MClark
Well-Known Member
Had a good go at life
https://www.wtol.com/article/news/n...obit/507-3ea329c3-68b8-481b-9017-41f9db373e56
https://www.wtol.com/article/news/n...obit/507-3ea329c3-68b8-481b-9017-41f9db373e56
Chuck Yeager RIP
- Thread starter MClark
- Start date
Help Support The Rocketry Forum:
hball55
Well-Known Member
R.I.P.
As a boy growing up in Rural WV, he was my hero. RIP and Up, Up, and Away.
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2013
- Messages
- 22,537
- Reaction score
- 14,953
Godspeed Sir!
Rest In Peace!
Rest In Peace!
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2012
- Messages
- 482
- Reaction score
- 364
And we shall never see his like again............. a true all American hero and patriot.......... He was "The Right Stuff"
R.I.P.
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2016
- Messages
- 2,834
- Reaction score
- 1,211
Now I am really, really sad.
R.I.P. good sir.
R.I.P. good sir.
God speed
Sad to hear. He will always be the first to break the sound barrier.
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2011
- Messages
- 11,621
- Reaction score
- 6,263
He spoke at our medical internship graduation and I got to shake his hand. A true American hero! I was hoping he would break the 100 year mark, but 97 is awful darn impressive.
RIP.
RIP.
bobby_hamill
Well-Known Member
RIP Sir
America needs more like you !
America needs more like you !
hball55
Well-Known Member
One thing I had to verify before spouting off, was that in 1943 Chuck Yeager was stationed at the Oroville Airport, where he met his future wife Glennis Dickhouse. The paper says she was an Oroville girl, but I can’t verify if she was born here or had moved here, my home town and birthplace.
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2011
- Messages
- 11,621
- Reaction score
- 6,263
I always thought Eve was the first to break the sound barrier.....
ebruce1361
The man with the plan. And some duct tape.
Sad news indeed. At least now he can soar the skies unabated.
Rest well, General Yeager.
Rest well, General Yeager.
Scott_650
Well-Known Member
In Wolfe’s The Right Stuff (the amazing book, even if he was a bit hard on Gus Grissom, not the dreary Disney/Nat Geo series) he talks about the “voice of the airline pilot...a particular drawl, a particular folksiness, a particular down-home calmness ...military pilots and then, soon, airline pilots, pilots from Maine and Massachusetts and the Dakotas and Oregon and everywhere else, began to talk in that poker-hollow West Virginia drawl, or as close to it as they could bend their native accents...the drawl of the most righteous of all the possessors of the right stuff: Chuck Yeager.” When the first intergalactic passenger spacecraft is making its first orbital approach the people onboard will hear the echo of that voice, guaranteed!
RocketGeekInFL
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2013
- Messages
- 3,283
- Reaction score
- 2,984
A true American Hero, God Speed, RIP!!
I met him 40 years or so ago at an airshow in my hometown area. He was an impressive guy and a true gentleman. He had a great long life, but He is missed. Touch the face of God, General and Fly High, Sir!
I read his autobiography when I was in middle school and naive little me ended up asking my mom what a cathouse was...
Great fighter pilot and aviator of our time.
RIP sir.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/07/us/chuck-yeager-dead.html
RIP sir.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/07/us/chuck-yeager-dead.html
Sooner Boomer
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2011
- Messages
- 5,885
- Reaction score
- 4,844
NOT the first to break the sound barrier. Many did it before him; few survived. He was the first to do so in a plane (actually, a rocket glider) specifically designed to do so.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2012
- Messages
- 482
- Reaction score
- 364
For those who think that Chuck Yeager was not the first person to fly a plane faster than Mach 1 in an official speed record flight, I would suggest that you do some more research. First off, Yeager’s Mach 1 busting flight was in level flight and back in those days just like today, max speed run flights were, and still are, recorded in level flight not in a steep dive. The other two contenders, Mutke and Welch were both in dives at the time that they claimed to have broken the sound barrier.
First off, evidence for breaking Mach speed needs to be more than anecdotal. Research is clear that the “transonic” region begins as low as Mach 0.7 and can continue as high as Mach 1.3 before the effects of the transonic speed on control surfaces returns to “normal.” So, going transonic is not evidence in and of itself that an aircraft has gone supersonic. There certainly are anecdotal accounts of piston engine prop planes that might have reached transonic speeds in deep dives, but they almost invariably destroyed their props if not the whole aircraft. Certainly there were those who lost their lives in the attempt to set the record. To my way of thinking a speed record holder needs to actually survive the attempt or it really doesn't count. But there were/are two contenders for beating Yeager to the punch.
