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Speaker 1: Pat Flight Captain Tald Jaeger climbed down into the cockpit

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Speaker 1: of the rocket craft. October fourteenth, nineteen forty seven. Edwards

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Speaker 1: Air Force based California. Captain Charles E. Yeager blew the

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Speaker 1: experimental X one and faster than the speed of sound

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Speaker 1: in level flight, the first man in the world to

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Speaker 1: accomplish this beat. This spectacular flight was one of the

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Speaker 1: greatest achievements since the Wright Brothers at Keyhawk. On this

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Speaker 1: episode of Netsworld, I'm going to talk about Chuck Yeager,

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Speaker 1: and we're going to listen to Chuck Yeager talk about himself.

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Speaker 1: He was a remarkable man and his passing was a

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Speaker 1: reminder that he was an example at a personal level

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Speaker 1: of what American exceptionalism is all about, because he was

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Speaker 1: a high school graduate from West Virginia who went on

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Speaker 1: from there to remarkable achievements, serving his country as a patriot,

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Speaker 1: having unique physical talents that made him a remarkable pilot

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Speaker 1: with apparently spectacular eyesight, and at the same time somebody

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Speaker 1: who had both commitment to the professional flying and who

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Speaker 1: was eager to be fully involved in the development of

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Speaker 1: modern aviation. Has estimated that in his lifetime he flew

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Speaker 1: two hundred types of military aircraft. He had more than

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Speaker 1: fourteen thousand flying hours, with over thirteen thousand of those

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Speaker 1: in fighter aircraft. It all began at the beginning of

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Speaker 1: World War Two when he joined up as an enlisted

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Speaker 1: person and then found himself in what was at the

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Speaker 1: time a program that you could get into as an

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Speaker 1: enlisted person, and he became a pilot. He then got

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Speaker 1: the equivalent of being a warrant officer in modern drums.

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Speaker 1: And it was a very brief period where the Army

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Speaker 1: Air Force was willing to have people who were not

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Speaker 1: college graduates. I thought it was a great example of

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Speaker 1: how America has moved from achievement to certification that by

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Speaker 1: the time about a quarter century later, that he was

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Speaker 1: extraordinarily skilled, extraordinarily experienced, how the world record as the

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Speaker 1: first person to fly faster than the speed of sound

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Speaker 1: and level flight with all of that going for it.

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Speaker 1: By the time we got to the Apollo program, if

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Speaker 1: you didn't have a college degree, you couldn't be an astronaut,

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Speaker 1: and so he ended up training the astronauts that he

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Speaker 1: was not eligible to fly with. I just told you

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Speaker 1: a little bit about how America had moved away from

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Speaker 1: pure achievement and pure skill to anademic requirement, the mayor

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Speaker 1: may not be as relevant. Frankly, so he'd give you

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Speaker 1: a flavor of how many things he did see. A

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Speaker 1: guy born a very small town in West Virginia in

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Speaker 1: nineteen twenty three. He's the second or five children. He

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Speaker 1: grew up in Hamlet, which is the town of about

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Speaker 1: four hundred where his father drove for natural gas in

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Speaker 1: the coalfields. In nineteen forty he attends the Citizens Military

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Speaker 1: Training Camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, and in September twelfth,

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Speaker 1: nineteen forty one, and enlisted as a private in the

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Speaker 1: Army Air Corps. Now, he didn't think he was going

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Speaker 1: to become a pilot at that point. I thought it

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Speaker 1: was going to be a mechanic. But he saw a

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Speaker 1: notice on a board about a month after he enlisted.

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Speaker 1: They said they were looking for high school graduates who

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Speaker 1: could pass the physical for pilot try. He thought it

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Speaker 1: would be fun, and he decided to apply, and history

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Speaker 1: was changed. Listen to check for a minute talking about

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Speaker 1: that whole experience of joining the Army and becoming a pilot.

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Speaker 1: Probably the recruiter was better than the Navy or or

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Speaker 1: anyone else. And also I think there was a guy,

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Speaker 1: one of the guys who went through pilot training about

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Speaker 1: the year that I graduated from high school, and he

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Speaker 1: came home. He was a pretty neat guy, and he

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Speaker 1: said it was a fun job, but flying to me,

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Speaker 1: I never associated myself with it. And when I enlisted

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Speaker 1: in the Army, it was just to be a mechanic

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Speaker 1: and there was no intention to be a pilot or anything. Okay.

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Speaker 1: In fact, when I got in in September nineteen forty one,

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Speaker 1: I was trained as a mechanic, which was easy. I'd

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Speaker 1: already had so much experience in mechanical things like engines

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Speaker 1: and things that Dad exposed us to all the time,

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Speaker 1: that I would just trained and began working on airplanes

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Speaker 1: as a crew chief. I serviced him overhaul the engines

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Speaker 1: and things like that. And then finally, and you got

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Speaker 1: a call some time around oh the latter part of

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Speaker 1: November nineteen forty one, I remember reading a notice on

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Speaker 1: the Bolton board that if you were a high school

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Speaker 1: graduate and eighteen years of age and could pass a physical,

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Speaker 1: then you could apply for pilot training under the Flying

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Speaker 1: Sergeant program. You wouldn't be a cadet or make lieutenant

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Speaker 1: or be an officer. When you graduated from play school,

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Speaker 1: you'd be a sergeant pilot. And it looked like pretty

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Speaker 1: neat deals, and I just did it just to be

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Speaker 1: doing something. So I put in an application, and I

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Speaker 1: recall taking my physical on December the fourth, nineteen forty one,

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Speaker 1: and passing it, and then this sweating it out for

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Speaker 1: six months. Finally they called me up for a pilot training.

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Speaker 1: But that's you know, it's just a matter of being

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Speaker 1: at the right place the right time. A few months later,

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Speaker 1: on December seventh, nineteen forty one, the United States centered

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Speaker 1: World War two because the Japanese attacked us on Sunday

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Speaker 1: morning at Pearl Harbor. Yeah. At that point was transferred

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Speaker 1: to the Victorville Air Base, which was now the Georgian

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Speaker 1: Air Force Base in California. He worked on a training

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Speaker 1: aircraft at eleven Aircraft. He received promotions to private first

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Speaker 1: class and the corporal. In the spring of forty two,

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Speaker 1: he got in an airplane for the very first time.

