Warbird Information Exchange

"When asked what he thought of Baumgartner’s feat, Yeager said that he was not aware of the famed skydiver’s record-breaking freefall. However, he said he was not really impressed.

“Joe Kittinger did that years ago. He’s not doing anything new,” Yeager said."


Well, given that Joe Kittinger was impressed enough by Felix's feat to be his Capcom...I don't know.

I hope that I don't get old and bitter like that.

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Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives, and I decline......

Why are they saying he did it for the second time? Doesn't he do it every year or at least every five year anniversary? I know he did it years ago in an F-15 named Glamrous Glennis because I have the TwoBobs decal sheet for the aircraft.

Pretty tasteless comment about Baumgartner too.


Chappie

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Brrring. Dispersal? TWO SECTIONS SCRAMBLE!!

I've decided to recycle parts of my post from a previous CY thread:

How does anyone really "know" a person? Meeting someone at an airshow and getting an autograph, having a conversation, or being offered a ride in their airplane does not constitute knowing someone with regard to their character, motives, etc. Reading their book or seeing the movie is even less credible. Anyone can put on a show when they feel it's in their best interest.

Saying that CY is (or is not) a good, upstanding guy is not possible for the vast majority of us because we only know the snippets we see as part of the greater public. I will say that until you have spent plenty of behind the scenes time with someone and seen them in less than ideal conditions ... such as a combat deployment or when money (or another integrity issue) is on the line are you truly able to say who you're dealing with. Yes, articles and brief meetings help form opinions - but opinions are not knowledge.

I haven't heard anyone say, "I've known CY for years, had dinner at his home several times, and visited him in the hospital the last time he was ill and my knowledge of him is ...... "

FACT: He is/was a tremendously skilled pilot.

FACT: He risked his life many times in the service of our nation.

FACT: He is a controversial figure.

OPINION: He appears to speak his mind.

OPINION: He is a grumpy old man.

OPINION: Instead of appreciating some wonderful natural-born talents and the successes that came from these (along with a lot of hard work), he's focused a lifetime of energies on overcoming low self esteem. This need to constantly prove himself, lest he spend a moment not "on top", has manifested itself into the behavior we've heard about all these years. Aging, where it's logical that anyone would start to decline, certainly hasn't helped.

OPINION: Darn shame.

Ken

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"Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves."

I liked what his wife had to say : “He’s in the back seat where the instructor pilot sits because he’s the elder statesman.”

Really? Isn't that where EVERYBODY getting a ride sits? Or do they let some journalists sit in front and the pilot in the back?

And he is a "statesman" now.

I sat in the backseat during my F-16 ride in 2005. I hit 1.22 Mach and performed a series of loops, rolls, and Immelamanns. GuessI'm an elder statesmen too?

Chappie

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Brrring. Dispersal? TWO SECTIONS SCRAMBLE!!

“Joe Kittinger did that years ago. He’s not doing anything new,” Yeager said."

So re-enacting your flight is different how?

“George Welch did that days ago. He’s not doing anything new.”

Watched a movie last night "Toward the Unknown" with William Holden. It was filmed in 1956 at Edwards, AFB. At the start of the movie he goes into a bar that has all the great pilots handprints and signatures on the wall. His handprint is next to CHuck Yeagers. Pure Hollywood but Yeager is also mentioned in a conversation in the movie.
Yeager really was a legend. IN WWII, and thereafter.
I have flown to "Charlie West" and several other airports in West VIrginia. WV folks are some of the nicest folks in the country. NOt sure why his personality is so diferent from where he grew up. YOu know he got shot down early in the war, before returning to combat. Something along the way really changed his temperment.
Luckily at Oshkosh, I got to see Paul Poberezny, Bob Hoover, and CLarence "Bud" Anderson. If Gen. Yeager had been there , I would have left him alone, that's all.
There'll never be another group of aviators like those WW II vets.

I agree with you 100% on your last sentence. Having grown up in the heyday of big budget war movies and model building, World War II vets in general, and World War II aviators, in particular, took on a larger than life quality. I can honestly say just about every vet that I have met has lived up to those expectations. They all seem to have this quality about them, even today as many of them are in the late 80s or early 90s. It's not something they wear on their sleeve...it's something in their spirit. Then again, I'm probably preaching to the choir on this particular forum.

Amen to that Brother!

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Fly Fast Make Noise!

For the last year or two, Col. Kittinger has been a compensated employee of Red Bull to be an advisor and consultant for the attempt. NOt many enjoy seeing their record broken. Red Bull, being a class act, got him involved in the effort.

Anyway, even if it was all done before, you can always go for more style points. How cool is it to jump 24 miles and NAIL THE DISMOUNT.

August

I was out at a symposium at Plane of Fame in Chino, CA two weeks ago and General Bill Cardenas who flew the B-29 mother ship mentioned that his biggest nightmare at the time was "what if the Bell didn't drop and got hung up" Then one day it did get hung up. It had a lot of fuel on board. He told Yeager "You may want to get out of that" Cardenas said " Yeager being quite protective of his plane calmly said he didn't want to get out of the X-1 for fear of if it did drop he could save the plane" They did manage to dump half the fuel and land the mother ship with the X-1 still underneath.

That take serious huevos.

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Better is the enemy of Good.

All this negative stuff about CY makes me wish I had met the guy so I could have my own opinion. Back in early '87 or '88 he flew into my airport with another group of hunters to go hunting at a popular area north of town for a few days. I wasn't around the FBO back then but working in a shop and didn't know he'd been here until he was gone. I remember seeing the Citation III they were in on the ramp for a few days. When the FBO manager mentioned he'd been here, I told him if I'd known I'd gotten him to autograph his biography which my wife (then) got me for Christmas. I just wonder what the outcome would have been. Since running the FBO the last near-20 years, I've met a few celebrities. The tops were Jay Leno, Larry the Cable Guy and Doug Kershaw. Seemingly real regular folks who've done really well. Decent folks happy to have a little conversation, give autographs and do a pic or two. A couple of others I've met who'll remain nameless because I wasn't real impressed with them and they could have just been tired, it was late and they were ready to get on their plane go home or that may just be the way they are all of the time. Benefit of the doubt. Way back in the late '70s, I met Pappy Boyington away from airshows a time or two and maybe because I was just a teen, he was a decent old guy. At one CAF Airsho' in the late '70s, Paul Tibbets and I bumped into each other in a crowd, he even said 'pardon me' first and I realized who he was (He was a lot shorter than I envisioned, but his name tag was a clue!) and we exchanged introductions, handshakes and pleasantries. . I can only wonder about CY........

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StudeDave