In the Cockpit With Chuck Yeager by Di Freeze

Author:Di Freeze [Freeze, Di]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: chuck yeager, prisoner of war, test pilot, x1, pow, sound barrier
ISBN: 9780985810313
Google: a2PNmQEACAAJ
Publisher: Freeze Time Media
Published: 2013-02-27T00:07:21.129522+00:00

11

THE NEWS IS OUT

USAF Photo

Aviation Week leaked the news of the sound barrier flight in December 1947.

In December 1947, Aviation Week leaked the news of the sound barrier flight, but the Air Force didn't confirm it until the following June. When Yeager’s achievement was finally declassified, he quickly became known as “the Fastest Man Alive.” To mark the occasion, President Truman awarded him the prestigious Collier Trophy. According to Truman, the project’s accomplishment was “the greatest since the first successful flight of the original Wright brothers’ airplane.”

As Yeager’s fame grew, the Air Force thought it would be great public relations for him to make the rounds as a speaker. He wasn’t happy when he received orders from the Chief of Staff’s office to begin making appearances. He said the public didn’t understand the concept of the sound barrier.

The press’ description of “a brick wall in the sky” made him seem like a young Captain Marvel. “The Air Force insisted on putting me up on a pedestal, and there was no lack of volunteers trying to knock me down,” Yeager said in his autobiography. “A few of them came close to wrecking my career.”

One thing being famous didn’t change was his quality of life out on the desert. “When I was sent to Muroc, I was TDY (temporary duty) from Wright Field. Since I was going to be out there for the next two or three years, I brought Glennis and my kids.”

Family members didn’t receive the same service as pilots, so the hospital couldn’t treat his wife and children. “Glennis wasn't allowed in the commissary or PX (Post Exchange). There was no housing on the base. We lived in chicken shacks all over that damn desert. I didn't pay much attention to the way the system was, because I was doing my job, but it was tough on Glennis.

“When I brought her out, she knew I was so close to the raggedy edge of fatal programs that anything that detracted from my concentration would kill me; I would’ve ended up in a smokin’ hole. She did everything she could to keep me from breaking my concentration on flying. That was unusual for an Air Force wife.”

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