General Chuck Yeager

S2 · 26 Aug 12,, 02:13

I had a chance yesterday to reward our company (North Fork Composites/Edge Rods) intern with a unique present on his last day before school. He's a senior in business at the University Of Portland and also a fourth year scholarship cadet in Army ROTC. Our owner and founder, Gary Loomis, was entertaining his old friend, Maj. General (Rtd.) Chuck Yeager with a day of fishing. The plant was closed but for our general manager, intern and myself. Gary promised that he'd bring the general by for a tour of the facility following the general's late afternoon nap (General Yeager will be 90 in February).

He did so about 1730 hours, unannounced to our intern. The youngster was shocked. Even more so when I directed that he provide General Yeager with a briefing and tour of the facility. Accompanied by Gary Loomis, our general manager and myself, he managed to do so. We finished by affording our cadet/intern an opportunity to take center stage for a photo with Gary and General Yeager on either side of him. The kid was veritably BEAMING.

This was topped off by awarding the youngster an EDGE RODS baseball hat autographed in his presence on the cap's bill by both Gary Loomis and Chuck Yeager.

A memorable moment occurred when I introduced the youngster to Chuck Yeager by describing him as our intern and Army ROTC cadet. General Yeager waxed eloquent on the virtues of an ROTC commission. The general then proceeded to compare them, shall we say, favorably to those commissioned through our service academies. Needless to say, our intern, whose older brother is an Army Special Forces Major commissioned from West Point, was encouraged by his comments.

As he grows older I think our intern will appreciate the power of that photo. Both Gary Loomis and Chuck Yeager represent the cutting edge of performance-based instruments and significant, unrecoverable links to our American heritage. It was a very good evening.

**Officer of Engineers** · 26 Aug 12,, 02:28

I'm envious.

**Parihaka** · 26 Aug 12,, 02:37

Originally Posted by Officer of Engineers

I'm envious.

Ditto

**Bigfella** · 26 Aug 12,, 06:16

Originally Posted by Parihaka

Ditto

me three

**bigross86** · 26 Aug 12,, 07:36

This is a day he'll not soon forget

**BD1** · 28 Aug 12,, 20:40

awesome

**Albany Rifles** · 28 Aug 12,, 21:18

Good on you guys, Deuce.

And a class act from a fellow Mountaineer, Chuck Yeager....one need not be an alum to be a proud Mountaineer!

**dave lukins** · 28 Aug 12,, 23:43

Allow me to join in this mass envy

**tankie** · 29 Aug 12,, 12:10

Originally Posted by dave lukins

Allow me to join in this mass envy

And I also

**Chogy** · 29 Aug 12,, 15:41

I'm more impressed by his WW2 exploits, I think, rather than his test pilot years. Thank goodness the USA was not lacking for either. I'd guess that the casualty rate for those 1945 to 1960 test pilots was worse than fighter combat during WW2. Both were exceptionally hazardous.

Computer modeling and simulation took much of the risk from the test pilot job. Now, when a new jet like the YF-22 flies, there are few surprises.

S2 · 29 Aug 12,, 20:13

Yeah, that he bagged an ME 262 is pretty impressive. That he was a one day ace that included downing two without firing a shot. That he personally petitioned Eisenhower to be permitted back on flight status after returning to England from E & E in France. All that was pretty damned cool.

**Bluesman** · 07 Oct 12,, 13:02

Figmo!!!

**xinhui** · 16 Oct 12,, 05:07

Chuck Yeager Breaks Speed of Sound 65 Years After His Historic Flight

**Stitch** · 16 Oct 12,, 05:29

Yeah, I'd heard he broke the sound barrier (AGAIN!) 65 years after the original feat; he actually did the same thing for the 50th. Being a hardware guy, I was wondering what he flew in; 15 years ago he did it in an F-15D. I was kinda hoping he might change-up and do it in an F-16D or something, but the F-15D makes sense (plenty of gas, an extra engine "just in case", etc.); at least it was a 65 AGRS Eagle! Too bad they wouldn't let him take a Raptor up solo . . . . . .

Chuck Yeager Marks Speed Barrier Record : NPR

**Chogy** · 16 Oct 12,, 16:12

Somewhere I'd read that Yeager was not a fan of the Eagle, and gave reasons for it. I wish I could find it again... It was an interesting read.

To get airborne in the F-15, he'd have had to go through egress training once more, and to do so at 89 years of age is impressive.

They could have used a T-38. In pilot training, the first ride in a particular jet was called the "dollar ride". Every IP had a desk covered in lucite, and beneath that were all the dollar bills signed by the students he had instructed. Anyway, the dollar ride in the T-38 was a supersonic hop, "just to get it out of the way", because everyone wanted to go supersonic, and once that was done, guys could focus on training instead.

It burned a lot of fuel, which was better spend doing vertical "S", acro, tactical turns, and the like.

The usual response to mach 1 was a mental "Hmm, that's all it is? Oh well, that was cool, now I'm a supersonic guy."