The first of the two actual contenders/survivors for possibly beating Yeager to breaking the sound barrier, was the ME 262 in a flight by Hans Guido Mutke on April 9th, 1945 near the end of WW2. The evidence that Mutcke was in a dive and not level flight comes from his own account of the flight in which he claims to have broken the speed of sound. It is doubtful that Mutke succeeded in breaking Mach as the British did extremely intensive research on the ME 262 after the war and concluded that in level flight its max speed was 540 mph/869 kph. In a dive it could obviously go much faster, but as speed increased in the dive, the ME 262 invariably became more and more unstable and less controllable to the point at Mach 0.86 it either disintegrated or spun so uncontrollably that it took a miracle to recover. Few doubt that Mutke was the first to recover from one of these serious transonically unstable flights reaching Mach 0.86 in a steep dive in an ME 262. But his claim of being the first to break the sound barrier is far from credible. Close but no cigar.
The second contender for possibly beating Yeager in breaking the sound barrier was the XP-86 North American prototype Sabre, flown by George Welch on various flights before and after Chuck Yeager’s official flight on October 14, 1947. Welch’s accounts of the flights in which he probably did break the speed of sound, all indicate that his aircraft was in a steep dive for the specific purpose of breaking the sound barrier. But the prototype XP-86 was only capable of attaining 618 mph / 995 kph in level flight, roughly 150 mph short of the speed of sound. Later variants of the F-86 were capable of breaking the sound barrier in level flight, but not the prototype. So again, close but no cigar.
When one considers the actual facts in the two possible occurrences of breaking the sound barrier before Yeager’s historical flight, the fact that they were both in steep dives at the time show clearly that they were not actually eligible to be counted as record-breaking flights. Mutke, in his ME 262, probably was the first pilot to successfully enter and exit the transonic speed region, but it is extremely unlikely that he broke Mach speed at all, even in his steep dive. At the same time, it is certain that Welch did break the sound barrier before Chuck Yeager’s flight. But as it was not a level flight speed test it only counts as the first controlled dive to reach/exceed Mach speed and safely decelerate afterwards.
The real record is held by First Lieutenant Chuck Yeager on October 14, 1947 when he became the first pilot to successfully fly an airplane faster than the speed of sound.
First off, evidence for breaking Mach speed needs to be more than anecdotal. Research is clear that the “transonic” region begins as low as Mach 0.7 and can continue as high as Mach 1.3 before the effects of the transonic speed on control surfaces returns to “normal.” So, going transonic is not evidence in and of itself that an aircraft has gone supersonic. There certainly are anecdotal accounts of piston engine prop planes that might have reached transonic speeds in deep dives, but they almost invariably destroyed their props if not the whole aircraft. Certainly there were those who lost their lives in the attempt to set the record. To my way of thinking a speed record holder needs to actually survive the attempt or it really doesn't count. But there were/are two contenders for beating Yeager to the punch.
The first of the two actual contenders/survivors for possibly beating Yeager to breaking the sound barrier, was the ME 262 in a flight by Hans Guido Mutke on April 9th, 1945 near the end of WW2. The evidence that Mutcke was in a dive and not level flight comes from his own account of the flight in which he claims to have broken the speed of sound. It is doubtful that Mutke succeeded in breaking Mach as the British did extremely intensive research on the ME 262 after the war and concluded that in level flight its max speed was 540 mph/869 kph. In a dive it could obviously go much faster, but as speed increased in the dive, the ME 262 invariably became more and more unstable and less controllable to the point at Mach 0.86 it either disintegrated or spun so uncontrollably that it took a miracle to recover. Few doubt that Mutke was the first to recover from one of these serious transonically unstable flights reaching Mach 0.86 in a steep dive in an ME 262. But his claim of being the first to break the sound barrier is far from credible. Close but no cigar.
The second contender for possibly beating Yeager in breaking the sound barrier was the XP-86 North American prototype Sabre, flown by George Welch on various flights before and after Chuck Yeager’s official flight on October 14, 1947. Welch’s accounts of the flights in which he probably did break the speed of sound, all indicate that his aircraft was in a steep dive for the specific purpose of breaking the sound barrier. But the prototype XP-86 was only capable of attaining 618 mph / 995 kph in level flight, roughly 150 mph short of the speed of sound. Later variants of the F-86 were capable of breaking the sound barrier in level flight, but not the prototype. So again, close but no cigar.
