I am a hardcore fan of the movie The Right Stuff. Coming to the end of the movie, the Mercury astronauts are being dined and wined in Houston while Chuck Yeager hops in a plane that is more rocket than a plane and goes in the air with it. Things happen, he loses control and the plane crashes. To me, this is the best part of the movie: it is the end of the old school, by-the seat-of-your-pants pilot era and he closed that chapter magnificently.
So much to my amazement, I find out that there is actual footage of that flight by Yeager and it was just released day before yesterday by Edwards Air Force Base. It is not sexy, no Hollywood production, but damn! It is history.
I always felt bad for Yeager. He was the bravest and best Air Force pilot at the time but was denied being an Astronaut because he never went to college. His commission as an officer was a WWII field commission for being a pilot – he went from enlisted to flight school with the Army Air Corps. NASA wanted pilots with engineering or science degrees and rejected Yeager. He would have made a hell of a Mercury commander.
He never got to go up as an astronaut, but he did run the school.
Awesome clip from Edwards, could’ve done without the cheesy music, but it seems everything these days has to have a background soundtrack. Yeah, Yeager is the real deal. Although the X-1 was highly classified, after his supersonic flight, nearly every pilot in the country affected a West Virginia accent.
If you like the movie you should read the book. I remember when the movie came out everyone thought that it would boost John Glen’s political career. It didn’t hurt it but it just made every realize what a stud Yeager was. Also don’t miss Yeager’s cameo in the movie. He plays the bartender.
I have the book too. Great one.
I do remember the Glenn thing and I think it actually hurt him as he was portrayed as a fuddy duddy.
“Mr. Glenn, you are way out of line. I advise you not to try to foist your moral views on anyone else in this group. Each man here has volunteered to do a job. Each man is devoting long hours of training… and doing many things above and beyond the call of duty…”
The book went in depth into the inner workings of the astronauts selection for various flights. Shepard was the “Fighter Jock’s Fighter Jock” and Glenn was the “Presbyterian Pilot.” Shepard got the coveted “First Flight” because of his popularity with the other astronauts, Glenn got the “First Orbital Flight” because NASA bureaucrats Didn’t want anybody that would embarrass the program.
Also check out Yeager: An Autobiography.