Charles Yeager

[datzenmike]

Just finished reading Chucks auto biography for the 4th time. It's been laying around in the work truck and there's nothing else to read so I gave it a try. It's that interesting that it can be read several times. Sure he was the first to break the sound barrier but his life is so much more. Accidentally found a U tube interview which expands on the book nicely...

 

 

This old war bird has been around for about 95 years so I urge anyone to find out more about this celebrated hero, there aren't many around like Chuck Yeager. This guy never gave up, he put everything into what he did and never did anything that he didn't finish. He always said he was in the right place at the right time and that if he had been born just a few years earlier or later he would have missed that small window of opportunity to be a war ace, (Did you know he shot down 5 planes in one day?) test all of the first generation of jet planes, teach most of the original astronauts and set speed and altitude records, receive a special peace time congressional medal of honor, start as a private and end his air force career as a general, and so much more. Yeager is the stuff of legends and there are so few like him today.

[flyerdan]

If I recall correctly, he attributed a lot of his aerial combat success to his incredible vision, which was far superior to the average person.  That's probably where the windshield cleaner got it's brand name from.

[Jesse C.]

He is a great pilot, but, not a very nice guy. Apparently has never really treated fellow flyers, and fans, very well. 

 

"Show Me a Hero and I'll Show You a Bum"

 

- Gregory "Pappy" Boyington

[OlDatZMan]

I probably read Yeager's book 10 times. It's a great read about someone who could fly the pants off of anything he got into. Yes, he wouldn't quit, but he also had a number of traits including great eyesight, a feel for the air and the plane, and an unusual ability to grok mechanical systems that others didn't have. But I quit re-reading him when he ridiculed the Voyager flight. Dick Rutan probably was not Yeager class, but the Voyager book's description of the Voyager's flying qualities combined with the days involved and weather made that a huge achievement.

 

The best other flying books I know are Saburo Sakai's (Martin Caidin) book Samurai, and the copter book Chicken Hawk by Robert Mason. I met Sakai once, at a fly-in in eastern WA. Watchign the long line of people in the hand-shaking line, I don't think many if any knew who Sakai was. That said, all air combat books need to be gauged relative to The Blond Knight of Germany, about Eric Hartmann.

[datzenmike]

I think when you get to where he is you have a right to call out other's faults and incompetence's. As to Dick Rutan flying round the world non stop he had space age carbon fiber, plastics and composites, GPS,  superb weather forecasting, google earth mapping, radar and satellite phones. Try that in the '30s or '40s with wood and cloth and some aluminum. Even today no one knows what happened to Emilia Earhart.

[tr8er]

Fiji

[G-Duax]

 Even today no one knows what happened to Emilia Earhart.

 

The last I heard was she met up with Elvis, and they run a 7-11 in Oklahoma...

[bananahamuck]

 Managers at the Rib house across from the airport,,  in Butte Montana.

[MikeRL411]

I think when you get to where he is you have a right to call out other's faults and incompetence's. As to Dick Rutan flying round the world non stop he had space age carbon fiber, plastics and composites, GPS,  superb weather forecasting, google earth mapping, radar and satellite phones. Try that in the '30s or '40s with wood and cloth and some aluminum. Even today no one knows what happened to Emilia Earhart.

 

An interesting side light to Amelia Earhart's last flight.  South of San Jose there was a restaurant and aerospace / old history place called the Flying Lady.  If you got past the yummy smell of fresh baked rolls as you crossed over the entry and admired the scale model aircraft circulating overhead, you could go to the bar which was a duplicate of the Hindenburg's bar.  In the front left entry corner was an area dedicated to Earhart's last flight.  Among the oddities was a series of photos taken at the sequence of landing strips used for this last flight.  A most curious observation !  She took off at one airstrip in a Lockheed Vega Electra with round windows in the passenger door, but landed at the next strip in an Electra with "rectangular" windows in the passenger door !  And for the record, a recovered crash in the San Jose area bore an exhaust manifold with the serial number registered to her original engine.  Proof ?  No but worth a reasonable doubt about the reason for the Round the World flight.

 

Lindenberg flew similar trans Pacific flights which proved useful in determining just which Japanese held or conquered were to be invaded and converted on the Allied march to Tokyo.

[MikeRL411]

He is a great pilot, but, not a very nice guy. Apparently has never really treated fellow flyers, and fans, very well. 

 

 

"Show Me a Hero and I'll Show You a Bum"

 

- Gregory "Pappy" Boyington

Chuck Yeager, Thomas Edison, the great Serbian born inventor of the AC power grid and the AC Induction Motor among other things Nikolai Tesla had a common trait.  The did not bear idiots or dumb questions.  God bless them ! 

[datzenmike]

Well I admire him all the more.... and I don't admire very many people these days.

[Jesse C.]

On 7/6/2018 at 9:11 PM, datzenmike said:

Well I admire him all the more.... and I don't admire very many people these days.

 

Even your Hero has a Hero, R.A. "Bob" Hoover

 

[MikeRL411]

On 7/5/2018 at 12:26 PM, datzenmike said:

I think when you get to where he is you have a right to call out other's faults and incompetence's. As to Dick Rutan flying round the world non stop he had space age carbon fiber, plastics and composites, GPS,  superb weather forecasting, google earth mapping, radar and satellite phones. Try that in the '30s or '40s with wood and cloth and some aluminum. Even today no one knows what happened to Emilia Earhart.

 

Very slight side bar!  "Pancho" Barns [Google the"Happy Bottom Riding Club" if you don't recognise the name] had a great distain for Emilia Earhart.  She began her rants with the observation that to claim the first transatlantic female flight Emilia should have done more than takeoff and landing the plane, not sleep in back while 2 male pilots did the actual flying.  It appears that later a compromise Mexican Standoff was realized and barbs diminished.  Pancho is and was a true aviation pioneer !  The remains of her Happy Bottom Riding Club are still distinguisable on the Southern border of Edwards AFB.

[datzenmike]

"Pancho had a face like a can of worms" Chuck quote. Her and Jackie Cochran detested each other. They were women in a man's world and both wished they were men.