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Chuck Yeager

By Jimmathy Parkerson

Class of 2006

Introduction If you’ve ever heard that ear splitting sonic boom then you’ll know that Chuck Yeager was the first man to create a sonic boom in an airplane. If not than you better listen up. Cause I’m about to tell you about Chuck Yeager the first man to fly faster than sound!!! I hope you enjoy my report.

Chuck’s Childhood

Chuck Yeager’s formal name is Charles Elwood Yeager. He was born on February 13, 1923, and lived in Myra West Virginia. The whole town was a post office and a couple of buildings close to the mud river near Hamlin, West Virginia. Chuck was born in a white farm house. His mom and Dad were named Albert or “Hal”, and Susie Mae. He had two brothers: Roy (the oldest), and Hal Jr. and, two sisters: Doris Ann and Pansy Lee. His family name Yeager originated for the German name Jäeger, which means hunter or huntsman.

Chuck and his family moved to Hamlin when he was five years old and lived there until he was 18 years old. During that time he grew up in the great depression. He went to grade school for first grade but skipped second grade and spent two years in fifth grade. For hobbies he liked to run and fish when he was in West Virginia. In high school he played football and basketball for sports; he also played the trombone for the band.  Chuck also enjoyed chasing girls. His favorite subjects were: math, algebra and typing (he could type 60 + words a minute). Chuck did not do well at history and English literature. He was not a public speaker. 

Yeager’s first encounter with a plane was when he was fifteen or sixteen years old. At that age he saw the plane and was not impressed. All his brothers started hunting when they were around six years old. His sister Doris Ann was accidentally killed in a gun accident with Chuck and his brother Roy. After the accident their Dad showed them how to use guns safely. Chuck amazed everyone with his incredible vision, much better than 20/20. His father was in a drilling company and died in 1963. A fun family incident was when his dad and his neighbor were out hunting and found a 500 lb boar. They shot it between the eyes and went over to slit its throat, when it got up and ran away! Chuck’s dad got on its back and rode it the length of three city blocks before finally killing the animal. Chuck enjoyed sitting and listening to a West Virginia state senator named Jake D. Smith. He found his stories interesting and inspiring. Chuck’s dad was gone all week because he was a gas driller all over the state.

Adulthood

In 1941 Chuck enlisted in the air force at age eighteen. Two years later, he was a flight officer flying fighter planes in World War II. Yeager was a short, wily, muscular, man with dark curly hair. On his first eight missions he shot down two German planes and then was shot down himself over French territory. In World War II he meet with General Dwight D Eisenhower for evading capture with the aid of the French Resistance. He hiked all over the Pyrenees dragging a wounded man and the army policy would not allow him to rejoin his flying squadron. In 1944 he could shoot down the new German fighter jets from a P-51 Mustang propeller plane. At the end of the war he could shoot down about thirteen enemy aircraft in one day. In 1945 he got married to Glennis Dickhouse and had four kids: two sons, Donald and Michael and, two daughters Sharon and Susan. In 1946 he applied and got one of the spots at as a test pilot at the Wright field in Ohio. The instructors were so amazed at the talent that Chuck had flying; they sent him to Muroc Ca for the X-1 project.

Fame

In the Mojave Desert in California the temperature can get up to 110ºFin the daytime and 32ºF at night in December. The Air Force wanted to achieve Mach 1 (660 mph). Most pilots would crash at Mach 1-7, except for Chuck Yeager. Yeager flew faster that the speed of sound. The Bell X-1 transonic plane was modeled after a fifty caliber bullet that was known to go supersonic. As a salary, Yeager received $283.00 per month or $3,396 a year. On the first day that they put him in the Bell X-1 the captains had trouble holding Chuck back. That day he achieved Mach 0.85 to Mach 0.90, almost Mach 1. The plan was to slowly, step by step, fly the Bell X-1 to Mach 1. Chuck did not believe that the sound barrier existed, yet he was still working with the army to break it. At Muroc, Yeager said that after the sun went down there is one thing that the pilots do. They go to the bar and get drunk! The night that he got drunk he and his wife were riding on horses in the desert and he was going to jump a fence. His horse bucked and he fell off. As a result he broke two or three ribs. That was two days before the day he was to attempt to break to sound barrier. The day of the flight he was going to fly up on a B-29 with the Bell X-1 to 26,000 feet and let go. The only problem was he had to shut the air tight door to the Bell X-1. When he tried the door before they were off the ground his arm hurt. Before they took off, he told the engineer he broke his ribs and could not shut the door; the engineer broke off the flat end of a broom, gave it to him, and said. “Use it as a pry bar to shut the door.” As he got into the Bell X-1, Chuck used the engineer’s idea about the broom, and to his surprise it worked. As the B-29 dropped the B X-1 at 26,000 feet, from the view below, it looked like a bomb being dropped then coming to life with its large flame out of the back. It zoomed to the same speed as the B-29 and then exceeded it. After Yeager described the flight and said; “It got hard to steer, and then easier. I did not feel the sonic boom, but did go supersonic.” Afterward all of the pilots at Muroc celebrated even after the sergeant told them not to. Chuck was not allowed to tell the press until two years later. Those were direct orders from the President so they did not disobey them. After that Chuck Yeager flew supersonic at least one dozen times. In 1953 he flew Mach 2.5 in a different model of the X-1; the Bell X-1A witch could achieve greater speeds.

