Welcome to AviationArtStore.Com
Our main web page address is:
Along with my artwork I have stories of dozens of the many aviators I have personally interviewed over the years.
Thanks for visiting
my Web Store and please tell your friends about my endeavors.
Chuck Yeager, Test Pilot
The X-1 Flights
Captain
Charles “Chuck” Yeager
By Sir Ernie Hamilton Boyette
Charles
E. Yeager enlisted as an airplane mechanic in the Army Air Corps in September
1941. Within months of his Air Corp
career, Chuck applied for flight training. Upon graduation from Luke Field, Arizona as a flight officer, he was
assigned to the 363rd Squadron, 357th Fighter Group,
flying the new P-51 Mustang.
Chuck
was transferred with his group to England where he saw his first combat on March
4, 1944 when he shot down a Bf 109G and damaged a Heinkel 111. The next day Yeager was shot down over France and evaded capture by
making his way with the help of the France underground to Spain.
The
Army Air Corp had a strict rule for pilots in that if you were shot down and was
able to get back to England, they would not let you fly combat missions again.
They felt that the experience you earned from your shot down and escape was too
valuable and the Air Corp reasoned that the information could not and should not
fall into the enemy's hands. They felt that the enemy could learn the names of
the French, Dutch or who ever helped you escape as well your rout back. I do
understand that theory, but I feel that it was just part of war. You take your
chances. You live, you die. Chuck felt that way as well. After
being turned down over and over for combat missions Chuck
returned to combat flying only after personally petitioning General Dwight Eisenhower. He ended the war with 11 ˝ aerial victories, which included one of the
German Me 262 jets. Yet he could have ended the war with one victory and one
damaged.
After
the war, Chuck requested to be assigned or stationed at Wright Field where he
would have the opportunity to fly and evaluate the new prop and jet aircraft our
country was producing. Because
of his exceptional flying ability and skill to evaluate different aircraft
Chuck was chosen to be one of the test
pilots at Wright Field.
Chuck
was selected to test the new Bell X-1 in speed test that would have man fly
faster than the speed of sound. Even
in the beginning of the jet age, which was maturing into the space age, our top
scientist actually believed that there was an invisible barrier that would
destroy an aircraft if they were to go fast enough to encounter it.
Just
like the scientist who believed that the world was flat, Chuck did not share
their superstitions. He was confidant that the sound barrier could be broken if
they could create an aircraft that could perform the task with out being
destroyed.
Chuck
first would fly the X-1
as a glider as it was dropped from a converted Boeing B-29. With no power, Chuck glided the X-1 back to the desert lakebed below. This gave him the opportunity to get a feel for the bullet shaped
aircraft and how it handled. With
Bob Hover flying a chase plane to observe him, Chuck would do barrel rolls with
the nimble aircraft on the way back down to the runway below.
The
fuel capacity of the X-1 was limited to the exact length of time needed for
him to reach his estimated speed for the flight or reach the sound barrier. He
would then glide the
orange bullet to earth for a landing.
On
many of these flights, Chuck risked his life with one disaster after another. Slowly with the personal help from
the Bell company representatives, and
fellow Air Force technicians, all of the engineering problems were smoothed out
enough to complete his flights. Finally
on October 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager was the first man to break the speed of
sound.
On
December 12, 1953, flying the improved Bell X-1A, Chuck flew twice the speed of
sound.
Chuck retired from the Air Force as a Brigadier General in March 1975. His decoration were as follows: Distinguished Service Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, Silver Star with one Oak Leaf Cluster, Legions of Merit with one Oak Leaf Cluster, Distinguished Flying Cross with two Oak Leaf Clusters, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Air Medal with ten Oak Leaf Clusters, plus the MacKay, Collier, and the Harmon trophies.
Addendum: The sound barrier could very well have been broken by a German jet fighter during combat in WWII. If not, the Germans were as close as one can get. A sonic boom sound was heard during one Me-262 mission and from the description from the pilot, he did in fact break the sound barrier. If the sound barrier was not broken by the Me-262 pilot, German designers had several jets on the drawing board that if completed would have done the job years before the U.S. Air Force. Of course the Luftwaffe pilot could not hear the sonic boom since it was behind him, but what he experienced and the witnesses on the ground compared their stories after the war. As a matter-in-fact, the Germans would have broken the sound barrier by the end of 1945 or the spring of 1946. But unfortunately the Germans were defeated first. However the United States used many of the German aero engineers in the development of our space programs. No matter what their histories were.
All research, writings and artwork are by Sir Ernie Hamilton Boyette.
No one is permitted to republish any part of this story with out my personal permission.
Please call or e-mail me for any use of this story.
I do not mind sharing, I do not mind people or groups linking to this page, I just need to register them on my "LINKS" page. Thanks!
Sir. Ernie Hamilton Boyette
904-282-4198
Back to Aviator Story Directory
Start 2-10-07