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RIP Chuck Yeager Sound Barrier Breaker!


ClaudeJ1

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Thanks to my dad I got to meet Mr. Yeager twice; he was a real down to earth good man who loved to quail hunt. I asked him to autograph a ballcap and he promptly obliged me with a smile, then dad got upset with me for pestering him, I still have the ball cap.

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1 hour ago, Gilbert said:

Thanks to my dad I got to meet Mr. Yeager twice; he was a real down to earth good man who loved to quail hunt. I asked him to autograph a ballcap and he promptly obliged me with a smile, then dad got upset with me for pestering him, I still have the ball cap.

Hope you still have your dad too!

 

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Thank you and Godspeed, Gen. Chuck Yeager. 

 

High Flight

by John Gillespie Magee Jr.

 

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, – and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of – wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air…

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew –
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

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Saw this earlier today, been busy again. The man was remarkable. What he did would still be exhilarating for any pilot to do these days, but he did it in the 50s!! Could domestic cars even do 140 mph yet on the highways?

With my fascination with flying, the National Geographic essays on him the encyclopedias that I read... I did reports on him in school a few times. Dreamed of flying, not like Superman or Peter Pan. I'd be playing with my friends and gravity would just quit working on me. Once I was in the stars backwards summersaults were the only thing that would bring me back down.

 

RIP General Yeager

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15 minutes ago, JohnJ said:

Saw this earlier today, been busy again. The man was remarkable. What he did would still be exhilarating for any pilot to do these days, but he did it in the 50s!! Could domestic cars even do 140 mph yet on the highways?

With my fascination with flying, the National Geographic essays on him the encyclopedias that I read... I did reports on him in school a few times. Dreamed of flying, not like Superman or Peter Pan. I'd be playing with my friends and gravity would just quit working on me. Once I was in the stars backwards summersaults were the only thing that would bring me back down.

 

RIP General Yeager

https://www.zmescience.com/research/technology/fastest-cars/#1950-1959_Aston_Martin_DB4_GT_153_mph_246_kmh

I cannot find any 50's domestic American stock cars which did over 150mph but the 59 Eldorado stock did 124mph. I am sure a man like Chuck was not going to get his thrills in a stock domestic vehicle and I do not doubt that there were stock motorcycles that could do 150 mph then and race cars which could do the same. RIP to a great man.

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I was thinking speed in general and the thrill I get from it. Aston Martin... that's a dream for me too... Vantage baby or maybe a Gauntlet?

No car felt like a jet going down the runway prior to takeoff... a 350 Vega was closest for me!

And the planes he flew were nothing like how they are now that can go Mach 1 any time they want it to either.

 

2010 Gauntlet

2010-Gauntlet-R.jpg

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One year BG Yeager was asked to drive the Pace Car @ the 500.  I got a few shots of him  in the short chute between 1 & 2 then even managed a salute as he passed.  Got a big grin back and a lil cut away.  EVERYone there gave him heck for driving too slow!  Funny as crap!  They were all telling him "NEVER again!"  😂  RIP General!  

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40 minutes ago, Gilbert said:

 

Yes indeed; 92 years young. Dad is the ultimate outdoorsman and best shot (rifle or shotgun) I've ever known.... and that ain't no BS either. 

IMG_4928.jpg

Cherish him Gilbert ... my pops died at age 35. I got adopted (I was only eight) and adopted Dad died 10 years later when he was only 45.  My Mom died at age 33. I figured I was tough on parents so I stopped after going through two pair of them. 

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1 hour ago, Dave1290 said:

One year BG Yeager was asked to drive the Pace Car @ the 500.  I got a few shots of him  in the short chute between 1 & 2 then even managed a salute as he passed.  Got a big grin back and a lil cut away.  EVERYone there gave him heck for driving too slow!  Funny as crap!  They were all telling him "NEVER again!"  😂  RIP General!  

Hey Dave ... did you keep copies of all your photographs or did your employer "own" them?

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I have BINDERS of B&W negs and boxes of Kodachrome 64 slides.  They just THOUGHT they should "own them."  Military, OSU sports, local sports, Indy, Mid-Ohio, Muirfield, Golf shots from everywhere.  I'm buried in them!  lol  Someday I might break down and buy a scanner.  Just more work!  Think I'll leave it to the next guy!  lol

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When Chuck first attempted to break the sound barrier they weren't sure what would happen.  As the speed of sound was approached the plane would start to shake and vibrate and the engineers were afraid the plane would come apart.  The speed of sound truly was a barrier.  What courage to be the first one to break that threshold when death was a real possibility.

 

Chuck Yeager is from Charleston, West Virginia, about an hour from me.  The Charleston WV airport is named for him.  He was loved by all West Virginians and will be missed.

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