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Chuck Yeagar
by John
CHUCK YEAGER
Rules are made for people who aren’t willing to make up their own. Chuck Yeager
Chuck Elwood Yeager was born to Susie Mae and Albert Hal Yeager on February 13, 1923 in Myra, West Virginia. He had two brothers and two sisters, and grew up in the nearby village of Hamlin, a farming community. Little did they know that their son, Chuck, would grow up to be a legendary test pilot and the fastest man alive.
After graduating from high school in 1941, Yeager enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps to serve in World War II. Serving as an aircraft mechanic he enlisted in pilot training in 1942. He graduated and was promoted to the rank of Flight Officer in 1943, and became a P-51 Mustang fighter pilot.
In
1943, the only year that steel pennies were manufactured, Yeager was shot
down on his eighth mission over enemy territory in France. He escaped
enemy hands with the help of the French resistance and made his way across
the Pyrenees to neutral Spain. Ordinarily, downed pilots were prohibited
from flying combat missions though Yeager personally appealed to the Allied
Supreme Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, and was allowed to resume
flying combat missions. On one occasion, he shot down a German jet
from a prop plane. In all, he flew sixty-four combat missions and
shot down thirteen enemy aircraft in World War II.
After the war, Yeager served in the newly constituted U.S. Air Force as a flight instructor and test pilot at Muroc Army Air Field, now known as Edwards Air Force Base. In 1945, he married Glennis Faye Dickhouse, the subject of his trademark “Glamorous Glennis” traditionally painted on the nose cone of his airplanes. They had four children and Yeager was the uncle of former baseball catcher Steve Yeager.
In 1947, Yeager was assigned to test the Bell X-1, a rocket-powered fighter
plane now on display at Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. At that
point in time, it was not known whether a fixed wing aircraft could fly
at this incredible speed, faster than sound, or if a human pilot could survive
the experience. Even though he cracked several ribs in a horseback
riding accident only days before and kept it a secret, on October 14, 1947,
observed by Orville Wright himself, Chuck Yeager flew the experimental aircraft
at Mach 1.07 at an altitude of 45,000 feet, breaking the sound barrier. Yeager
was the first pilot 
ever
to fly faster than the speed of sound in level flight and ascent. This
was only one of the remarkable feats this pilot performed in service to
his country.
In 1952, Yeager broke his own air speed record by reaching 1,650 mph, more than twice the speed of sound. He flew test flights in Korea, and commanded a fighter squadron in Europe.
In 1956, Yeager commanded the Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School to train pilots to go into outer space. Many of the astronauts who participated in the Gemini, Mercury, and Apollo programs were graduates of his school. In 1963, Yeager was flying the experimental Lockheed Starfighter at more the twice the speed of sound. All of a sudden his engine shut off and he was forced to eject from the spinning aircraft. He was set on fire from the burning debris and became entangled in his parachute. Amazingly, he survived the fall. The pilot school ended in 1966 when NASA took over the training for astronauts.
During the Vietnam War, Colonel Yeager commanded the 405th fighter wing out of the Philippines, flying 127 air-support missions, and training bomber pilots. Due to his outstanding performance in the Vietnam War, Yeager was promoted to Brigadier-General in 1968. He was one of very few enlisted men to achieve this high ranking. In 1970, General Yeager helped Pakistan build their air defense during its war with India.
Yeager was honored with a number of civilian awards. For breaking the sound barrier, he received the Collier and Mackay Trophies in 1948, and the Harmon International Trophy in 1954. In 1973, he became the first and the youngest military pilot to be inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame.
In 1975, he retired from the U.S. Air Force though continued to fly and serve as a consulting test pilot for USAF and NASA at Edwards AFB. For his military service, Yeager earned the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, the Air Force Commendation medal, the Silver Star with oak leaf cluster, the Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross with two clusters, and the Air Medal with ten clusters. In 1976, he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and later the Presidential Medal of Freedom. These are the highest honors presented by our nation for outstanding service or achievement.
On the 50th anniversary of his history making flight in the Bell X-1, Chuck Yeager made his last official flight as a military consultant with the U.S. Air Force. On October 14, 1997, in an F-15D fighter, he broke the sound barrier once more. Upon his landing, he spoke to the crowd and proclaimed, “All that I am … I owe to the Air Force.” In 2004, Congress voted to authorize the President to promote retired Brigadier-General Yeager to the rank of Major General. With a flying career spanning more than sixty years, Chuck Yeager is, undeniably, the most famous test pilot of all time, and “a true American.”
If you want to grow old as a pilot, you’ve got to know when to push it, and when to back off.
- Chuck Yeager
Bibliography:
http://www.chuckyeager.com/yeageradventure/yeageradventure.htm
http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/yea0bio-1
http://www.wikipedia.com
http://www.skygod.com/quotes/piloting.html