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Speaker 1: He was the crew chief of eleven. An officer said

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Speaker 1: would like to join him on a test flight. Yeager

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Speaker 1: got sick during the flight and said the boy that

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Speaker 1: was really uncomfortable. This was the only time he was

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Speaker 1: in an airplane before he started pilot training, most famous

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Speaker 1: pilot of his generation, and here's his first experience. My

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Speaker 1: first ride in an airplane wasn't any fun, as I recalled,

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Speaker 1: the spring of forty two, and I was a Victorville

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Speaker 1: and a crew chief on an AT eleven, which was

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Speaker 1: a twin engineer twin engined Bombardier training airplane, and I

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Speaker 1: had overhaul won the engines, and the engineering officer to

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Speaker 1: take the airplane up and check it out and asked

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Speaker 1: me if I wanted to go along, and I'd never

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Speaker 1: been in an airplane four and I said, yeah, I

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Speaker 1: like too. So I got in and set down the

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Speaker 1: seat and fastened the safety belt and he took off,

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Speaker 1: and he went over to one of the dry lakes

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Speaker 1: down are very near Edwards, between Edwards and Victorville, and

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Speaker 1: started shooting touching god landings, and it was rough and turboine.

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Speaker 1: Pretty soon I got sick and threw up on my airplane.

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Speaker 1: And to me, it was a very uncomfortable situation. So

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Speaker 1: I didn't take the care for it. But I'd already

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Speaker 1: applied for pilot training and so yeah, I went up.

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Speaker 1: I think that's the only time I went up in airplane.

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Speaker 1: And that was it until they called me up for

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Speaker 1: pilot training. July nineteen forty two. The United States is

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Speaker 1: deeply in the war and Yeager goes to pilot training,

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Speaker 1: but Marshal forty three he gets his pilot wings. He

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Speaker 1: trained at various bases in the US and then went

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Speaker 1: to England in November nineteen forty three. In an interview,

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Speaker 1: he actually learned how to fly a P fifty one

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Speaker 1: on one flight from the assembly base to the air base.

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Speaker 1: The next day he took the airplane into combat. Listen

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Speaker 1: to Chuck talking about what it was like to train

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Speaker 1: for World War Two. We trained in the United States

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Speaker 1: before we went to England. We trained in P thirty nine,

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Speaker 1: a little Belle air Coobers and it was all dog fighting,

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Speaker 1: aera grand gunnery, die bombing, skip bombing, buzzing, and you know,

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Speaker 1: really learning to fly a fighter. We're training to go

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Speaker 1: overseas and and being the maintenance officer. I also had

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Speaker 1: a lot of fun, you know, just running testtps on

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Speaker 1: the airplanes. When he came out of the maintenance yes,

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Speaker 1: I was. I was no better than the rest of

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Speaker 1: the fighter pilots. I had very good eyes, as a

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Speaker 1: lot of the guys did, and also could dog fight.

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Speaker 1: It's a matter of experience. And and then when we

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Speaker 1: went to England in November forty three and we got

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Speaker 1: the first P fifty ones in eighth Air Force, it's

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Speaker 1: as I recall, we picked up a P fifty one,

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Speaker 1: I've never been in one before and flew it from

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Speaker 1: this assembly base down to our base and license and

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Speaker 1: the next day we're setting over the middle of Germany

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Speaker 1: fighting in them. So you have to learn real quick,

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Speaker 1: and that's the way our pilots were. And as I recall,

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Speaker 1: on my seventh mission, I shot down to one on

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Speaker 1: nine was my first airplane that I shot down. We're

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Speaker 1: on a raid to over Berlin. The first day bombing

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Speaker 1: raid over Berlin, and I came home, I saw one

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Speaker 1: on nine and I nailed him. And to me, it

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Speaker 1: was a lot easier than I thought it would be,

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Speaker 1: because you know, we were a little bit apprehensive about

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Speaker 1: dog fighting the Germans in their fighters, and they had

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Speaker 1: a lot of experienced dog fighting and we didn't. And

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Speaker 1: so I nailed the guy. But the next day I

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Speaker 1: got shot down in March fifth, nineteen forty four, his

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Speaker 1: life was changed because his plane was shot down by

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Speaker 1: Germans well flying over France. The French Marquis, the French,

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Speaker 1: who were active in the underground resistance, helped him escape

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Speaker 1: to neutral Spain, and while he was a he helped

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Speaker 1: another airman who had lost part of his leg get

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Speaker 1: across the Parentees Mountains into Spain, and as a result,

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Speaker 1: Yeager received a Bronze Star for heroism. But listen to

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Speaker 1: his own description of being shot down, and again, remember

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Speaker 1: this is a guy who goes on to become the

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Speaker 1: most famous pilot of the world. I was in a

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Speaker 1: dogfight with the three one nineties and I got hit

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Speaker 1: head on with twenty moment your cannon and the prop

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Speaker 1: came off the airplane, part of the wing and canopy

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Speaker 1: and it caught on fire. So me and the airplane

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Speaker 1: party company. That's that's the way it happened. You bail out,

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Speaker 1: you get you free fall in your parachute, and then

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Speaker 1: when you get down to within three or four thousand

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Speaker 1: feet the ground and you pull the rip cord and

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Speaker 1: the parachute pops and you land. And that's that's about

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Speaker 1: the way it happens. I picked up a few wounds.

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Speaker 1: I had a couple of slugs at one of my

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Speaker 1: leg and I had some twenty milimeter fragments in my

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Speaker 1: hands and a couple cuts on my head, but that

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Speaker 1: they were minors, so it didn't make much difference. When

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Speaker 1: I landed in my parachute, we were in occupied France,

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Speaker 1: and they were quite a few Germans around. Obviously, you've

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Speaker 1: got to hide or they'll pick you up. And as

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Speaker 1: I recall I did. I got into the woods as

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Speaker 1: deep as I could and hid and and then never

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Speaker 1: caught me. And I hung around or laid out there

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Speaker 1: for a day and tell things quieting down. And then

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Speaker 1: contacted a French farmer or a woodcutter. And I couldn't

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Speaker 1: speak French, but he could see I was an American

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Speaker 1: flower called had my flying flying gear on a leather

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Speaker 1: jacket and flying suiting, and and he knew it I

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Speaker 1: needed some kind of help, and he fortunately he went

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Speaker 1: to the right people instead of turning me in, and

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Speaker 1: got me with the defense or the resistance forcers, the Maquis,

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Speaker 1: who in turn took me in and under the wing

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Speaker 1: for the next month, and I worked my way through

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Speaker 1: on down through France, and finally went through the Pyrenees

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Speaker 1: and went into Spain in a neutral country so us

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Speaker 1: and turned in a town of Lerida, and then the

