October 13, 1947: Mach 1


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Space.com had a good article on him last year......"The Real Deal"........:D
http://www.space.com/26204-chuck-yeager.html

 

Loved that in The Right Stuff:

CY: Hey, Ridley! You got any Beeman's?

JR (Jack Ridley): Yeah, I think I got a stick!
CY: Well, loan me some, willya? I'll pay you back later!

JR: FAIR ENOUGH! (By the end of the movie, I think Yeager owed Ridley at least a pack of gum. :)

 

 

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He really should have had a chance at NASA. Can you imagine Chuck Yeager being selected for the second round of the Astronaut Corps? Everyone would have lost their minds, in a good way. :D

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If he's in good enough shape, once commercial spaceflights commence someone should give him a ride so he can earn the new FAA Commercial Astronaut Wings

suborbital_info_9.jpg

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I think he should get an honorary one, but yeah ... I bet he'd love a trip, especially to the ISS. He's 92 now, so I'm not sure how/if he could make the trip safely. Of course, if asked if he wanted a ride uphill, he'd take it without hesitation -- because Gen. Yeager is just that kind of guy.

John Glenn did it, and he walked off the Shuttle unassisted after it landed like a boss. So yeah, plausible. :D

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Okay...can't help myself...Chuck Yeager is.......well......Chuck Yeager.......who I consider, one of the first low altitude almost space "atmospherenauts" (I know it's not a word...but should be a "Chuck" word..)

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Chuck's turf......

The Lockheed NF-104 aerospace trainer was a modified F-104A airplane, incorporating a liquid fuel rocket engine in addition to the conventional turbojet engine. The modification was done to allow flight in regimes and under conditions not obtainable with available operational airplanes. The aircraft was used to provide space flight training at a fraction of the cost of fully rocket-powered research aircraft.
The first NF-104A was delivered on October 1, 1963, with the other two following a month later. They were operated by the Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards AFB, which was commanded at that time by Colonel Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager.

 

“On December 10, 1963, while testing an NF-104A rocket-augmented aerospace trainer, he narrowly escaped death when his aircraft went out of control at 108,700 feet (nearly 21 miles up) and crashed. He parachuted to safety at 8,500 feet after vainly battling to gain control of the powerless, rapidly falling craft. In this incident he became the first pilot to make an emergency ejection in the full pressure suit needed for high altitude flights.” (from the biography of Gen. Yeager 

 

The aircraft was destroyed in the ensuing crash. An investigation later showed that the cause of the crash was a spin that resulted from excessive angle of attack and lack of aircraft response. The excessive angle of attack was not caused by pilot input but by a gyroscopic condition set up by the J79 engine spooling after shut down for the rocket-powered zoom climb phase. 

http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/NF-104A_crash_site.htm

 picture trail...

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NF-104-762

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NF-104-3

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NF-104 Chuck Yeager

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NF-104 Yeager

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NF-104

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artist's depiction of ejection

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Sam Sheppard as Chuck Yeager, as depicted after the F-104 crash in the movie, "The Right Stuff"

I would say, just mail him the "space wings", and it should have #1 on them....

OK...Got a bit carried away...but it is Chuck after all.......:woot:

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  • 1 year later...
  • 1 year later...

That time of year....

 

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In 1947, #OTD U.S.A.F. Captain Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the rocket-powered Bell X-1. The first in a series of incredibly fast research aircraft known as X-planes, a model of this plane is seen below being tested in the wind tunnels at @NASA_Langley

https://twitter.com/NASAhistory/status/1051488551278432256

 

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Today in 1947 Chuck Yeager proved it was possible to fly faster than the speed of sound in the Bell X-1 "Glamorous Glennis." (You can see the Bell-X1 on display at our Museum in DC.)

https://twitter.com/airandspace/status/1051524358575927296

 

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Oct 14, 1947 10:25 am CA time....The Machmeter went all screwy past MACH 1. (It only had numbers up to MACH 1 - don't think they had a lot of confidence in us :-)

https://twitter.com/GenChuckYeager/status/1051329011157106689

 

😊

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Just had to come back and post this...

 

Look Around Chuck Yeager’s Cockpit

A 360-degree view inside the airplane that broke the sound barrier.

you can scan around the interior...looks great...just like sitting in it...😀

 

general image...

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Now try the 360 view, full screen,  at ...

https://www.airspacemag.com/articles/chuck-yeagers-cockpit-180964968/

 

 


 

Edited by Draggendrop
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