... to yesterday's "Another Milestone" post:
There are 24 hi-res photos of the event at the Nellis report link, including the two you see above. If I live to be 89 I hope to Hell I look as good then as Gen. Yeager does today.
Retired United States Air Force Brig. Gen. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager poses for photographers after returning from his 65th anniversary of breaking the sound barrier flight aboard a 65th Aggressor Squadron F-15D Eagle piloted by Capt. David Vincent, 65th AGRS, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Oct. 14, 2012. Yeager became the first man to break the sound barrier Oct. 14, 1947, over Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. (U.S. Air Force photo by Lawrence Crespo)
Breaking it Again at 89: Retired Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager, the first man to officially break the sound barrier in level flight, on Oct. 14 recreated the moment exactly 65 years later to the minute—this time in an F-15 fighter. It was on Oct. 14, 1947, when then 24-year-old Yeager piloted the rocket-propelled Bell X-1 through the sound barrier over the Mojave Desert, achieving the feat at 10:24 a.m. Fast forward 65 years and Yeager again surpassed the speed of sound while flying at 45,000 feet in altitude above the southern California desert in the back seat of an F-15D that took off from Nellis AFB, Nev. "It was a smooth flight today," said Yeager of the anniversary flight. "I'm very familiar with the area and got a good view," he added. Capt. David Vincent, a 65th Aggressor Squadron pilot at Nellis, took Yeager up in the F-15. (Nellis report by SrA. Jack Sanders)
Col. Peter Ford, Adversary Tactics Group commander; retired United States Air Force Brig. Gen. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager; and Capt. David Vincent, 65th Aggressor Squadron pilot, talk after Yeager's 65th anniversary commemoration flight landed at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Oct. 14, 2012. Yeager flew in a 65th AGRS F-15D Eagle to mark his historic flight in the Bell X-1 rocket research plane. (U.S.Air Force photo by Lawrence Crespo)
Didn't he used to be taller?
ReplyDeleteWe all shrink with age, don't we? (DON'T ask...) ;-)
DeleteYes, Buck, lets not go there..lol
ReplyDelete"If I live to be 89..."
ReplyDeleteAmen to that. And to break the sound barrier at that age...amazing. But I'm with Virgil, let's move on from the "shrinkage" topic.
I see all us geezers are agreed on the shrinkage bit...except for Ivan. ;-)
DeleteMaybe it's not shrinkage, but 89 years of G forces?
ReplyDeleteThat could very well BE, Skip.
DeleteYep, you will drive to the airfield in the Tart.
ReplyDeleteI hope yer right, Lou.
DeleteChuck Yeager's original autobiography has been one of my favorite books since I was about 12 and read it for a book report. What an awesome man!
ReplyDelete