West Virginia

Shot down over France

By Victoria Yeager / March 4, 2021

Free falling. Flat on my back. Spinning from 16,000 feet. Velocity doubling each second. Hold off. Get below clouds where Krauts can’t see your chute. Yank that cord now, you’re dead. Germans strafe guys floating down. Clouds whisk past. French countryside filling horizon. Even so, wait goddammit. Ground rushing up. Occupied territory. Two fingers grip…

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Chuck Yeager’s Parents & His Childhood Church

By Victoria Yeager / February 28, 2021

There were two Methodists churches in Hamlin. One was the Southern Methodist Church all Democrats, the other congregation was Northern Methodist Church the hardcore Republicans of Lincoln County, where we belonged. On election day, Dad traveled the hollers armed with two-dollar bills and whiskey trying to buy GOP votes. Dad, Albert Hal Yeager, had Dutch…

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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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