Chuck Yeager on Facebook.

[-ammo-]

Didn't Cunningham spend some time in prison?

Yes he did. The whole affair is a shame.  Took bribes as an elected politician.

If you haven't done so, look up his encounter with the North Vietnamese Ace

[Ack-Ack]

I was going to post on his FB page and ask him what he felt about George Welch unofficially breaking the sound barrier twice before him but then some would think it was just a troll.

ack-ack

[Citabria]

f-86's were going supersonic in dives pretty regularly but the x1 flight was the first level crossing of the sound barrier. so just consider the f86 supersonic dives along the lines of getting to first base and the x1 flight actually popping the cherry.

as for yeager being an jackarse I am sure he is. its required to be a general and a fighter pilot that you think you are god. (in most cases though exceptions can be made)

my favorite anecdote is of yeager and neil armstrong gettign stuck in a dry lake after yeager warned him not to land there... "he couldnt fly his way out of a paper bag" was Yeager's view of amrstrongs pilot skills lol

[Golfer]

I consider General Yeager the greatest living American.   

Bob Hoover would head a mile long list of names before I even got to considering Yeager.

[Ack-Ack]

f-86's were going supersonic in dives pretty regularly but the x1 flight was the first level crossing of the sound barrier. so just consider the f86 supersonic dives along the lines of getting to first base and the x1 flight actually popping the cherry.

Regardless if Welch went supersonic in a dive, he was still the first to break it and broke it again shortly before Yeager did it in the X-1.  The only difference was that Yeager had official monitors to monitor the flight while Welch didn't, even though the flight data from the XF-86 confirms Welch's breaking of the sound barrier.  If Welch's flight had official monitors, he would have been credited as the first, not Yeager.

ack-ack

[Tupac]

Bob Hoover would head a mile long list of names before I even got to considering Yeager.

This

[WEZEL]

Would be cool if we could get him in the MA 

[Widewing]

Regardless if Welch went supersonic in a dive, he was still the first to break it and broke it again shortly before Yeager did it in the X-1.  The only difference was that Yeager had official monitors to monitor the flight while Welch didn't, even though the flight data from the XF-86 confirms Welch's breaking of the sound barrier.  If Welch's flight had official monitors, he would have been credited as the first, not Yeager.

ack-ack

Indeed, first is still first.... The British record for the first supersonic flight by a Brit plane was made by John Derry, diving a DH-108 Swallow. Unlike Welch in the XF-86, the DH-108 did so out of control. Bee Beamont was the first British pilot to exceed Mach 1, in.... You guessed it.. The XP-86 in May of 1948. Welch had a hand in that too....

[Drano]

That would be the George Welch of the also from Wilmington, DE tribe.

[Yeager]

I was going to post on his FB page and ask him what he felt about George Welch unofficially breaking the sound barrier twice before him but then some would think it was just a troll.

ack-ack

You should hunt him down at some convention and confront him with your empirical data!

We would get another great youtube video like this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wcrkxOgzhU

[-ammo-]

You should hunt him down at some convention and confront him with your empirical data!

We would get another great youtube video like this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wcrkxOgzhU

Classic!

[Ray77]

Bob Hoover would head a mile long list of names before I even got to considering Yeager.

Make the case.  It's all for fun, it's inarguable that they are the greatest of a great generation.   Kinda like choosing between Orr and Howe. 

[Grayeagle]

Well .. Yeager refused to attend Air Warrior conventions when invited ..so we got the guy who taught him to fly combat.
Ya ..Yeager was the dweeb wingman with the short list of what he was allowed to say on the radio.

The pilot of the 'Old Crow' .. 'Bud' Anderson.
A gracious guest, easygoing, approachable ..he 'got it' about the whole online air combat experience.
He said:
'The only thing different about what you do is ..I had to do it right the first time, I did not get any 'do-over''
..and
'You guys have more hours spent in combat than we did'



I'd start my list with Bud, then Bob Hoover (who signed my shirt at Reno long ago)
..but ..that's just me

-Frank aka GE

[Arlo]

GE! Long time no see. Was going through your art and reminiscing just the other day. 

[cpxxx]

It's generally accepted now that Welch was first to exceed mach 1 in the XP-86. Which of course takes nothing away from
Yeager's achievement in the Bell X1. Neither of course were the first to exceed Mach 1, just the first to survive it.

But if you really want to rile the general ask him about his accident in the NF-104. A contemporary of his is rather less than complimentary about this incident. Lt Col Robert W. Smith, USAF.

http://www.kalimera.org/nf104/stories/stories_11.html

But to be fair none of the rest of us are fit to be criticising Yeager or casting doubts on his achievements. He is a living legend. As is the British equivalent Capt. Eric Brown who but for the usual British cock ups, might well be the first man to go supersonic. I wonder does he have a Facebook page?