Later Years

After the space race in 1951 Yeager was the commander in the Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School (the A.F.A.R.P.S.). The pilots he trained were for the space program and in fact about half the pilots that he trained served in either the: Gemini, Mercury and Apollo spaceflight programs. Before that he set a speed record of 1650 mph and he flew flights in Korea and other places. Chuck’s Air Force School was shut down in 1966 but that was not the end for him. While still in the army he was promoted to Brigadier General. In 1968-1975 Chuck received the Peacetime Congressional Medal of Honor from President Gerald Ford. Later President Ronald Reagan gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Both the Peacetime Congressional Medal of Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom are an honor to receive, the difference between the two of them is that the presidential Medal of Freedom is awarded in Wartime but the Congressional Gold Medal is awarded directly in peacetime. The Presidential Medal of Freedom was established to recognize the civilian and military acts performed by people.

I August 2003 got married to Victoria Scott D’Angelo. In recent years he has sponsored many air shows such as the Oshkosh Air Venture in 2005. It occurs July 25-31 and at the show there are food and speeches and airplanes and air shows along with memorabilia from different events over the years. The show is inside and outside. The Make-A-Wish Foundation has a fundraiser thee to raise money for their organization. Chuck has also entered the Nevada County pie contest in California. He had attended many times but never entered it. He thought he could get lucky and win a 4th or 5th place, but he surprised the judges and himself when he won a 1st prize for his butterscotch pie!! However, he did not do as well with his corn bread, because the judges only knew what corncake was.

Conclusion

Writing this report exposed me to so much new information about Chuck Yeager. I have learned so much. Before I did this report I barely knew who he was and now I know that he set a speed record of 1650 mph, received one Presidential medal and one Congressional medal. It just so happened that I discovered Chuck when my family and I were sitting at Flatbread eating pizza one night and I brought up the topic of LEAP. My Grandmother asked me whom I wanted to study and I said, “Well I don’t know.” So we started to bring up a few different names. The moment my Grandfather brought up Chuck Yeager I knew he was it. He rang a bell and that bell said, “Yes Matt, do him.” I’m glad I did because he inspires me. I think his work carries a message and that message is “If you put your mind to it, anything can be achieved and that is why Chuck Yeager inspires me. I do think he is a great, great, great man thus me choosing him for my LEAP. I admire Chuck because of his strong self-esteem and he doesn’t give up no matter what the problem (2-3 broken ribs).

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Influences

Incredibly , airplanes did not inspire Chuck Yeager at all until he passed pilot school in 1941 and he did not enjoy his first flight in an airplane. He practiced touch and go landings. After getting shot down over Spain, Yeager returned to the U.S. and picked another airbase. He chose the Wright Field in Ohio. I think he was inspired to go back to Ohio, near West Virginia, because it was close to his Dad, who taught him a lot about mechanics. At the age of ten, Yeager was fixing cars in garages. In high school he helped his dad fix things in his father’s drilling company. When he was thirteen, he could disassemble and reassemble a Chevrolet engine with ease. He was influenced by his teacher, Ms. Miller. She taught him typing which would help him with his eye hand coordination. He was a chief in aviation and maintenance; every plane he inspected he was able to fly. At a young age his dad taught him a lesson that would discipline him for the rest of his life. The lesson was: Never leave something that you have started unfinished.

Bibliography

Internet webpage

www.chuckyeager.com/yeageraventure/yeageraventure.htm www.chuckyeager.com/specailfeatures.htm# www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/yeaOint-1 www.achevement.org/autodoc/page/yeaOibo-1

©General Chuck Yeager inc. 2003