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Speaker 1: American councilate came up and talked to us and made

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Speaker 1: sure we were an American and then put us up

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Speaker 1: in the hotel, gave us a money, and we just

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Speaker 1: bummed around there for about a month. And finally during

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Speaker 1: that period of time of May nineteen forty four, we

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Speaker 1: were beginning to help Spain who was running out of

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Speaker 1: gasoline because they didn't have any petroleum products, and we

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Speaker 1: were then begin trading gasline for American pilots that were

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Speaker 1: in Spain. You know, there was something like twenty six

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Speaker 1: hundred airmen in turned in Spain who either you know,

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Speaker 1: had made it through the Pydies or took the airplanes

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Speaker 1: there and jumped out of them. And the way we

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Speaker 1: got out was it the Spanish took us down to

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Speaker 1: Gibraltar and turned us over the British on the island

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Speaker 1: of Gibraltar. And then finally the British were you know,

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Speaker 1: flying airplane from Gibraltar around the tip of Spain and

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Speaker 1: Portugal up to England and I bummed a ride up

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Speaker 1: on one of the airplanes and then went back to

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Speaker 1: my squadron. Now, when he returns to England, having gotten

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Speaker 1: through Spain on a program that was really a constant

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Speaker 1: line of pilots who have been shot down getting back

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Speaker 1: to England, the Army did not want to let him

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Speaker 1: go back into combat because when he escaped in France,

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Speaker 1: he would have learned things about the French resistance, and

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Speaker 1: they didn't want to risk him getting shot down and

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Speaker 1: tortured by the Germans and giving up important information about

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Speaker 1: the resistance. But Yager was determined to get back into combat,

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Speaker 1: so he took another friend of his bomber pilot, Captain

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Speaker 1: Fred Glubb. Well, think about this. Here are these two

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Speaker 1: guys appealing directly to the Supreme Allied Commander, General Eisenhower,

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Speaker 1: and they argued, look, the Allies have invaded France, the

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Speaker 1: resistance movements now out in the open. If they were

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Speaker 1: shot down, there was a little nothing they could do

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Speaker 1: to reveal to the enemy. And so he goes back

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Speaker 1: into combat with the personal intervention of Eisenhower, who, by

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Speaker 1: the way, had to appeal back to Marshall and Washington

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Speaker 1: to make sure that he had the authority to waive

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Speaker 1: the requirement, So I waived the requirement. Yeager's back flying

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Speaker 1: and on the twelfth of October nineteen forty four, he

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Speaker 1: gets to be the first pilot in his group to

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Speaker 1: make ACE in a day. He had to be an

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Speaker 1: ACE by shooting down five aircraft. So he shot down

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Speaker 1: five enemy aircraft in one mission. Now two of his

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Speaker 1: ACE in a day kills. He scored without firing a

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Speaker 1: shot because when he got into position against the messagement

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Speaker 1: BF one O nine, the pilot of the airplane panicked,

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Speaker 1: broke to starboard and collided with his wingmen, So without

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Speaker 1: having faire to shot, he'd taken down two enemy planes.

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Speaker 1: But listen to Yeager's own description of what it was

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Speaker 1: like to become an ACE but shooting down five planes

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Speaker 1: in one day. I was leading the whole fighter group,

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Speaker 1: which means three squadrons, and we only had We had

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Speaker 1: two boxes of bombers to escort our fighter group did.

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Speaker 1: So what I did. I stuck the other two squadrons,

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Speaker 1: one on each box of bombers, and took my squadron

262
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Speaker 1: and ranged about eighty miles out in front of the

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Speaker 1: bomber stream, and I spotted twenty two Emmy one on

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Speaker 1: nine's in a formation, climbing up out in front of

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Speaker 1: the bombers out eighty two one hundred miles to make

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Speaker 1: a head on passing. I stayed up sun where they

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Speaker 1: couldn't see. I spotted just they were little specks. I

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Speaker 1: had excellent eyes. I could watch things without them seeing me.

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Speaker 1: And I kept up sun from them with my squadron

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Speaker 1: of sixteen P fifty one. And finally when they leveled

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Speaker 1: out and headed over towards the bod just moved in

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Speaker 1: behind them down sun and I got within two hundred

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Speaker 1: yards behind them, and I wouldn't even let my pilots,

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Speaker 1: you know, they kind of spread out. We still had

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Speaker 1: a drop tanks on because we wanted to keep as

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Speaker 1: much fuel as we could, and I shot down the

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Speaker 1: first two without him dropping my tanks. And when, of

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Speaker 1: course the explosions, when the airplane blew up, then they

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Speaker 1: all broke and at that point we punched their tanks off.

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Speaker 1: And if the whole squadron broke up into you know,

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Speaker 1: and the elements, you know, wing wing man and his

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Speaker 1: leaders to support each other, and we got in a

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Speaker 1: big old Harry dog fight and I shot down I

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Speaker 1: don't know, another guy. I was hammered him and a

285
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Speaker 1: guy his wingman cut the power and dropped behind me.

286
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Speaker 1: This one blew up and I broke into him, pulled out,

287
00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:43,520
Speaker 1: looked like about fifty feet before I hit him. And

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Speaker 1: then another guy followed him the deck and got him

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Speaker 1: down low and then it's all over with. You know,

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Speaker 1: you've left the fight fallowing the guy down. He come

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Speaker 1: back and you look around and my wingman was still

292
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Speaker 1: with me, and then I picked up a couple more guys,

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Speaker 1: you know, flying out and try to orient yourself and

294
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Speaker 1: then kind of fly around and pick up the bombers

295
00:17:10,800 --> 00:17:14,879
Speaker 1: again and stay with him. So it's that's where combat is.

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Speaker 1: You know, a lot of a lot of shooting, a

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Speaker 1: lot of high gis, a lot of turns, and you

298
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Speaker 1: got to watch what you're doing. So it's it's exciting. Now.

