Plan B Forum

I will leave it to others with more knowledge than I of the actual conditions for which he achieved so much to comment on his life.

But I am bothered by the headline in wikipedia, and many of the news announcements of his death: First man to exceed the speed of sound, leaving out the caveat "in level flight'"

"Mach I" was achieved and exceeded by many before Yeager, but in a power dive. Even the twin prop P-38 could do it. After the experience, those who survived created from their experience 'The Sound Barrier', and many little bits of knowledge that contributed to the success of Yeager and Bell X1.

snailgate

Well, he was a hell of a pilot and from what I recall, a nice guy. I met him many years ago when I was in Civil Air Patrol, and he spent a good amount of time chatting with us and answering our flight questions; he understood aerospace science pretty well (at least as well as we did and, though we were in high school, many of us spent a lot of time studying it through classes and on our own) and could explain it well. Honestly, I didn't realize he was still alive, but the paper said he was 97 (making him a lot younger than I am now when I met him--and I thought he was an old guy).

What a life, and a long one at that given his occupation.

I read his biography when it first came out. He was also mentioned in the movie The Right Stuff. Apparently he didn't have the right stuff because he lacked a college diploma. BS. He could have out flown any of the Mercury or Gemini astronauts. Of course that begs the question, did those guys really fly? They had NO control over those early capsules.
Yeager is not mentioned in the Disney channels new series by the same name, unless I just missed it, but I still say he had the right stuff in spades.

MGMcAnick wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 12, 2020 1:41 pm

I read his biography when it first came out. He was also mentioned in the movie The Right Stuff. Apparently he didn't have the right stuff because he lacked a college diploma. BS. He could have out flown any of the Mercury or Gemini astronauts. Of course that begs the question, did those guys really fly? They had NO control over those early capsules.
Yeager is not mentioned in the Disney channels new series by the same name, unless I just missed it, but I still say he had the right stuff in spades.

Anybody that's got the balls to strap themselves into something brand-spanking new, fresh off the theoretical drawing board, never been flown/driven/tried before and say something like "OK, let's kick this thing in the ass and see what happens..." has definitely got the right stuff in my book.

-"BB"-

Also consider that Yeager had broken two ribs the night before his mach 1 ride in a horseback riding accident. That'll teach him to gallop in the dark.