Chuck Yeager dislikes the British
Thought police antagonist
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Should make for an interesting eulogy.... and obituary's ..when the time cometh.
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Just reading through his twitter feed - wow - surely someone else has hacked it because I cannot believe anyone (even an American 
) would come out with so much cr@p on purpose.
) would come out with so much cr@p on purpose.
I think Wiggy has hit the nail on the head. Yeager's best years where at a time when his natural talents (hunting, shooting, mechanics, eye/hand co-ordination) gave him several advantages in his early career but, increasingly, his "Good 'ol boy" nature couldn't cut it as technology and test methods increased in complexity. He was not alone in sneering at the Mercury programme (several TPs feared their military careers would be compromised), but the day of the engineering Test Pilot had arrived and his lack of education (a fault of his time not of his innate intelligence) held him back - hence he went back to the "real" USAF to get his star. It's said he cared little for the space programme until the Shuttle, which he grudgingly accepted was a "real aircraft" and supposedly met his good friend Joe Engle at Edwards after STS-2 (where Engle flew the only fully manual re-entry of the entire Shuttle project) and gave him a thorough "well done". In hindsight, I'm surprised he didn't pull strings to get a ride in the Shuttle (like Glenn) - but he'd probably have insisted on flying it......He's entitled to his opinion on us Brits; but we did make a better impression on Robin Olds and I know who I'd rather have at a "dream dinner party".....
"dream dinner party"
I know who I'd rather have at a "dream dinner party".....
Definately not Chucky.
I would invite Amelia Earhart and ask her where she has hidden herself all these years!
Same with Charles Nungesser.
The list would be long....
.
Definately not Chucky.
I would invite Amelia Earhart and ask her where she has hidden herself all these years!
Same with Charles Nungesser.
The list would be long....
.
Obviously NOT out of the same mould as our own Eric (Winkle) Brown, a real gentleman by all accounts............!!!!
It would appear the General has a dislike for the British.
Anyway, in his book he said it openly that the locals were not that nice to them during his WWII tour. Guess he still got a bit of a chip about it.
As a pilot I have the utmost respect for him, although if I remember correctly Bob "The Magician" Hoover was the first choice for flying the orange beast.
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Brits come in many shapes and form, I blame the Scots, Irish and Welsh for giving us such a poor rep.
Nutloose, everyone knows a certain local spat started one Friday night in the 12th century when some yobs from Carlisle went north to rape and pillage, followed by some Scottish gentlemen going South the following night to make love and borrow things.
Yeager was a farm-boy from Smalltown, Nowheresville whith the limited education that went with that background in the 1930s, so it's not really that surprising that wartime UK was a bit of a culture shock to him. His inferiority complex in regard to the more educated and intellectual pilots of later generations is a matter of record. I guess it has continued to rankle and eat away at him like a cancer. I've often felt he may be one of those people whose professional capabilities one can admire while almost despising them as a person - like John Wayne and Michael Schumacher. The exact opposite of (for example) Tony Benn, whose political stance I disposed on almost every topic but when I met him I found to be a charming and engaging man who I would have valued as a friend.
PDR
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As an Aussie, I have to say the stereotypes are as follows;
Irish: Mad, heavy drinkers, would back you up in a fight.
Scots: Mad, heavy drinkers, tight-arsed, would back you up in a fight unless you owed them 5p.
Welsh: Slightly mad, would probably stop a fight in its tracks by simply yelling out 'Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch' .
English: A bit slow, pasty, couldn't drink a nun under the table, would run from a fight even if it was their best friend.
Just a stereotype, but half of that word can be read as 'typical'
Irish: Mad, heavy drinkers, would back you up in a fight.
Scots: Mad, heavy drinkers, tight-arsed, would back you up in a fight unless you owed them 5p.
Welsh: Slightly mad, would probably stop a fight in its tracks by simply yelling out 'Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch' .
English: A bit slow, pasty, couldn't drink a nun under the table, would run from a fight even if it was their best friend.
Just a stereotype, but half of that word can be read as 'typical'
Obviously NOT out of the same mould as our own Eric (Winkle) Brown, a real gentleman by all accounts............!!!!
Not according to an old work colleague who had been an Observer on the FAA Sqn he commanded.
He is entitled to his opinion and, frankly, I couldn't care less about it but respect him as a pilot? Not a chance. Arrogance and a complete disregard for people who knew better would perhaps have stopped him jumping out of the 104. He was an idiot then and he's still one now.
We Brits also have a couple of examples of aviation heroes who had a reputation for being a***holes of the first water. Naming no names, but at least one bomber pilot and one fighter pilot from WW2 spring to mind - PPRuNe members will have their own ideas who I am referring to.
Delighted to see the reference to Winkle Brown who could no doubt have outflown any of them and was a true gentleman to boot.
Delighted to see the reference to Winkle Brown who could no doubt have outflown any of them and was a true gentleman to boot.
