Mach 1 Hero Test Pilot Chuck Yeager Dies at 97

Chuck Yeager died on December 7, 2020 at the age of 97. This is a very advanced age for someone in the high fatality early rocket/jet Test Pilot calling. 

NPR, December 7, 2020 reports on his death, his career and his major media portrayal in The Right Stuff  - a great movie. 

Yeager is most famous for breaking the sound barrier (Mach 1) in a decidedly dangerous rocket plane - a Bell X-1. Yeager did not have the higher mathematics/physics college education typically required of a Test Pilot these days. But he was a precise, gifted, natural pilot, also a showman with charisma. America needs heroes and he delivered at great personal risk.

 

Regarding the above Right Stuff scene. In December 1963 Yeager attempted an altitude record in a highly modified, rocket-boosted NF-104A aerospace trainer. Standard F-104As were known as "Widowmakers" in those early days, but the NF-104A proved even more dangerous. 

The Right Stuff  Youtube here and above is a symphony of jet, afterburner and rocket "notes" mixed to the film's great score. Turn it up loud!

In the youtube Yeager finally runs out of rocket fuel. His plane's upward momentum is overcome by gravity. He's up too high (too little oxygen) for his jet engine to function or restart. There is also too little air for his plane to glide forward. So he goes into an (often fatal) Flat Spin. Being skillful and lucky, he survives by ejecting at the right height. But, explosive firing of the ejector seat ignites the pure oxygen in Yeager's facemask as he parachutes to earth. 

After this youtube Chuck reaches the ground, he can still walk, but his face is badly burnt. He can hardly see. Luckily the world's No.1 plastic surgeon (for facial injuries) successfully treats Chuck. All a true story. 

Being a test pilot in a rocket plane was/still is a risky business.

Please connect with Submarine Matters' earlier post of December 8, 2015 that includes Yeager's 
Mach 1 achievement.  

Goodbye Chuck Yeager.

Pete