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00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:44,919
Speaker 1: After the war, he stays there and he decides to

300
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Speaker 1: keep learning. So he goes to the test pilot School

301
00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:51,439
Speaker 1: in nineteen forty six and he was chosen for what

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00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:54,159
Speaker 1: was called the X one program in the summer of

303
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Speaker 1: nineteen forty seven. And it's very funny and tell us

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Speaker 1: a little bit about the US Air Force in the

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00:17:59,560 --> 00:18:04,119
Speaker 1: modern war. The commercial test pilots who were being paid

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Speaker 1: to do this for a living, wanted a lot more money,

307
00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:12,200
Speaker 1: and they didn't want to fly these very new, very

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Speaker 1: different aircraft because these were aircraft designed to break the

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Speaker 1: sound barrier. They were designed to do things no one

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Speaker 1: had ever done before, and that's why they were called

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00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:26,760
Speaker 1: an X program for experiment. And so the pilots refused

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Speaker 1: without higher pay. So the Air Force said fine and

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Speaker 1: brought in regular Air Force officers who didn't get anything extra,

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Speaker 1: and said, here, you have a chance to do something

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Speaker 1: really cool. And you might listen to a little bit

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Speaker 1: about Yeager's description of how he ended up in the

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Speaker 1: X one program. He said this when he was on

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Speaker 1: David Letterman back in nineteen eighty two. I was a

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00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:49,760
Speaker 1: fighter pilot in World War two and mustangs. I came

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00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:51,800
Speaker 1: back in nineteen forty five in the war and was

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Speaker 1: assigned to right Field as a maintenance officer in the

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Speaker 1: fighter test section. And I went through the test bo

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Speaker 1: school ininteen forty six, and then I was selected for

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Speaker 1: the X one program in the summer forty seven. After

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Speaker 1: the bail test pilots had gotten into a hassle on

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Speaker 1: bonus money, and probably because of my maintenance background and

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Speaker 1: the air shows I used to put on. On October fourteenth,

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Speaker 1: nineteen forty seven, he flew the Excess one past the Soundburrier.

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Speaker 1: Now this at the time was enormous impact worldwide news.

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Speaker 1: He became the world's first supersonic pilot in level flight.

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Speaker 1: What made it kind of instance tells you about Yeager's

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Speaker 1: toughness and his dedication, is that a couple of days

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Speaker 1: before he was supposed to fly, he had knocked off

334
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Speaker 1: his horse and he broke several ribs, and in fact,

335
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Speaker 1: he was in so much pain. First of all, he

336
00:19:45,119 --> 00:19:48,840
Speaker 1: went to a civilian doctor, not the military doctor, because

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00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:51,320
Speaker 1: he knew the military doctor would ground it and not

338
00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:55,560
Speaker 1: allowed him to fly. And he literally couldn't reach up

339
00:19:56,240 --> 00:19:59,160
Speaker 1: and closed the door once he got in the airplane.

340
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Speaker 1: So front of his rigged a broomstick so that when

341
00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:05,399
Speaker 1: he got in he could use the broomstick to close

342
00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:08,040
Speaker 1: the door because his friend understood how much pain he

343
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Speaker 1: was in. So imagine this moment and tells you when

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Speaker 1: I talk about American exceptionalism, the toughness, the determination, the

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00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:19,760
Speaker 1: continuous pursuit of excellence. And listen to Chucks on the

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00:20:19,760 --> 00:20:23,280
Speaker 1: description of this which I think is just astonishing, and

347
00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:26,280
Speaker 1: it just so happens. That particular flight I think was

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Speaker 1: on a Tuesday. On the weekends there, it ed at Mirrock,

349
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Speaker 1: it was called. Then we used to go out to

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Speaker 1: Poncho Barnes or sort of a She had a rodeo

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00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:43,199
Speaker 1: grounds and a swimming pool and moteil and a good restaurant.

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Speaker 1: You go out there and unwind. And I took Glennis

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Speaker 1: out there, I think on a Saturday night, and we

354
00:20:51,040 --> 00:20:53,879
Speaker 1: loved a ride horses, so we went out after dinner

355
00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:56,960
Speaker 1: and riding horses and chasing each other. Coming back, somebody

356
00:20:57,080 --> 00:20:59,119
Speaker 1: closed the gate and it was dark. I didn't see it,

357
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Speaker 1: so my horse hit the fence and flipped me and

358
00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:04,119
Speaker 1: I broke a couple of ribs. And that was on

359
00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:07,639
Speaker 1: a Saturday night. Sunday I moped around and then Monday

360
00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:10,760
Speaker 1: I had to go into the basin and I went

361
00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:14,280
Speaker 1: to a local doctor there and he said, we've got

362
00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:17,520
Speaker 1: two two busted ribs. I'll tape you up. And And

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00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:19,960
Speaker 1: it really didn't make that much difference in flying the

364
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Speaker 1: airplane because it's not strenuous other than handling it with

365
00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:28,240
Speaker 1: your hands and feet on the rudder pedals and control

366
00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:32,520
Speaker 1: surfaces and loading pressure domes and turning switches on things

367
00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:38,240
Speaker 1: like that. So my only problem was it was painful

368
00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:40,639
Speaker 1: to get into the airplane because you had to come

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Speaker 1: down the ladder and go through a little hole on

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Speaker 1: the right side. But then the hard part was closing

371
00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:47,720
Speaker 1: the door. Once Jack Ridley came down the ladder and

372
00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:50,160
Speaker 1: held the door against the right side, had a lever.

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Speaker 1: It was really tough to and it took both hands

374
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Speaker 1: all you could do. And I couldn't handle it with

375
00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:57,639
Speaker 1: my right side because handle. So he made me about

376
00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:00,600
Speaker 1: a ten inch long broomstick and I could stick in

377
00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:03,199
Speaker 1: the end the door handle gave me that mechanical advantage,

378
00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:05,920
Speaker 1: And that's the whey we solved the problems that really

379
00:22:06,359 --> 00:22:10,720
Speaker 1: didn't make much difference. To show you the sort of instinctive,

380
00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:17,840
Speaker 1: adventurous spirit that Yeager had. Having an owl already proven

381
00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:21,359
Speaker 1: that he could fly faster than sound. In nineteen forty eight,

382
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Speaker 1: he becomes the first American to make a ground takeoff

383
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Speaker 1: in a rocket powered aircraft. Again another experimental program. It's

384
00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:33,719
Speaker 1: just remarkable to watch what they were doing and how

385
00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:37,359
Speaker 1: they were doing it. The Navy also had a program

386
00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:42,080
Speaker 1: involving what was called the skyrocket. The fifty eight two

387
00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:46,240
Speaker 1: and its pilot, Scott Crossfield, became the first team to

388
00:22:46,280 --> 00:22:48,920
Speaker 1: reach twice the speed of sound. Now, Yeager had already

389
00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:51,560
Speaker 1: become famous reaching the speed of sound, and he'd gotten

390
00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:53,760
Speaker 1: up to about a thousand miles an hour, but they

391
00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:57,960
Speaker 1: actually got faster at that point. Ridley and Yeager decided

392
00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:01,000
Speaker 1: they would beat Crossfield's speed record in a series of

