Aviation – Page 2 – The Chuck Yeager Foundation

Great Aviatrix, Pancho Barnes, in Chuck Yeager’s Own Words

By Victoria Yeager / March 2, 2021

I first met Pancho Barnes on my first trip to Muroc in 1945, when we were testing Shooting Stars. Pancho was 46 when I first met her. She had black hair and dark eyes, slim hips and broad shoulders. She would never use a 5 or 6 letter word when a four-letter word would do.…

I Never Lost a Pilot While Flying Chase by Chuck Yeager

By Victoria Yeager / February 24, 2021

Many, many pilots died testing airplanes over the Mojave desert from Muroc, then Edwards AFB, CA. Over 51 streets were named after those who lost their lives flying test. Even Edwards is named after Glen Edwards. General Yeager’s own words flying chase for test pilots: I never lost a pilot while flying chase; but there…

ARPS – early astronaut training

By Victoria Yeager / July 14, 2019

In late 1961, we were ready to screen applicants for our first class at the space school, and because they would be the first bunch, the screening process was particularly thorough. We wanted only the very best pilots, and our first couple of classes consisted of experienced military test pilots, who had graduated from Edwards’…

In His Own Words: Emmett Hatch, black pilot, in Chuck Yeager’s Squadron 1950’s

By Victoria Yeager / July 12, 2019

In his own words from Yeager, An Autobiography pp 290-297: “The Air Force had only been integrated seven or eight years by the time I became a fighter pilot. I came up through the ranks as an enlisted man, the same as Chuck Yeager, but it wasn’t easy for me as a black man. There…

From Chuck Yeager shot down over France

By Victoria Yeager / March 7, 2018

March 4, 1944 1st daylight raid over Berlin. Weather was stinkin’. Only 2 P-51s guarding a box of bombers. They hit their targes. I shot down my first enemy aircraft (a/c). Woo hoo. I was out of ammo returning home. I espied the stragglers of the bombers in formation heading home. I called ahead. “Can…

Yeager! Can’t you do anything right?

By Victoria Yeager / May 5, 2015

In General Yeager’s own words: After returning from being shot down, to return to combat, I had to go all the way up the chain of command until I found myself before General Eisenhower, The problem was if I was shot down again, the Germans might find me, torture me, and get information re the…

WWII: March 5, 1944 -Unteroffizier Irmfred Klotz Shot me Down – Chuck Yeager

By Victoria Yeager / January 11, 2015

The generally accepted research shows that 22 year old Unteroffizier Irmfred Klotz flying a Focke Wulf 190 shot my airplane down on March 5, 1944. I was 21, thinking I was Sierra Hotel just the day before, now this guy is thinking he’s Sierra Hotel. The day after I shot down his first two enemy aircraft, although…

Chuck Yeager: Where I Was on December 7, 1941 When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

By Victoria Yeager / December 8, 2014

General Chuck Yeager’s words: I had entered the Army Air Corps September 9, 1941, fresh out of high school and a summer of working with Dad, chores, huntin’, swimmin’ and fishin’. On December 7, 1941; I was stationed at Moffett Field in California, still a crew chief, although I had applied for pilot training. Jimmy…

November 23, 1943: Off to war. And England.

By Victoria Yeager / December 2, 2014

November 23, 1943: Off to war. In General Chuck Yeager’s words: We got on the Queen Elizabeth to cross the Atlantic Ocean to war. There were 25,000 – one third a-sleeping, one third a-eating, one third a-puking. Then we switched every 8 hours. One guy asked, “Aren’t you feeling okay?” The other one said, “What?…

1947: Recording the Shock Wave on the X-1

By Victoria Yeager / October 13, 2014

Ridley put holes in the horizontal stabilizer and connected them to a recorder. Each flight he could see what the shock wave was doing. c. GCYI

Broken Ribs Before Breaking the Sound Barrier

By Victoria Yeager / October 13, 2014

October 12-13, 1947: In Chuck Yeager’s own words: Sunday night (October 12, 1947), after eating dinner at Pancho’s, Glennis and I decided to go riding. Glennis suggested a race back to the corral. As I got very close, in the lead, I saw someone had closed the gate. My horse and I pulled about 3…

Capt Yeager meets Howard Hughes

By Victoria Yeager / September 13, 2014

General Yeager in his own words: “I read this today: ‘Sept 13, 1935 – Aviator Howard Hughes, Jr., of Houston, set a new airspeed record of 352 mph with his H-1 airplane (Winged Bullet).’ Hughes helped design and flew the Spruce Goose. Once. November 2, 1947. History re that is here: The Largest Flying Boat…