Historical

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’…

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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…

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March 1944 Escaping Germans – a farmhouse in Spain

By Victoria Yeager / March 30, 2016

General Chuck Yeager: Having been shot down March 5, 1944 and hidden with the French underground, I was now carrying a fellow airman over the Pyrenees, the story picks up in Spain, not out of the woods yet. After catnapping, I dragged and carried the airman for what seemed like hours. We were starving. We…

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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…

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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…

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Training Jackie Cochran-to Become 1st Woman to Break Sound Barrier

By Victoria Yeager / May 18, 2014

I first met Jackie Cochran in 1947, not long after I broke the sound barrier, in Secretary of the Air Force Scott Symington’s office. She was a tall, blonde woman in her forties. “I’m Jackie Cochran,” she said pumping my hand. “Great job, Captain Yeager. We’re all proud of you.” She invited me to lunch…

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B-51 – Chuck Yeager & Russ Schleeh

By Victoria Yeager / May 17, 2014

Even Col Boyd never got to fly it – although he wanted to do so, he never found the time. In the ’50s, I used to fly it cross country to get home to Hamlin – speedy for its day. Three engines. Russ Schleeh and I were two of the first to fly it. Only…

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Chuck Yeager – F-100D

By Victoria Yeager / April 30, 2014

I usually flew 6590 – a two seater. He could do the flight planning….and I could fly. But this was a single seater.   c. GCYI

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March 26, 1944: Pyrenees Foothills: AVOID border Spanish-might sell us to Gestapo

By Victoria Yeager / April 2, 2014

The moment I hop in the back, the truck takes off. There are four or five other guys seated on the benches, and nobody says a word. mainly because they are too busy hanging on while the driver barrels down twisting backstreets, doing fifty or better. I hear the guy seated next to me mutter,…

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March 25, 1944: Maquis Kick Me Out

By Victoria Yeager / April 1, 2014

The Maquis live off the villages, not off the woods. The villages are dangerous, crawling with Germans and Vichy police, but guys slip into town to buy food, cigarettes, and medicine, using phony ration stamps and money. I’m amazed that no one is ever caught, or if they are, maybe I’m not told about it.…

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March 24, 1944, Maquis’ Moon-face

By Victoria Yeager / March 31, 2014

I’m the first American pilot they’ve encountered and they’re curious about what I think of the German air force. I tell them that the FockeWuld 190 is a damned good fighter, probably on a part iwth our own P-51 Mustang: but the Mustang using 108 gallon wing tanks, can escort bombers and dogfight deep into…

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March 22, 1944: Hiding from German Air Patrols

By Victoria Yeager / March 29, 2014

March 22, 1944. We are in the woods, eating. It’s early morning. We hear the German patrol airplane. Everyone stops still. We listen. It’s fairly close. We check our surroundings. We are under good cover but…recently a few of the guys had gone off and ambushed a German patrol. The Germans are very angry. No…

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