When one considers the actual facts in the two possible occurrences of breaking the sound barrier before Yeager’s historical flight, the fact that they were both in steep dives at the time show clearly that they were not actually eligible to be counted as record-breaking flights. Mutke, in his ME 262, probably was the first pilot to successfully enter and exit the transonic speed region, but it is extremely unlikely that he broke Mach speed at all, even in his steep dive. At the same time, it is certain that Welch did break the sound barrier before Chuck Yeager’s flight. But as it was not a level flight speed test it only counts as the first controlled dive to reach/exceed Mach speed and safely decelerate afterwards.
The real record is held by First Lieutenant Chuck Yeager on October 14, 1947 when he became the first pilot to successfully fly an airplane faster than the speed of sound.
To me breaking the sound barrier is breaking the sound barrier whether it was straight up or straight down or level flight. (I am NOT saying I don't like Chuck Yeager)
He was a great aviator and a great man. To have done what he did and lived to 97,
Well done sir, but you will be missed Gen Yeager.
I missed meeting him twice in my life by 30 seconds each time. Friends who met him say he was very friendly, and a little bit arrogant. A funny combo but he was entitled to it doing what he did.
To fly west...
Well done sir, but you will be missed Gen Yeager.
I missed meeting him twice in my life by 30 seconds each time. Friends who met him say he was very friendly, and a little bit arrogant. A funny combo but he was entitled to it doing what he did.
To fly west...
Flying West
I hope there's a place, way up in the sky,
Where pilots can go, when they have to die.
A place where a guy can buy a cold beer
For a friend and a comrade, whose memory is dear;
A place where no doctor or lawyer can tread ,
Nor a management type would ere be caught dead;
Just a quaint little place, kind of dark, full of smoke,
Where they like to sing loud, and love a good joke;
The kind of a place where a lady could go
And feel safe and protected, by the men she would know.
There must be a place where old pilots go,
When their wings become heavy, when their airspeed gets low,
Where the whiskey is old, and the women are young,
And songs about flying and dying are sung,
Where you'd see all the fellows who'd ‘flown west’ before,
And they'd call out your name, as you came through the door.
Who would buy you a drink, if your thirst should be bad,
And relate to the others, "He was quite a good lad!"
And there, through the mist, you'd spot an old guy
You had not seen in years, though he taught you to fly.
He'd nod his old head, and grin ear to ear;
And say, "Welcome, my son, I'm pleased that you're here.
For this is the place where true flyers come,
When the battles are over, and the wars have been won.
They've come here at last, to be safe and alone
From the government clerks and the management clone,
Politicians and lawyers, the Feds and the noise,
Where all hours are happy, and these good ole boys
Can relax with a cool one, and a well deserved rest!
This is heaven, my son. You've passed your last test!"
----- Captain Michael J. Larkin TWA(Ret)
I hope there's a place, way up in the sky,
Where pilots can go, when they have to die.
A place where a guy can buy a cold beer
For a friend and a comrade, whose memory is dear;
A place where no doctor or lawyer can tread ,
Nor a management type would ere be caught dead;
Just a quaint little place, kind of dark, full of smoke,
Where they like to sing loud, and love a good joke;
The kind of a place where a lady could go
And feel safe and protected, by the men she would know.
There must be a place where old pilots go,
When their wings become heavy, when their airspeed gets low,
Where the whiskey is old, and the women are young,
And songs about flying and dying are sung,
Where you'd see all the fellows who'd ‘flown west’ before,
And they'd call out your name, as you came through the door.
Who would buy you a drink, if your thirst should be bad,
And relate to the others, "He was quite a good lad!"
And there, through the mist, you'd spot an old guy
You had not seen in years, though he taught you to fly.
He'd nod his old head, and grin ear to ear;
And say, "Welcome, my son, I'm pleased that you're here.
For this is the place where true flyers come,
When the battles are over, and the wars have been won.
They've come here at last, to be safe and alone
From the government clerks and the management clone,
Politicians and lawyers, the Feds and the noise,
Where all hours are happy, and these good ole boys
Can relax with a cool one, and a well deserved rest!
This is heaven, my son. You've passed your last test!"
