Warbird Information Exchange

even yeager paid a nice tribute to him, & there was no love lost between the two esteemed aviation legends.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

You did well leaving Saturday. Alot of people departed after the airshow with that WX front moving in. I had a buddy selling a L-19 and another flew in with a seaplane and we went out landing on lakes. Sunday was dead. I don't think I'll stay past saturday next year. I did get to see the tomcat leave . Probably last time I'll see one alive. I went to eat roasted corn in the camping area with alot of airline buddies. It was like the trail of tears. Everyone one was laid off or in the process. Some are bitter and you know they will never recover from it. But at least we could set down and break bread and remeber the good times! The RV guys always blew out right after the show. Those things are fast enough that they go down to the keys to stay at night.. Some didn't make it back for days. . I took some stuff down to the fly market but didn't do to well. I would have been better off selling on Ebay. Brad said he was going out on deployment again.

Dunno if I'd agree that Charlie's "tribute" was nice. Did show a certain amount of class though, all of it low. Look here: http://www.kwwl.com/Global/story.asp?S=4800080&nav=2Ifu

For those who may have forgotten, Yeager must have "exceeded his capabilities and gotten in trouble" a year or so ago in a T-6 in Georgia that he groundlooped and totaled. What a jackass.

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Regards,

Jase
www.b26marauder.com
"I'm having a BLAST!!" 2007 CAF Wing Staff Conference

RIP Gary Austin..always in our hearts

There was some of that last year at the Edwards Airshow. FAA rep made the comment that if it was anybody but Yeager he would have violated him. Also said that he won't fly this year if he doesn't have someone in the back with him. Just like when he flies an Air Force plane.

I haven't done it myself, but I understand that groundlooping a Six isn't that tough of a maneuver to get into. Hardly the "jackass" category.

Ouch...looks like that hurt



What falls into the jackass category is having a 10-year-old walk up to him at an airshow (while he's sitting in his golf cart doing nothing) and he flatly refuses to sign an autograph (unlike in the photo above).

wow that article link is most dissapointing. i guess it's easy for anybody to pick on the dead, as they can't defend themselves. not nice at all

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Note that the jackass is signing a book, probably one of his, which meant he made money. He won't sign something if he doesn't make $$ on it.

Also, at the same airshow I watched him throwing a fit at because his rental car was too far from the plane (about 50 feet!), he refused a kids autograph request because the kid called him "Mr Yeager".

And as far as the ease of groundlooping a -6, yea, I agree, it's not hard to do. But since the horse's ass did it, probably he shouldn't throw stones at other pilots.

Yeager's problem is that he KNEW Scott Crossfield outclassed him and outflew him, and his ego gets in the way. He believes his own press.

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Regards,

Jase
www.b26marauder.com
"I'm having a BLAST!!" 2007 CAF Wing Staff Conference

RIP Gary Austin..always in our hearts

At what point do famous people become arrogant. If it were not for all those ten year old boys there would be no money to be made. Seems like the disrespect to the fans is in direct proportion to the fame.
Personally I have met Yeagar a few times and did not find him to be that way, but I also wonder if some of the stories about him might not be urban legend as to his arrogance.

I had the opportunity to hear Scott Crossfield speak, along with Alan Bean and a now-forgotten Space Shuttle Payload Specialist, to a group of kids at Space Camp, maybe 12-15 years ago. While Alan Bean was definitely the warmest and most entertaining of the 3 speakers, Mr. Crossfield was a terrific speaker, particularly when describing the X-15 explosion he survived.

By the way I've run into and written to Chuck Yeager on several occasions and have never had him decline an autograph.

Thanks,
Perry

Yeager's not necessarily by himself out there. There's more than one guy who believes his own press releases. But to counter that statement, some of them have been conditioned because the Air Force held them out to be poster children for the AF and they had their every need catered to, they have been conditioned by the world they were put into. They still expect it from the mere civilians. When things don't go their way things can get, well,... a bit nasty. Others are great and handle themselves with the proper mix of grace and humbleness. I guess it would be better said, as gentlemen who understand their place in history and are willing to share it with others.

From my short personal time with him, Scott Crossfield was one of the latter.

Seems like Yeager is drawing conclusions prior to reviewing the facts in the NTSB report. Nothing we haven't chastised other people from doing before on the WIX!

Everything I have read and heard about Yeager makes him out to be a jerk.

Back in 1986, I saw Yeager @ Kitty Hawk, NC. As I was standing in line for him to sign his book, the guy in front of me told Yeager his name so he could sign the book to him. Yeager responded, " Can't you write your own name?" I just kept my mouth shut, since I was going to asked the same thing.

Needless to say my views of Yeager went down after that.

The story I heard about three years ago from a name you would know in the P-51 circles was that Yeager was wanting to fly a mustang again and that is was no longer a good idea. This Mustang expert said that the owner's were spreading the word " Don't offer him your plane, or he'll jump in the darn thing and takeoff in it."
Meanwhile, last year at Ed and Connie Bowlin's place up in the Georgia Smoky mountains, which I'm told is a winding, narrow, gusty strip around 2700 feet long (or whatever), he was getting current in their T-6G with steerable taiwheel, when for whatever reason he put his hot young girlfriend, 50 years his junior up front, and proceeded to fly the airplane from the back.
The airplane, on landing, ran off the end of the runway and off a bluff with great speed, and they were both lucky not to be killed!
You notice in the photo he has two black eyes. Did CHuckie have his seat belt friction lock clamped before landing per the written landing checklist??!!!
If flying is the greatest thrill known to man, then ole CHuckie must have had his sights set on the second greatest thrill!!!