Yeager makes last military flight during air show

Air Force Link ^ | 10/28/2002 | Leigh Anne Bierstine

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

10/28/02 - EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFPN) -- Aviation legend and retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager gave the F-15 Eagle one last ride Oct. 26, bringing his 60-year career flying military aircraft to a close in front of thousands of fans at the open house and air show here.

Yeager, with Edwards test pilot Lt. Col. Troy Fontaine in the back seat, opened the event by climbing to just over 30,000 feet and impressed the crowd with his infamous sonic boom. Yeager first broke the sound barrier at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., in October 1947 when he accelerated his rocket-powered Bell X-1 to the speed of Mach 1.06 and shattered the myth of the sound barrier forever.

The crowd hushed as Yeager landed and taxied under an archway of water gushing from two Edwards fire trucks per Air Force tradition. For his final military flight, Yeager was accompanied in the air with longtime friend and colleague retired Maj. Gen. Joe Engle flying his own F-15. The two legendary test pilots have been flying together for decades.

"This is a fun day for us because we get to fly good airplanes and do something we've loved to do for some time," Yeager said.

The general announced earlier this year that 60 years of military flying is long enough.

"Now is a good time," said Yeager. "I've had a heck of good time and very few people get exposed to the things I've been exposed to. I'll keep on flying P-51s and light stuff, but I just feel it's time to quit."

Fans young and old were pleased with the opening flights. Sixteen-year-old Jennifer Thompson attended the air show with her family from Martinez, Calif.

"I was standing in the hangar when General Yeager flew by," Thompson said. "He shook the whole hangar. It was really cool."

After retiring from the Air Force in 1975 with more than 34 years of service, including combat in World War II and Vietnam, Yeager served as a consultant at the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School. Besides the 40 years he spent flying with his colleagues at Edwards, the general recalled some of his most memorable times as those when he was flying combat missions.

"That is why the Air Force paid me," said Yeager of his combat time. "That's how I've always looked at it. Flying was my job."

Yeager said being scared was a waste of time.

"If you can't do anything about the outcome of something, forget it," Yeager said. "Instead you better concentrate on staying alive where you are. It's just plain stupid to get so scared that it affects your performance."

Before his final military flight, the 79-year-old had some advice for pilots starting out. While he admitted having plenty of close calls, the general said good pilots know their equipment and their limitations.

"It's not being a good pilot that keeps you alive," he said. "What keeps you alive is knowing your airplane. I always wanted to know more about the airplane and its ejection seat than the guys who made them."

When asked about his favorite aircraft, Yeager said it depends on what a pilot needs the aircraft to do.

"I want the one that kills the best with the least amount of risk to me," said Yeager. "That's the facts of life and that's why you wear the uniform."

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

A real hero tells it like it is.

[ClearBlueSky]

God Bless, and Clear Skies to you, Chuck! They don't make them like that anymore. He epitomizes the 'Right Stuff'!

[Parley Baer]

Yes a real hero. So few these days. Parley

[JRandomFreeper]

God bless the men that fly and fight.

/john

[Parley Baer]

Forgot about a story involving Chuck Yeager around 5 years or so ago. Myself and a friend were out hunting deer in the mountains of the Eastern Mojave. We were quietly walking up a canyon when all of a sudden there was a big KABOOM like a bomb going off. We both hit the dirt real fast wondering what the heck that was. Well it turned out it was Chuck breaking the sound barrier again and we must have been at the point of receiving the brunt of it. Parley

[Blood of Tyrants]

At 79, this makes Nolan Ryan and Bruce Matthews look like beginners who quit because they couldn't take it. Maybe he will run for the senate next.

[Finny]

Some priceless Yeager quotes:

"My legacy, I suppose, is speed. But looking back, I don't think many people save a lot of time by moving faster from one point to the next, because from the time you're born until the time you die, it's pretty cut and dried. You have to take advantage of time, not speed."

--(I think I found the above quote in his first book, "Yeager," though I don't remember -- I just know I wrote it down when I found it.)

"Rules are for people who aren't willing to make up their own."

-- from Gen. Yeager's SPLENDID second book, "Press On," a super-dooper delightful and at times side-splittingly-funny read.

And of course the immortal,

"There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots."

-- my husband, an aviation artist, swears that this is a Yeager quote ... if it isn't, it should be!!

I LOVE Gen. Chuck Yeager. He is a true blue American hero -- him and Bud Anderson.

-- Finfreak

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Maybe he will run for the senate next.

I'll take him over that skiffy DemonRat John Glenn. Chuck Yeager never sold out his country for money and camera time. I can't say the same for scumbag Glenn.

[LasVegasMac]

A Man's Man - a Hero's Hero.

This guy is the real deal - we need more like him!

A fitting end that his wingman was there - Maj. Gen. Joe Engle. Two warriors that set the example for all others to follow.

I had the extreme pleasure of shaking the hand of Gen. Yeager at, "The Gathering of Eagles" - held at Nellis AFB, aka, "The Home of the Fighter Pilot."

I was speechless - and kick myself in the butt for it.

The boy arrived in the F-20 Tiger Shark - Northrop's answer to the F-16 - one of two operational prototypes at the time. How much faith did Northrop have in the "old Dude" ? Good airplane - designed mostly to be an export. Because the USAF did not buy it, foreign countries also declined. Too bad.

We are fortunate to have had Gen. Yeager as a military member and his continuing support after he "retired" from active duty. This boy loved to fly - and he was very good at it.

LVM

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

I really dig what he had to say HERE.

[Psycho Francis]

How'd you know it was Yeager?

Lotta good posts in this related thread, too.

[Nakota]

What ever happened to Glamorous Glennis, the woman, not the airplane?

[Tango Whiskey Papa]

A big Sierra Hotel to the best driver to ever handle a pole.

[Parley Baer]

I knew it was Chuck because it was some type of special event that day(afternoon) when he broke the sound barrier and it was in the news. Parley

[VOA]

What ever happened to Glamorous Glennis, the woman, not the airplane?

In 1990, he lost Glennis after two bouts with cancer. They had been married for 45 years.
That's from the article at:
http://www.cebudanderson.com/chuckhq.htm

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Here's a good hi-rez picture from the airshow.