----- Captain Michael J. Larkin TWA(Ret)
SS/EA 6BBL 71 Cuda
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2011
- Messages
- 2,340
- Reaction score
- 60
Dang Rev- Good to see you still have some spunk in yah! I’m cowering in a corner right now... You forgot about the “Natter” incident. 
Those pesky Germans though-
*cough**cough*. Can’t be trusted.
One thing for sure, he did have a long full life. The things he saw and did, only dreams to many of us.
Some of my greatest memories with my Dad centered around talking about his days stationed at Nellis AFB in the early sixties. I was over at his home watching the History Channel one night...and they had a special on Test Pilots. When a certain pilot gave a recollection (I can’t remember his name) my Father stood straight up from his chair and said- “I remember him son, that man could do things with an aircraft that were physically impossible!”
I couldn’t believe my Dad stood up, he never did that. You could have light the room on fire and all he would have done was yell- “Someone call 911!”
That’s what made these men so endearing. The ability to push the envelope, go to the edge and come back when so many of their peers perished.
Sure the latter years for Chuck were very interesting...Controversy, lawsuits, interesting promotions of products...ego. Then again he still made a mark in the history books many times over. Rest In Peace Sir-
I still have a scrapbook my Dad put together so many years ago. In it are tons of great photos from that golden era. Sometimes things took off from Groom Lake and had to make emergency landings at Nellis. When I lost Dad, that history lived on in those pages...I wish I had my father back...
Probably up their right now drinking a Pabst with Chuck shooting the bull.
Those pesky Germans though-
*cough**cough*. Can’t be trusted.One thing for sure, he did have a long full life. The things he saw and did, only dreams to many of us.
Some of my greatest memories with my Dad centered around talking about his days stationed at Nellis AFB in the early sixties. I was over at his home watching the History Channel one night...and they had a special on Test Pilots. When a certain pilot gave a recollection (I can’t remember his name) my Father stood straight up from his chair and said- “I remember him son, that man could do things with an aircraft that were physically impossible!”
I couldn’t believe my Dad stood up, he never did that. You could have light the room on fire and all he would have done was yell- “Someone call 911!”
That’s what made these men so endearing. The ability to push the envelope, go to the edge and come back when so many of their peers perished.
Sure the latter years for Chuck were very interesting...Controversy, lawsuits, interesting promotions of products...ego. Then again he still made a mark in the history books many times over. Rest In Peace Sir-
I still have a scrapbook my Dad put together so many years ago. In it are tons of great photos from that golden era. Sometimes things took off from Groom Lake and had to make emergency landings at Nellis. When I lost Dad, that history lived on in those pages...I wish I had my father back...
Probably up their right now drinking a Pabst with Chuck shooting the bull.
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2012
- Messages
- 482
- Reaction score
- 364
I didn't forget about the Bachem Ba 349 Natter, but as it was designed so that the pilot recovered via parachute as did the body of the "plane" itself, it didn't seem like a very good candidate as a mach busting airplane. Besides, wasn't max speed supposed to be like 640 MPH which would have been like the ME 262 below mach one by roughly 100 mph?
I guess that what I was looking for was not something designed to just get to mach one, but an actual airplane. Suppose that the Germans had put a man in the nose of one of their V-2's. They did look into this, but no one would have considered that to be an airplane. I wonder what a German astronaut would have b een called? I'm just glad that the Japanese who got the plans for the Natter, never managed to build any of these as their Kamakazi pilots wouldn't have bothered with parachutes. Yikes, they'd have used then as human guided cruise missiles against the US navy.
Brad
I guess that what I was looking for was not something designed to just get to mach one, but an actual airplane. Suppose that the Germans had put a man in the nose of one of their V-2's. They did look into this, but no one would have considered that to be an airplane. I wonder what a German astronaut would have b een called? I'm just glad that the Japanese who got the plans for the Natter, never managed to build any of these as their Kamakazi pilots wouldn't have bothered with parachutes. Yikes, they'd have used then as human guided cruise missiles against the US navy.
Brad
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2009
- Messages
- 1,404
- Reaction score
- 394
The Civil Air Patrol commissioned him for television and radio public service announcements in the 1980s. CAP changed the name of their Aerospace Education Program for Senior Members (AEPSM) to the BG Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager Award. Members had to study an Air Force Academy textbook on aerospace achievements and pass an exam to earn the award. Those holding the award and serving as their unit Aerospace Education Officer could apply for the Scott Crossfield Award.