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IT's not necessarily a Brit thing with Yeager. After his sneering dismissal of the outstanding round the world flight of the Rutan Voyager it's clear he had enough in his arrogance bucket for everyone.
PPRuNe members will have their own ideas who I am referring to.
Don't forget the gallant RN officer who comes in for some castigation in these pages (largely of his own making).
As is said: 'Don't meet your heroes'
Met a rock legend once - she was a whacko.
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Read NF104 | Birth of a Spaceplane to get an accurate view of the overconfident, arrogant and vindictive Yeager...
His incompetence and failure to follow the mission profile led to the destruction of the NF-104A. Following which, his influence with the accident investigators ensured that no verdict of 'pilot error' would be entered.
His incompetence and failure to follow the mission profile led to the destruction of the NF-104A. Following which, his influence with the accident investigators ensured that no verdict of 'pilot error' would be entered.
Here's an account of Yeager's NF-104A crash and ejection in these chapters from Bob Smith, the lead Air Force test pilot for Aero Space Trainer program:
NF104 | Unwanted Record for Chuck Yeager
NF104 | Spin, Crash & Rescue
NF104 | Accident Board (Strike Three for Me!)
Bob Smith's assessment of the cause of the NF-104A crash:
The facts are clear. Chuck Yeager proved incapable of doing the job. He was totally outside his element. He was a natural pilot who had learned by experience and feel, but never really understood stability, just ‘sensed’ how airplanes would act, but aerodynamics and space dynamics are night and day. If he was to fail, I expected it to be outside the aerodynamics region.
But not even that can excuse his accident, which was his fault, alone and was an error of bad pilot technique during normal, aerodynamic flight. His shortcoming was inability to gain and maintain the 70 degree climb angle. That required strict and delicate airplane control. No more and no less.
His failure to do that made the space flight moot. He made the mistake, not once but on each of his four zooms, exaggerated on each until his accident was inevitable long before he departed his familiar flying region His failing started at the moment he began a 3˝ g pull up to the required 70 degree climb. He never once made his immediate angle close to 70 degrees thus losing so much energy that he could not fly high enough to stay out of trouble. Worse yet, he repeatedly started climb at a lower angle, then pulled the nose up later losing energy even faster and making the situation far more critical. He needed time outside the atmosphere to use the reaction controls to nose over and he denied himself that time with poor piloting in his element of expertise, aerial flight.
In effect, what he did was climb far too shallow and then pulled up very steep in aerodynamic flight to a hammerhead stall, which in any F-104 meant an irrecoverable pitch-up and likely spin.
But not even that can excuse his accident, which was his fault, alone and was an error of bad pilot technique during normal, aerodynamic flight. His shortcoming was inability to gain and maintain the 70 degree climb angle. That required strict and delicate airplane control. No more and no less.
His failure to do that made the space flight moot. He made the mistake, not once but on each of his four zooms, exaggerated on each until his accident was inevitable long before he departed his familiar flying region His failing started at the moment he began a 3˝ g pull up to the required 70 degree climb. He never once made his immediate angle close to 70 degrees thus losing so much energy that he could not fly high enough to stay out of trouble. Worse yet, he repeatedly started climb at a lower angle, then pulled the nose up later losing energy even faster and making the situation far more critical. He needed time outside the atmosphere to use the reaction controls to nose over and he denied himself that time with poor piloting in his element of expertise, aerial flight.
In effect, what he did was climb far too shallow and then pulled up very steep in aerodynamic flight to a hammerhead stall, which in any F-104 meant an irrecoverable pitch-up and likely spin.
Thanks for posting those Airbubba, I was aware of Bob Smiths blog a while back but was darned if I could find the links ( bit of a rush this AM ) and they were the basis for some of my previous comment,
I have always beeen struck by Smith's comment that :
"but it became clear that events and Col.... involvement in them, took full toll on my career."
It's clear (IMHO with a lot of justification) that he felt that he and a few others carried the can for the accident for a long time, whilst others got away with it.
Of course "The Right Stuff" version of the accident doesn't hint at any of the above, and just embellishes Yeagers image further but seeing as Yeager himself was one of the cast (minor role) perhaps no surprise.....
I have always beeen struck by Smith's comment that :
"but it became clear that events and Col.... involvement in them, took full toll on my career."
It's clear (IMHO with a lot of justification) that he felt that he and a few others carried the can for the accident for a long time, whilst others got away with it.
Of course "The Right Stuff" version of the accident doesn't hint at any of the above, and just embellishes Yeagers image further but seeing as Yeager himself was one of the cast (minor role) perhaps no surprise.....
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Nutloose, everyone knows a certain local spat started one Friday night in the 12th century when some yobs from Carlisle went north to rape and pillage, followed by some Scottish gentlemen going South the following night to make love and borrow things.