393
00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:05,680
Speaker 1: test flights that they dubbed Operation Knacho Weep. Not only

394
00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:08,640
Speaker 1: did they beat Crossfield, but they did it in time

395
00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:12,000
Speaker 1: to spoil a celebration planned for the fiftieth anniversary of

396
00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:15,320
Speaker 1: flight in which Crossfield was to be called the fastest

397
00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:19,280
Speaker 1: man Alive. Well, Yeager decided to no, he was the

398
00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:24,199
Speaker 1: fastest man alive. However, in December of that year, he

399
00:23:24,359 --> 00:23:27,800
Speaker 1: almost had a disaster. He was flying the Bell X

400
00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:32,359
Speaker 1: one a sixteen hundred and fifty miles per hour, and

401
00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:35,000
Speaker 1: he became the first man to fly two and a

402
00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:39,560
Speaker 1: half times a speed of sound, but had about mocked

403
00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:43,439
Speaker 1: two point four at eighty thousand feet. The planes spun

404
00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:47,800
Speaker 1: out of control and was coming down rapidly, spinning on

405
00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:53,680
Speaker 1: all three axes. He dropped fifty one thousand feet in

406
00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:56,040
Speaker 1: fifty one seconds. First of all, it's a good thing.

407
00:23:56,040 --> 00:23:57,879
Speaker 1: He was up at eighty thousand feet when it started,

408
00:23:58,760 --> 00:24:01,800
Speaker 1: but he dropped think of a thousand feet a second

409
00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:07,200
Speaker 1: for fifty one seconds. He stayed very calm. He regained

410
00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:10,680
Speaker 1: control of twenty five thousand feet. Anyone onto the land

411
00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:13,640
Speaker 1: the aircraft at any more instance, and just choked it off,

412
00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:34,240
Speaker 1: as you know, part of the deal. Nineteen fifty four,

413
00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:39,280
Speaker 1: he gets the Harmon Trophy Award from President Eisenhower for

414
00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:43,359
Speaker 1: flying the X one A. Then he becomes a regular

415
00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:47,000
Speaker 1: Air Force bay May fifty five to July fifty seven,

416
00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:50,399
Speaker 1: he commands the F eighty six Saber equipped four hundred

417
00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:53,840
Speaker 1: and seventeenth Fighter Bomber Squadron at Han Air Force Base

418
00:24:54,359 --> 00:24:58,320
Speaker 1: in Germany. From fifty seven to sixty he commands the

419
00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:02,600
Speaker 1: F one hundred Super Save equipped First Fighter Day Squadron

420
00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:06,000
Speaker 1: at George Air Force Base, California. To remember is the

421
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:08,760
Speaker 1: place he originally went two years and years before, and

422
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:12,720
Speaker 1: they also served at Moron Air Base in Spain. In

423
00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:15,720
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty one, he finally moved on from being a

424
00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:18,520
Speaker 1: high school graduate. He graduated from the Air War College

425
00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:21,960
Speaker 1: of Maxwell Air Force Base in June at sixty one,

426
00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:25,000
Speaker 1: he became the first commandant of the US Air Force

427
00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:30,280
Speaker 1: Aerospace Research Pilot School, which produced astronauts for NASA and

428
00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:33,840
Speaker 1: the US Air Force, and in December sixty three to

429
00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:38,159
Speaker 1: January sixty four he completed five flights in the NASA

430
00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:41,879
Speaker 1: M two F one lifting body so is an experimental aircraft.

431
00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:44,760
Speaker 1: An accident during a test fight and one of the

432
00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:47,199
Speaker 1: schools n F one oh fours put an end to

433
00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:51,480
Speaker 1: his record attempts. In December sixty three, while testing the

434
00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:55,880
Speaker 1: experimental Lockheed Starfighter n F one oh four Rocket Augment

435
00:25:55,920 --> 00:26:00,119
Speaker 1: and Airspace Trainer at over twice as b Sun, his

436
00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:02,760
Speaker 1: aircraft went out of control at one hundred and eight

437
00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:07,719
Speaker 1: thousand feet nearly twenty one miles up and crashed. He

438
00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:11,439
Speaker 1: became the first pilot to make an emergency ejection in

439
00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:14,439
Speaker 1: the full pressure suit needed for high altitude flush. So

440
00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:17,920
Speaker 1: imagine that you're twenty one miles above the Earth, your

441
00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:21,239
Speaker 1: plane is in a crisis, You're going to crash. They

442
00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:25,320
Speaker 1: have to stay very calm and very cool, because that's

443
00:26:25,359 --> 00:26:29,440
Speaker 1: why you're wearing the full pressure suit for precisely this

444
00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:33,080
Speaker 1: kind of an emergency. But you're shooting yourself out of

445
00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:36,679
Speaker 1: the plane at a really high speed at a really

446
00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:41,639
Speaker 1: high altitude. Once again, he goes on with business as usual.

447
00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:43,959
Speaker 1: I flew a flight in the morning with a pressure

448
00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:48,879
Speaker 1: shoot on and thinking one hundred and eight thousand feet,

449
00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:54,119
Speaker 1: and we measured the rotation and I landed, and I

450
00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:56,919
Speaker 1: wanted to make another flight after lunch. I didn't get

451
00:26:56,920 --> 00:26:58,640
Speaker 1: out of my pressure shoot because if you get out

452
00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:00,480
Speaker 1: of it, it's wet and he can get back in.

453
00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:03,560
Speaker 1: And made another flight at about one thirty in the

454
00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:08,080
Speaker 1: afternoon at a one hundred and four thousand feet and

455
00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:11,600
Speaker 1: for some reason, we had dual thrusters on the bottom

456
00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:14,760
Speaker 1: of the nose and dual thrusters on the top. Now

457
00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:17,359
Speaker 1: we don't know. We may have had one thruster failed.

458
00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:19,240
Speaker 1: But at one hundred and four thousand feet, when I

459
00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:22,320
Speaker 1: came into the atmosphere at fifty threes angle of attack,

460
00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:26,119
Speaker 1: I couldn't get the nose down on the airplane. And

461
00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:29,040
Speaker 1: see you far as shut your engine down, were down here,

462
00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:31,679
Speaker 1: but the engine still wind milling as it goes across

463
00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:34,160
Speaker 1: the top. And that's where you get the hydraulic pressure

464
00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:39,120
Speaker 1: that runs the flight control systems, your horizontal stabilizer, the lerons,

465
00:27:39,119 --> 00:27:42,160
Speaker 1: and the rudder. When you come up with the top.

