Chuck Yeager

[bipe215]

As for breaking the sound barrier, I am no expert, but the stories I have read of the F-86 exceeding Mach I a few days before Yeager seem pretty convincing.

Several people heard the Welch's sonic booms, but so much was invested in the X-1 program it wasn't good PR to recognize it.

[mustangdriver]

As for breaking the sound barrier, I am no expert, but the stories I have read of the F-86 exceeding Mach I a few days before Yeager seem pretty convincing.

Several people heard the Welch's sonic booms, but so much was invested in the X-1 program it wasn't good PR to recognize it.

And the moon landing was filmed in a stage. Yeah, yeah I know. Once again the guy is not a the Pope(who is an ex-nazi), but a fighter pilot. He doesn't believe in P.C. crap. neither do I. He hasn't signed every autograph he has been asked to, and comes off as rude to some. You can't judge a guy from a few seconds of his life. Now the paint scheme thing comes to light. If the aircraft is advertised as Glamorous Glennis at airshows, and someone is making money off of selling merchandise that has the logo of the aircraft, then he should get some money for it. And for the record Yeager is NOT the only person that does that. If Yeager gave me advice about flying, I am pretty sure I would listen to what he has to say. I didn't realize that there were so many people out there that know more about flying high performance test aircraft than Yeager.

[sdennison]

Ok, so I have a really strange tale. I was a kid in Germany in the early 50's, Dad stationed at Ramstein and upstairs lived, you guessed it, "Uncle Chuck". So when his radiator blew and flooded our apartment, I got to spend some time with him. He was great...1954.

I have never had the opportunity to discuss this with him. Would love to one day see what reaction I would get.

Now to famous people and autographs, having spent "0-too many years" in Indy racing and dealing with demanding fans, I did witness one night when a drunken fan demanded an autograph from A.J. Foyt in a dining setting, "because he owed the fan the autograph", AJ stood up and dropped the guy with a right hook, sat back down and continued with dinner whilst they drug the guy away.

I can see both sides. If I ever meet "Uncle Chuck" and can test my theory, I will fill you guys in. Just bear in mind that there are two sides to the story. There is no reason to treat people unkindly if they are kind in their approach. There is every reason to treat them unkindly if they expect you to "owe" them something going in.

OK, I'm done.

[bipe215]

As for breaking the sound barrier, I am no expert, but the stories I have read of the F-86 exceeding Mach I a few days before Yeager seem pretty convincing.

Several people heard the Welch's sonic booms, but so much was invested in the X-1 program it wasn't good PR to recognize it.

And the moon landing was filmed in a stage. Yeah, yeah I know. Once again the guy is not a the Pope(who is an ex-nazi), but a fighter pilot. He doesn't believe in P.C. crap. neither do I. He hasn't signed every autograph he has been asked to, and comes off as rude to some. You can't judge a guy from a few seconds of his life. Now the paint scheme thing comes to light. If the aircraft is advertised as Glamorous Glennis at airshows, and someone is making money off of selling merchandise that has the logo of the aircraft, then he should get some money for it. And for the record Yeager is NOT the only person that does that. If Yeager gave me advice about flying, I am pretty sure I would listen to what he has to say. I didn't realize that there were so many people out there that know more about flying high performance test aircraft than Yeager.

Yeager's not the Pope? Thank goodness. No telling what he'd charge to baptize somebody.

Steve G

[tulsaboy]

Just for a fun nitpick- Mustangdriver, you suggested that if someone is selling items with the GG nose art on them, CY should be making money. Did CY himself paint the nose art? If he did, then he could make an argument that GG was his original piece of art, that he possesses the copyright on that art, and then he would need to register it to obtain a federal copyright. Then he would be free to pursue anyone making money off of the work. If he did not paint the GG nose art, then technically even though it was on "his" aircraft (while technically being on a taxpayer funded AAF aircraft) the artwork would not he his and he would have no rights to it. The original artist, whoever that was, would have a claim to make. As I'm guessing that CY didn't paint the nose art, there is no legal reason he should be paid a dime by anyone selling merchandise.

