Adventures with Chuck – Page 7 – The Chuck Yeager Foundation

March 10, 1944 WWII. Yeager Still in Hiding from Germans

March 10, 1944. Jean comes running back. He had been in hiding but fairly close to the road. A few Germans had driven past maybe to the site where the German pilot or his plane had come down. Rumors are swirling that some French sympathetic to the Germans have turned in (and on) some neighbors…

March 9, 1944 WWII Hiding from the Germans

By Victoria Yeager / March 9, 2014

Jean and I go to the bigger lake to fish. He, as alert as I am and wise beyond his years, shows me the hidden way. Hanging out with Jean, I learn a little French. It’s a long way. We bring back some fish for le dejeuner (lunch). The young mother makes a shirt for…

March 8, 1944. WWII. On the Run from the Germans

By Victoria Yeager / March 8, 2014

General Yeager’s words: March 8, 1944. Six year old Jean and I played soccer. Then he took me to a little lake where we fished. I’m alert. The Germans are still on the prowl looking for me. I learn that the plane of the Germans who shot me down came down in a field just…

March 7, 1944. WWII.Escaping the Germans

By Victoria Yeager / March 7, 2014

March 7, 1944 evening General Yeager’s words: I’m in hiding during the day in the basement of the house in Casteljaloux. You have to go to the back of the house to get in. Not comfortable in the middle of town. Rumors are neighbors have turned in neighbors in this town. Wonder what they would…

March 6, 1944.Evening.WWII. Evading the Germans

By Victoria Yeager / March 7, 2014

March 6, 1944 evening: dark We ride off on bicycles: make it as far as Castaljaloux where they put me in the back of a house for the rest of the night and the next day. It’s right in the middle of town. Neighbors are pretty close. The Germans are still looking for me but have…

Lt Col Chuck Yeager leads USAFE Gunnery Champs – 1955-1956

By Victoria Yeager / March 6, 2014

USAFE Gunnery Champs – 1955-1956 While stationed in Germany my wing won the Gunnery Meet in Europe. Then we moved to Nellis where all the pros were, the biggest competitors – that’s all they did at Nellis – gunnery. And we beat the heck out of them, too. Air to air, air to ground. Air…

WWII.Mar 6, 1944: Behind Enemy Lines:Germans Everywhere Looking for Yeager

By Victoria Yeager / March 5, 2014

March 6, 1944: Behind Enemy Lines:Germans Everywhere Looking for Me: In the morning, I hear a rhythmic banging. I crawl to where I could see – it is a woodsman chopping wood. We were told, if we’re shot down or behind enemy lines, to approach poor people – they would be the most likely to…

WWII. Other POVs. March 5, 1944

By Victoria Yeager / March 4, 2014

Children of the local pastor: My brother and I had just walked out of the rectory next to the church. My father is the pastor. The noise above us – well, we knew a big battle was raging in the air. Deafening and scary. We see a plane on fire heading left to right diagonally toward…

WWII. Shot down. Not so Sierra Hotel. March 5, 1944

By Victoria Yeager / March 4, 2014

March 5, 1944: Weather is stinkin’ again. We head to Bordeaux to hit some shipping targets. As we get closer, it is clear we can’t see the targets so we decide to head east to an air base as a target of opportunity. I call out: Bandits! Six o’clock! And turn into them – do…

WWII.Shot Down My 1st E/A – March 4, 1944

By Victoria Yeager / March 4, 2014

In Chuck Yeager’s words: Weather was stinkin’. We scrambled – it was to be one of the first American daylight raids on Berlin. As I broke out in the clouds with my wingman, it was just the two of us. Wondered where the rest of the group was but forges ahead, found the box of…

Do You Smoke? – Another General Yeager Story

By Victoria Yeager / February 7, 2014

General Yeager in his own words: When I enlisted in the Army Air Corps, they have you meet with an army psychologist. This was going to be fun! I was answering his questions when he pulls out a cigarette, slowly lights it, puffs, blows the smoke in my face and asks: Do you smoke? Me:…

Yaw Damper & Snaking Discussion re F-86, F-104, Century Series

By Victoria Yeager / February 7, 2014

Question from a top engineering historian: I have been doing some research into specific airplanes, one of which is the production F-86A and later models. In two different places I came across engineers casually discussing the in flight high-speed ‘snaking’ motion of the F-86. One North American engineer just said ‘. . . the snaking…