466
00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:46,760
Speaker 1: Obviously the engine is wind milling and it's gradually slowing down,

467
00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:51,040
Speaker 1: but engine is still turning over giving a hydraulic pressure

468
00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:54,800
Speaker 1: which runs a horizontal stabilizer and for pitch control and

469
00:27:54,800 --> 00:28:00,119
Speaker 1: the lerons and the rudder, and basically what happened on

470
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:04,400
Speaker 1: previous flights when you re enter and force the nose

471
00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:09,240
Speaker 1: down with hiders and peroxide thrusters attitude controllers, then you

472
00:28:09,359 --> 00:28:12,000
Speaker 1: come back into the atmosphere and knows first. Then you

473
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:16,760
Speaker 1: start getting air through the intake ducts of your airplane,

474
00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:19,680
Speaker 1: and that keeps the engine windmilling, and you bring the

475
00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:21,920
Speaker 1: airplane on down to about forty thousand feet and level

476
00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:26,119
Speaker 1: out and hit the igniter and then come out of

477
00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:29,000
Speaker 1: idol with your out of stopcock with your throttle into idle,

478
00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:31,480
Speaker 1: and that gives you fuel and igniter work and then

479
00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:34,840
Speaker 1: it starts your engine up again. But if it doesn't work,

480
00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:37,800
Speaker 1: then you're going down dead stick into Roger's dry Lake,

481
00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:41,520
Speaker 1: which I did three or four time. But on what

482
00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:46,120
Speaker 1: happens on what happened on this flight was that when

483
00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:48,760
Speaker 1: the airplane came into the atmosphere about a fifty degree

484
00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:51,680
Speaker 1: angle attack, and I couldn't get the nose down. The

485
00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:56,360
Speaker 1: airplane pitched up and went into a flat spin. And

486
00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:00,600
Speaker 1: what you realize now is the airplane in a flat

487
00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:04,240
Speaker 1: spin and the engine RPM because there's no air going

488
00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:08,920
Speaker 1: through the intake ducks. The engine stops. And when that stopped,

489
00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:13,480
Speaker 1: then you no longer have hydraulic pressure to run the

490
00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:15,640
Speaker 1: wars on a stabilizer, the ill run and rudder, so

491
00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:19,040
Speaker 1: there's no You're in a no win situation. That's exactly

492
00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:21,640
Speaker 1: what it is. You sat there and said, you get

493
00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:27,040
Speaker 1: but you have one other alternative that's eject. Well. I

494
00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:29,160
Speaker 1: also had a drag shoot on the airplane that we

495
00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:32,600
Speaker 1: used for landing. And when I went through, the airplane

496
00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:35,280
Speaker 1: was in a very flat, slow spin, and I had

497
00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:38,240
Speaker 1: my pressure shoot on. It was inflated. And I was

498
00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:41,240
Speaker 1: sat there and watch and and I was talking to

499
00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:44,120
Speaker 1: Bud Anderson was chasing me in a T thirty three.

500
00:29:44,360 --> 00:29:46,520
Speaker 1: He was down way down a little looking at me coming.

501
00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:49,640
Speaker 1: I was talking to the space position branch the guys

502
00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:52,280
Speaker 1: are recording data, and said, you know, I got a

503
00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:54,400
Speaker 1: I got a real problem. They had just no way

504
00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:56,840
Speaker 1: of getting this thing out of a spin. And so

505
00:29:57,480 --> 00:30:01,320
Speaker 1: as I went through thirty thousand feet. I went deployed

506
00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:04,920
Speaker 1: the drag SHOOTE, which you normally deployed for Well, when

507
00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:08,000
Speaker 1: I did, the drag shoot comes out and it popped

508
00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:12,120
Speaker 1: the nose down on the airplane. But there's a link

509
00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:14,960
Speaker 1: that the drag shoots hooked to the airplane with that

510
00:30:15,240 --> 00:30:17,920
Speaker 1: designed to share at one hundred eighty miles an hour,

511
00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:21,000
Speaker 1: and that's in case the drag shoot comes out accidentally

512
00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:24,480
Speaker 1: while you're flying, it won't stop the airplane. Well, it

513
00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:27,320
Speaker 1: just so happened when a nose went down, you know,

514
00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:29,440
Speaker 1: when as I went through one hundred and eighty miles

515
00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:33,120
Speaker 1: an hour, the drag shoot shared and the parachute released

516
00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:36,840
Speaker 1: and the airplane pitched back flat. Because there's you know,

517
00:30:36,880 --> 00:30:38,480
Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty mile an hour going through the

518
00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:40,520
Speaker 1: intake DEC's and I'm going to give you engine rpm.

519
00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:43,600
Speaker 1: It takes about three hundred mile an hour. When it's happened,

520
00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:46,800
Speaker 1: the airplane flipped back flat and I don't think it turned,

521
00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:49,600
Speaker 1: It just fell at one hundred miles an hour. Now

522
00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:53,280
Speaker 1: you've got you've got the egress systems, you know, you

523
00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:55,800
Speaker 1: know them intimately and a lot and it pays off

524
00:30:55,840 --> 00:30:57,959
Speaker 1: because a lot of times you have to use them

525
00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:01,760
Speaker 1: in a semiconscious state. And I knew my rocket seat

526
00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:04,320
Speaker 1: that I was right. I knew its capability, so I

527
00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:07,280
Speaker 1: wrote it down to about six thousand feet, which is

528
00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:11,320
Speaker 1: not low, and went ahead and ejected, Well, the rocket

529
00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:13,880
Speaker 1: seat blows you out of the airplane and gives you

530
00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:18,920
Speaker 1: about one hundred mile an hour velocity away from the airplane. Well,

531
00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:21,560
Speaker 1: it's just so happened that the airplane is falling at

532
00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:23,880
Speaker 1: about one hundred miles an hour. So when I used

533
00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:26,240
Speaker 1: a seat, the airplane just fell away from the seat.

534
00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:30,640
Speaker 1: Obviously the seat set there, and then two seconds after

535
00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:34,400
Speaker 1: you leave the airplane, the lap belt blows open on

536
00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:37,240
Speaker 1: the seat, which is what holds you in the seat.

537
00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:41,680
Speaker 1: You've got leg restrainers, cables that hold your heels into

538
00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:45,560
Speaker 1: the seat for flailing when you come out at high speed,

539
00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:50,440
Speaker 1: and a lot of things happen. So when this I

540
00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:53,600
Speaker 1: sat and watched the seat go through a sequencing, you know,

541
00:31:53,600 --> 00:31:56,840
Speaker 1: knowing when what was going to happen. And finally the

542
00:31:56,960 --> 00:32:01,000
Speaker 1: lap belt popped open and there's a butt kicker that

543
00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:03,040
Speaker 1: kicks you out of the seat. I felt that going.

