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Command

Through the 1950's and 60's, Yeager continued his successful career as an Air Force officer and test pilot.

In October 1954, he was assigned to command the 417th Fighter Squadron, first in Germany and then in France. Returning to the United States in September 1957, he served as commander of the 1st Fighter Squadron at George Air Force Base, Calif.

Famous photo shot by Bob Hoover from his FP-80 chase plane as Yeager and the X-1 accelerated past him on 14 October 1947

While he did not enter the astronaut program with John Glenn and the other Mercury Seven, he was appointed director of the Aerospace Research Pilot School (ARPS) at Edwards Air Force Base.

One of the planes he tested in 1963 was the NF-104, an F-104 with a rocket over the tailpipe, an airplane which theoretically could climb to over 120,000 feet. Yeager made the first three flights of the NF-104. On the fourth, he planned to exceed the magic 100,000 foot level. He cut in the rocket boosters at 60,000 feet and it roared upwards. He gets up to 104,000 feet before trouble set in. The NF-104's nose wouldn't go down. It went into a flat spin and tumbled down uncontrollably. At 21,000 feet, Yeager desperately popped the tail parachute rig, which briefly righted the attitude of the plane. But the nose promptly rose back up and the NF-104 began spinning again. It was hopeless. At 7,000 feet Yeager ejected. He got tangled up with his seat and leftover rocket fuel, which burnt him horribly. He hit the ground in great pain and his face blackened and burned, but standing upright with his chute rolled up and his helmet in his arm when the rescue helicopter arrived.

This scene was dramatically presented toward the end of the movie, The Right Stuff, and some have conflated this scene with Yeger breaking the sound barrier in the X-1.

Brig. Gen. "Chuck" Yeager pushes his F-15D fighter through the sound barrier high above Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave desert. The date is 14th. October 1997, 50 years to the day since Yeager became the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound, in the Bell X-1. The 'ghost' of the X-1 sits on Yeager's wing for his last military flight.

He went to Vietnam as commander of the 405th Fighter Wing in 1966 and flew 127 combat missions, and eventually rose to the rank of Brigadier General.

In February 1968, he took command of the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., and in February 1968, led its deployment to Korea during the Pueblo crisis. In July 1969, he became vice commander of the 17th Air Force, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, and then, in January 1971, he was assigned as U.S. defense representative to Pakistan. On June 1, 1973, he commenced his final active duty assignment as director of the AF Safety and Inspection Center at Norton Air Force Base, Calif. After a 34-year military career, he retired on March 1, 1975. At the time of his retirement, he had flown more than 10,000 hours in more than 330 different types and models of aircraft.

In 1986, Yeager was appointed to the Presidential Commission investigating the Challenger accident.

Additional Sources:

www.hq.nasa.gov
www.chuckyeager.com
www.brooksart.com
www.huntingtonquarterly.com
chucklongaviationart.com
www.edwards.af.mil
afftc.edwards.af.mil

'It didn't make any difference to me whether the airplane would go faster than sound. I was assigned as a test pilot on it, and it was my duty to fly it.'

-- Chuck Yeager

'I'm still wearing my ears and nothing else fell off neither.'

-- Yeagers first words after the flight in which he broke the sound barrier.

An example of Yeager's unique attitude toward combat took place in the skies over East Germany and Poland. His squadron was mistaken for a group of unescorted bombers and the Germans scrambled every plane on the ground for an attack.

"God Almighty!" squadron leader Bud Anderson exclaimed. "There must be a hundred and fifty of them."

Yeager's reaction? "We couldn't believe our luck. We plowed right into the rear of this enormous gaggle of German fighters. There were sixteen of us and over two hundred of them, but then more Mustangs from group caught up and joined in. Christ, there were airplanes going every which way. A dogfight runs by its own clock and I have no idea how long I was spinning and looping in the sky. I wound up 2,000 feet from the deck with four kills...the ground was littered with burning wreckage. It was an awesome sight. That day was a fighter pilot's dream. In the midst of a wild sky, I knew that dogfighting was what I was born to do."

Air Power
Bell P-39 "Airacobra"

The P-39 was the first instance where the aircraft was built around a gun.

The P-39 Airacobra was the first US Army fighter with tricycle landing gear, and was also unique for having its engine placed behind the pilot in the middle of the aircraft. Other interesting features included a 37mm cannon firing through the propeller hub, and access to the cockpit via a door in the fuselage (as opposed to a moveable canopy). While not noteable as an air-to-air fighter (in American hands), the P-39 performed well as a ground attack aircraft. However, the Russians received nearly 5000 P-39s through the lend-lease program, and they used them successfully as air defense fighters on the Eastern Front. About 200 P-39s originally designated for export to the British were repossessed by the USAAF, and were known as P-400s; these were used in the early Southwest Pacific campaigns such as at Guadalcanal.

Specifications:
Primary Function: Patrol
Contractor: Bell Aircraft
Crew: one
Unit Cost: $46,000
Powerplant: Allison V-1710 rated at 1,200 hp

Dimensions:
Length: 30 ft, 2 in
Wingspan: 34 ft
Height: 12 ft, 5 in
Weights: Empty: 5,610 lb / Max. Takeoff: 8,400 lb

Performance :
Speed: 376 mph
Ceiling: 35,000 ft
Range: 650 miles

Armaments:
One 37mm T9, four .50-caliber machine guns (two in nose, two under wing), 500 lbs of bombs.

All photos Copyright of their respective websites

Evening everybody! Thanks for the thread, Sam.

"God Almighty!" squadron leader Bud Anderson exclaimed. "There must be a hundred and fifty of them."

Yeager's reaction? "We couldn't believe our luck. We plowed right into the rear of this enormous gaggle of German fighters. There were sixteen of us and over two hundred of them, but then more Mustangs from group caught up and joined in. Christ, there were airplanes going every which way. A dogfight runs by its own clock and I have no idea how long I was spinning and looping in the sky. I wound up 2,000 feet from the deck with four kills...the ground was littered with burning wreckage. It was an awesome sight. That day was a fighter pilot's dream. In the midst of a wild sky, I knew that dogfighting was what I was born to do."