a bad ass fighter pilot as well. To go along with his great flying skills, he had incredible eyesight which enabled him to see the bogeys at range and maneuver his aircraft into an offensive position. He had 11.5 kills in WWII flying the P-51 and became an ace in one day when he shot down 5 Germans on 12 October 1944. He also had one of the first kills against a jet fighter, taking down a German Me 262 (granted it was on final approach but a kills a kill).
RIP Chuck. You were indeed a great American.
December 8th, 2020 at 9:06 AM ^
logged in to point folks to the same book. Tom Wolfe's description of how Yeager survived a plane crash is both riveting and truly amazing. RIP to General Yeager.
December 8th, 2020 at 1:16 PM ^
Interestingly I'm about halfway into The Right Stuff as we speak. Of course I've seen the film more than once (it's excellent) but as usual the book has more depth. One hilarious observation has to do with Yeager's laid-back southern drawl (he was from West Virginia). He could be pulling some crazy maneuver at Mach 4 and report back to base like he was playing checkers in the park: "Well, I guess she pulled through alright, maybe a scratch or two." Tom Wolfe reports that suddenly all military pilots began talking like that, whether they were from New Hampshire, Texas, or South Dakota. You can even hear it to this day from commercial pilots--it's almost code that everything is fine up here in the cockpit, we can do this thing upside down, no sweat, just relax.
December 8th, 2020 at 12:35 AM ^
Anyone seen the X-1 at the Nat'l Air and Space Museum? You'd need to have nerves of steel to get in it, let alone take it past mach 1.
December 8th, 2020 at 8:27 AM ^
That, and it’s big brother, the X-15 (also on display at the NASM) were what I wanted to fly as a child of the late 50s and early 60s. The B-70, McDonnell-Douglas F-101 Voodoo, Lockheed F-104 Starfighter (also known as the Widowmaker), and the Convair F-106 Delta Dagger were the fantasies of my youth. Then girls happened...
December 8th, 2020 at 8:33 AM ^
I was at the SAC airbase during the summer with my son. We saw a B-36. I loved those things.
December 8th, 2020 at 8:29 AM ^
Yeah, it doesn't look stable at all...
December 8th, 2020 at 1:04 AM ^
2020, the gift that keeps on giving!
I'm deeply saddened. One of my personal heroes. A pilot's pilot!
December 8th, 2020 at 1:37 AM ^
Trivia fact: Two nights before his test flight to break the sound barrier he fell off a horse and cracked two ribs. He went to a civilian doctor to get them taped up and didn’t tell his superiors out of fear they’d cancel the flight.
The Right Stuff indeed.
December 8th, 2020 at 8:25 AM ^
One of the books I read describes one of his check flights in the X-1. They dropped him and the electrical system (a battery) failed. He had to reach under his seat to open the valve to dump all the Liquid O2; and hope it didn't freeze shut before he hit the ground; because the X-1 glided like a pig and the landing gear wasn't able to handle the weight of much fuel in the tank.
December 8th, 2020 at 11:18 AM ^
You left off a significant part of that story. In order to lock the hatch on the H-1 there was a lever that the pilot had to pull. With the cracked ribs Yeager could not reach over and pull that latch. So, he and a buddy worked out the problem by sawing off a length of broom handle that he could use as a lever. That broom handle is enshrined in a flight museum. But that was the nature of the 50s, how was not asked very often, it was did you get it done. So much of the advances in aviation in the 50-70s time span could not be done today
December 8th, 2020 at 4:55 AM ^
"All that I am ... I owe to the Air Force." - Chuck Yeager
RIP Mr. Yeager
December 8th, 2020 at 7:25 AM ^
RIP to a legend and pioneer.
December 8th, 2020 at 7:57 AM ^
Did anyone else play a Chuck Yeager video game in the 90’s? RIP to a legend.
December 8th, 2020 at 8:31 AM ^
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh_mKBVzpA8
December 8th, 2020 at 11:32 AM ^
That would have been the "Air Combat" game. There was an earlier one that came out in 1988 I think - Advanced Flight Trainer - used to play that bad boy on my Tandy 1000 lol.
RIP to a true hero.
December 8th, 2020 at 8:22 AM ^
One summer I burned through the Right Stuff movie, the book; the book 'Across the High Frontier'; the book Yeager'; and the book MiG Pilot.
When I worked at GM briefly I got to know a couple people worked with him on the AC Delco commercials; and they loved him.
Yeager was a hell of a human being.
December 8th, 2020 at 10:06 AM ^
The Right Stuff is a great movie. I found it interesting that the original astronauts, who were cocky and accomplished bad asses in their own right, all idolized Chuck Yeager. At least that's how they portrayed it in the movie. The man was a legend, pure and simple.
December 8th, 2020 at 10:18 AM ^
I read in another book, can't remember which one, that he was taking a flight with a very young neil Armstrong. He felt Armstrong was a good pilot who was a bit too much the engineer in his youth. He obviously got better. ;-)
December 8th, 2020 at 8:32 AM ^
I've seen the movie, but I'm going to have to add The Right Stuff to my reading list. RIP, Mr Yeager, you lived a life most people can only dream about, and you owe us nothing while we owe you everything.
December 8th, 2020 at 9:11 AM ^
Definitely read his autobiography as well if you haven't!
December 8th, 2020 at 9:19 AM ^
The local airport in Charleston WV is appropriately named for Chuck Yeager, it's a cool airport to go in and out of. Small but much easier to deal with than DTW. RIP to the man who broke the sound barrier.
December 8th, 2020 at 11:26 AM ^
One of the highlights in my life was meeting General Yeager. I was a young engineer at Hughes Helicopters out in LA in the early 80s, and the dedication of the Spruce Goose in the dome next to the Quenn Mary in Long Beach was announced. As my company was the direct lineage of the build of the Goose ( it was actually built in the building that was then the Hughes 500 factory), we were all given paid time to go if we wanted to. Having grown up in the aviation industry there was no way in hell I was going to miss that. As I was standing in the doem looking up at that flying monstrosity, I didn't notice a guy in uniform standing near me. He had a bemused grin on his face and said "sure is a big MFer, aint she" That was one I realized who it was. We had a nice 10 minute discussion on the aviation industry at the time, until some press types spotted him and rushed over. He was truly even more impressive in person than the image form the books.
December 8th, 2020 at 1:30 PM ^
Just listened to his interview from 1988 on NPR's Fresh Air. Fun. Quote about possibility of crashing the X-1 is classic Yeager. It will be on again today if you hunt for it.