544
00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:06,680
Speaker 1: And also my cable cutters cut my leg restrain er

545
00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:11,440
Speaker 1: cables and I fell through. When this happened, then your

546
00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:15,920
Speaker 1: F five release on your parachute is armed and if

547
00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:19,520
Speaker 1: as you fall through fourteen thousand feet, the shoote will open. Well,

548
00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:22,720
Speaker 1: I was blow fourteen thousand feet obviously, so the shoot

549
00:32:22,840 --> 00:32:27,440
Speaker 1: opened the minute that the the F five release said

550
00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:30,440
Speaker 1: to open, and it did. But the problem was I

551
00:32:30,480 --> 00:32:33,400
Speaker 1: didn't have enough velocity through the air. See, I was

552
00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:37,400
Speaker 1: just starting to fall again to pull that quarterbag which

553
00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:39,600
Speaker 1: is on the canopy of your parachute. And the reason

554
00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:43,080
Speaker 1: that bag is on the canopy is that when you

555
00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:46,280
Speaker 1: ejected high speeds four or five miles an hour, it

556
00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:50,080
Speaker 1: keeps your canopy on the parachute from popping immediately it

557
00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:55,520
Speaker 1: pulls off and lets it reef slowly. Well, that little

558
00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:58,440
Speaker 1: pilot shoot on that quarterbag needs about sixty mile an

559
00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:02,120
Speaker 1: hour to pull it off the quarterback. And this is

560
00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:04,360
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know anything like this is going.

561
00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:07,560
Speaker 1: All I know is that I'm free fire. My shoot

562
00:33:07,600 --> 00:33:10,880
Speaker 1: has released, but I haven't got a canopy slowing me down.

563
00:33:11,200 --> 00:33:14,640
Speaker 1: I can feel it flopping in the breeze. Well, by

564
00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:18,640
Speaker 1: the time, at about this time, the seat you know,

565
00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:21,400
Speaker 1: which kicked me out up here, it also is falling

566
00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:24,520
Speaker 1: and it became entangled in the shroud lines of the parachute.

567
00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:28,520
Speaker 1: I don't know this either, but this is where it happened.

568
00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:32,840
Speaker 1: And when finally I picked up enough speed sixty or

569
00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:36,280
Speaker 1: seventy miles an hour, falling with the canopy up there.

570
00:33:36,320 --> 00:33:39,600
Speaker 1: Following that that quarterback came off, the canopy popped and went.

571
00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:43,480
Speaker 1: It popped. Damned seat that's entangled in the shroud lines.

572
00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:46,479
Speaker 1: I'm falling about like this and it flopped me up

573
00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:48,360
Speaker 1: like this. Will a seat hit me in the face

574
00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:51,280
Speaker 1: piece of my pressure suit and what hit me was

575
00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:53,840
Speaker 1: the rocket, the butt end of the rocket on the seat,

576
00:33:53,840 --> 00:33:57,040
Speaker 1: which still had glowing propellant burning. And when this happened,

577
00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:01,360
Speaker 1: it popped glowing propellant onto the rubber seals of my

578
00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:04,840
Speaker 1: pressure suit and you're in one hundred percent oxygen and

579
00:34:04,880 --> 00:34:07,680
Speaker 1: when it did, it ignited, and then you're feeding one

580
00:34:07,720 --> 00:34:10,840
Speaker 1: hundred percent oxygen and it's just like a blowtorch. And

581
00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:16,960
Speaker 1: fortunately when this happened, the visor on my pressure suit

582
00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:20,319
Speaker 1: was busted and fragment cut my eye down and my

583
00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:22,040
Speaker 1: sock could fill with blood, so it didn't hurt my

584
00:34:22,080 --> 00:34:24,600
Speaker 1: eyeball the flame, but I got burned pretty bad on

585
00:34:24,640 --> 00:34:28,720
Speaker 1: my neck and shoulder, and in this very difficult to breathe,

586
00:34:28,719 --> 00:34:32,759
Speaker 1: and the only thing that I knew I was stunned

587
00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:35,759
Speaker 1: from the blow. I knew I had to get the

588
00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:38,480
Speaker 1: visor up on my pressure suit. How which way. He's

589
00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:40,759
Speaker 1: a button on the rights you push it and then

590
00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:43,200
Speaker 1: you raise the visors where you get your visor up

591
00:34:43,239 --> 00:34:46,120
Speaker 1: on most pressure suit. I knew I had to get

592
00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:49,040
Speaker 1: it up off, get that visor up to shut the

593
00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:52,120
Speaker 1: oxygen flow from my kit that was in the back

594
00:34:52,120 --> 00:34:55,440
Speaker 1: of my pressure suit, to get all this fire out,

595
00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:59,279
Speaker 1: And so I did that. When this happened, then I

596
00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:02,480
Speaker 1: swung cup times and I hit the ground. When it happened,

597
00:35:02,560 --> 00:35:06,160
Speaker 1: I couldn't see too much, and it was having trouble breathing.

598
00:35:06,239 --> 00:35:08,960
Speaker 1: Caused a lot of smoking fire. But as it worked out,

599
00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:14,400
Speaker 1: I was, you know, didn't the way you look at

600
00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:18,760
Speaker 1: either do or you don't. I don't didn't get killed

601
00:35:19,239 --> 00:35:22,640
Speaker 1: in the flap. So I stood up and Andy buzzed me.

602
00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:25,520
Speaker 1: But a helicopter since I've been talking to him on

603
00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:29,960
Speaker 1: the way down. Took four minutes from the first spin

604
00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:33,600
Speaker 1: to impact, and they had a helicopter off the ground

605
00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:37,120
Speaker 1: with the flight churgeon aboard. Doctor at Edwards and he

606
00:35:37,160 --> 00:35:39,839
Speaker 1: got out there. Well, we'll probably within five minutes from

607
00:35:39,880 --> 00:35:43,120
Speaker 1: the time I landed and picked me up and gave

608
00:35:43,160 --> 00:35:44,840
Speaker 1: me a shot of morphine and took me back to

609
00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:49,640
Speaker 1: hospital and worked on me and cut my pressure shot off.