I have met several of my heroes, mostly from the world of baseball. Some are good guys, some are jerks. Whitey Ford and Johnny Bench were some of the nicest guys I've ever met, and Buck O'Neill was incredible. Mickey Mantle didn't give me the time of day. I just figure that I was lucky to have even a few moments of time with them that I will always be able to tell my grandchildren about. Like I said, some good and some jerks. I just don't stay awake nights worrying about it.

kevin

[Roger Cain]

Some 15 years ago our group than known as the NCC AAHS tried to get Chuck Yeager as a speaker for our membership, only to find out he wanted twice as much $$ than we had in our treasury. Obviously that didn't happen and a couple of years later we were able to book Col. Bud Anderson for the price of a dinner for he and his wife, that we were having and is always given to our speaker. Basically this cost us nothing, we had an excellentt speaker, he sold and signed his books and have listened to him speak at other small gathering. We all left with a big on our faces due to his kindness.

[ZeamerB17]

Now to famous people and autographs, having spent "0-too many years" in Indy racing and dealing with demanding fans, I did witness one night when a drunken fan demanded an autograph from A.J. Foyt in a dining setting, "because he owed the fan the autograph", AJ stood up and dropped the guy with a right hook, sat back down and continued with dinner whilst they drug the guy away.

Gotta love A.J.!

Dave

[mjanovec]

I didn't realize that there were so many people out there that know more about flying high performance test aircraft than Yeager.

In all honesty, I believe there are...many of them. Being a good stick and rudder pilot doesn't make one automatically a good test pilot in high performance aircraft.

I would rate Yeager as an average test pilot among his peers. Take away the supersonic flight and his overall test flying career is rather unexceptional. He is largely remembered today because of the film The Right Stuff, which is largely fictional in it's portrayal of many events.

Who was the ultimate test pilot ever? I would say that it probably Al Boyd, the true father of modern flight testing.

[Bill Greenwood]

SDenison; re AJ, once when I was about 14, I was looking for my first car to buy. I saw an ad for a Jaguar roadster; when I went to look at it turned out it was AJs. He said hop in and we went for a test drive. As a new driver, I had a lot of trouble with the heavy clutch and lurched around town. He sat there paitently, I don't know whether he was just trying to make a sale, or sort of felt sympathy to a youngster, but he did not know me, yet was polite enough. A few years later I was dating his wife's younger sister Leigh,, and I almost went to Indy the first year he won. I never met him again, but I went to his house once. My Brother went to high school with AJ and thought AJ was rather rude, in using a lot of bad language once when they were at a public restaurant. My Brother was a Baptist and had high standards of what he thought manners should be.

Last edited by Bill Greenwood on Thu Sep 13, 2007 9:03 am, edited 2 times in total.

[mustangdriver]

I respect your thoughts, but feel that he is the tip of the sword.

[O.P.]

I respect your thoughts, but feel that he is the tip of the sword.

I think A.J. was one of the best too.

[mustangdriver]

Not what I meant, but yeah he was cool too.

[O.P.]

Not what I meant, but yeah he was cool too.

Heheeee, sorry dude, I couldn't resist....heheeee

Besides, this thread has started to turn into one of those P.B. kinda threads, and I thought I'd lighten it up a little....

Everyone.....Warbirds, Think Warbirds

I think the stories are interesting, but, I totally don't give a cr@p. Maybe folks say things about me too, anyone who realy knows me knows that I am a slacker ahole who don't give a sh1t about much of anything...maybe ole Chuck is kinda the same way as me,,,just slacking his way through and lucking out at every turn. It's his business not mine. Thats just the way he is. Doesn't take a zillion posts to figure it out.

[Second Air Force]

Jack,

I fully agree about meeting Jay Zeamer--I was honored to visit with him for a few minutes years ago.

As for A.J.--I can't help but laugh thinking about what he did to that laptop in the pits at Texas a few years ago! The man only has winning on his mind at the track. He's definitely ALL BUSINESS!

Scott

[muddyboots]

Yeager will go down as the Ty Cobb of WWII fighter aces: all the talent and accomplishments one could ever ask for, and not a true friend in the world to share them with. He'll come to regret that very soon

from that discussion Jack Cook posted. I thought it summed it up well.