610
00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:54,680
Speaker 1: That's that's about it. In July sixty six, she becomes

611
00:35:54,680 --> 00:35:57,480
Speaker 1: a full colonel, commands the four hundred and fifth Fighter

612
00:35:57,520 --> 00:36:00,839
Speaker 1: Wing in the Philippines, flew one hundred twenty seven air

613
00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:05,600
Speaker 1: support missions and trained bomb repolits. In February sixty eight,

614
00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:08,960
Speaker 1: he's assigned commander of the fourth Tactical Fighter Wing at

615
00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:12,080
Speaker 1: Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina, and he

616
00:36:12,160 --> 00:36:15,440
Speaker 1: led the McDonnell Douglas for Phantom two Wing in South

617
00:36:15,520 --> 00:36:20,240
Speaker 1: Korea during the Public Crisis. June nineteen sixty nine, Yeager's

618
00:36:20,239 --> 00:36:23,719
Speaker 1: promoted to brigadier general and was assigned in July as

619
00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:27,239
Speaker 1: the vice commander of the seventeenth Air Force. I'll think

620
00:36:27,239 --> 00:36:30,239
Speaker 1: about this. Here's a guy who enlisted as a high

621
00:36:30,239 --> 00:36:34,840
Speaker 1: school graduate, serves this country very eably for a period

622
00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:39,160
Speaker 1: of twenty nine years, ends up as a brigadier general

623
00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:43,279
Speaker 1: as the vice commander of an entire air force, and

624
00:36:44,040 --> 00:36:47,719
Speaker 1: then moves on becomes an advisor to the Pakistani Air

625
00:36:47,719 --> 00:36:50,800
Speaker 1: Force on behalf of the US government, and in seventy

626
00:36:50,880 --> 00:36:54,680
Speaker 1: three he's elected to the Aviation Hall of Fame. Now

627
00:36:54,680 --> 00:36:57,440
Speaker 1: this is a guy who's having just a heck of

628
00:36:57,480 --> 00:37:01,600
Speaker 1: a career. He continues to fly for the Air Force

629
00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:04,840
Speaker 1: and to fly for NASA. He's a consulting test pilot

630
00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:09,240
Speaker 1: at Edwards Air Force Base. In seventy six, Congress catches

631
00:37:09,320 --> 00:37:12,960
Speaker 1: up with him and they create a special Congressional Silver

632
00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:16,799
Speaker 1: Medal for bravery. He's the only American ever awarded the

633
00:37:16,880 --> 00:37:20,719
Speaker 1: Congressional Medal for service in peace time, and in the

634
00:37:20,800 --> 00:37:23,800
Speaker 1: late eighties and nineties set a number of light general

635
00:37:23,840 --> 00:37:27,960
Speaker 1: aircraft performance records for speed, range, and endurance. Even though

636
00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:30,200
Speaker 1: he even flying his whole life, he loved it. He

637
00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:34,680
Speaker 1: continued flying. He conducted flights on behalf of Piper Aircraft

638
00:37:35,239 --> 00:37:39,160
Speaker 1: and a one flight Yeager performed an emergency landing as

639
00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:42,440
Speaker 1: a result of fuel exhaustion. On another he took the

640
00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:46,759
Speaker 1: Piper's turboprops Chayam four hundreds to a time to hike

641
00:37:46,880 --> 00:37:51,360
Speaker 1: record got to thirty five thousand feet in sixteen minutes,

642
00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:54,880
Speaker 1: which exceeded the client performance of a Boweling seven thirty seven.

643
00:37:55,239 --> 00:37:59,040
Speaker 1: He's moved from the fastest airplane in the world, He's

644
00:37:59,080 --> 00:38:03,360
Speaker 1: moved from great fighter aircraft, and now who's still staying

645
00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:09,040
Speaker 1: active working on private planes. Nineteen eighty five, President Reagan

646
00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:22,200
Speaker 1: gives him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Chuck Yeager a

647
00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:26,000
Speaker 1: hero in war and peace. Charles Yeager has served this

648
00:38:26,120 --> 00:38:31,480
Speaker 1: country with dedication and courage beyond ordinary measure. On October fourteenth,

649
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Speaker 1: nineteen forty seven, in a rocket plane which he named

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Speaker 1: Glamorous Glennys after his wife, Chuck Yeager became the first

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Speaker 1: human being to travel faster than the speed of sound,

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Speaker 1: and in doing so, showed to the world the real

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Speaker 1: meaning of the right stuff. Finally, on October fourteenth, nineteen

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Speaker 1: ninety seven, the fiftieth anniversary of his historic flight past

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Speaker 1: MAK one, breaking the Soundburger, he flew a brand new

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Speaker 1: Glamorous Glennus the third and f fifteen the eagle passed

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Speaker 1: MAK one. So this is a guy who's had an

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Speaker 1: amazing life, and finally this year he passed away on

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Speaker 1: December seventh. I just think that this is one of

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Speaker 1: the great examples of American exceptionalism. He kept growing, he

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Speaker 1: kept learning. He kept pushing the margins. He never gave up,

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Speaker 1: he never slowed down, and he didn't worry much about

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Speaker 1: status or much about academic achievement or certification. He just

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Speaker 1: went out and did things and as a result, he

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Speaker 1: made America a much more remarkable country. He served his

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Speaker 1: country in a series of wars. Perfect person to introduce

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Speaker 1: young people too, and say, you know, if you have

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Speaker 1: the guts and you willing to work hard, it's amazing

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Speaker 1: what you can achieve in Amernica. And that, I think

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Speaker 1: is what we really owe Chuck Yeager more than anything,

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Speaker 1: not just for his service to the country, but for

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Speaker 1: the very model of freedom and of what a courageous

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Speaker 1: free person can do that anybody can learn, that anybody

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Speaker 1: can apply. Sir over there a man. You can read

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Speaker 1: more about Chuck Yeager's extraordinary life on our show page

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Speaker 1: at newtsworld dot com. Newtsworld is produced by Gingwich three

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Speaker 1: sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is deVie Myers, our

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Speaker 1: producer is Garnsey Slow, and our researchers Rachel Peterson. The

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Speaker 1: artwork for the show was created by Steve Penley. Special

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Speaker 1: thanks to the team at Gingwish three sixty. Please email

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Speaker 1: me with your questions at Gingwish three sixty dot com

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Speaker 1: slash questions. I'll answer a selection of questions in future episodes.

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Speaker 1: If you've been enjoying New tourl I hope you'll go

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Speaker 1: to Apple Podcasts and both rate us with five stars

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Speaker 1: and give us a review so others can learn what

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Speaker 1: it's all about. I'm new Gangwish. This is new tool