Fantastic movie! Always loved it. I always felt an affinity for Chuck Yeager as he was my last base commander before I got out of the Air Force. He flew my plane many times. What a great guy he was. He always treated me as his personal mechanic instead of the usual “I’m a general and you’re just a Staff Sergeant” routine, like most other high ranking types would tend to do. Down to earth “real” human being!
Am I jealous, Fritz! My all-time favorite film, BTW! Loved the Yeager scenes the best. Especially near the end, where he’s walking in the desert, his face is burned, but he’s still chewing his Beemans.
Having loved the book, it was a little difficult for me at first to appreciate the movie on its own merits. Because I think it takes some of the themes discussed in the book and takes them completely over the top (the press for one).
In time though I have come to appreciate the film as well…great scene selection by the way.
I remember seeing Chuck Yeager open the air-show at Edwards AFB by breaking the sound barrier (again) in an F-15. He then landed and proceeded to the announcer’s stand where he welcomed everyone to the show and (I’m sure he was forced to) gave us all the safety nazi speech about speeding and drunk driving…which had at least one damn-it (not scripted I’m quite sure)in it. Quite the charismatic character.
There’s some bad info in the book. Grissom did not ‘freak out’ resulting in the loss of his capsule. If he had, he never would have flown again. The accident was eventually traced to a wiring error, which was no great surprise as it nearly blew off Glenn’s hand when *he* tried to fire the bolts on his capsule. His temper wasn’t all that bad, either. Certainly, he wasn’t responsible for the Apollo Fire.
My favorite test pilot is Yeager, of course. Did you guys know that he (A) never went to college (Last US General not to have done so!), (B) Became a combat ace on his *FIRST* mission in WWII and (C), the final two planes he shot down were done after he’d run out of ammo. He ’shot’ them down by maneuvering so deftly that they ran in to each other.
I heard Chuck Yeager killed a Bear using only his hands. He was also responsible for the development of the integrated circut. He also invented the Corney Dog.
Sam Shepherd was pretty cool in that movie. Dang……..anyway I saw him once at the Oshkosh Air Show Outlaw. Sort of waved at the crowd and then disappeared. That was the day they had a Sabre’ Jet and a Mig dog fighting (Korean War show down) freaking AWESOME! I mean it to. That was some cool stuff. When I got to Oshkosh my brothers house was at the end of the runway and as I pulled up, the B-1 bomber came flying over his house condensation rolling off its wing..GOD THAT WAS BEAUTIFUL!
Seriously though, looking on the Chuck Yeager wiki page HERE
one finds this little tidbit:
Stationed in the United Kingdom at RAF Leiston, Yeager flew P-51 Mustangs in combat (he named his aircraft Glamorous Glennis[3] after his girlfriend, Glennis Faye Dickhouse, who became his wife in February 1945) with the 363rd Fighter Squadron. He had gained one victory before he was shot down over France on his eighth mission, on March 5, 1944.
It goes on to state:
he distinguished himself by becoming the first pilot in his group to make “ace in a day”: he shot down five enemy aircraft in one mission, finishing the war with 11.5 official victories, including one of the first air-to-air victories over a jet fighter (a German Messerschmitt Me 262). Two of his “ace in a day” kills were scored without firing a single shot; he flew into firing position against a Messerschmitt Bf 109 and the pilot of the aircraft panicked, breaking to starboard and colliding with his wingman; Yeager later reported both pilots bailed out. An additional victory that was not officially counted for him came during the period before his combat status was reinstated: during a training flight in his P-51 over the North Sea, he happened on a German Junkers Ju 88 heavy fighter attacking a downed B-17 Flying Fortress crew.
Still great stuff, but not exactly as stated above.
Chuck Yeager wrote The Aneid. He also once destroyed an entire galaxy just by flexing his wrists.
Rufus: There wasn’t an air force in those days. If you flew, you were either a Naval Aviator, a Marine Aviator, or you were part of the United States Army Air Corps. Chuck was the latter.
I’ve read “The Right Stuff” four times and I still visit it occasionally. My favorite story is Yeager’s crash in the NF-104. He burns half his face off and takes half his pinky off his hand. Despite all this, he manages to find some kid after landing and chats it up with him while waiting for the rescue copter, calm as could be.
And Chuck Yeager doesn’t do a push-up – he pushes the Earth down.
“Pushing the Envelope” was a practice that doesn’t happen much anymore. There are so many rules and regulations to prevent this type of “individual hotdogging”, if you will. The old saying, “You’ve got to break a few eggs to make an omelet” doesn’t fly too much these days, because there’s going to be a lawyer (sorry Floyd) to meet you after your heroic effort, with a subpoena in hand, for your trashing of the rulebook.
Having a short personal history with Chuck Yeager has taught me that the man was a definite enigma. He broke some rules, yes. But he was creative about it, and for the most part the history, be it myth or fact, is on the plus side for the truth.
I love “The Right Stuff”, what a great movie!
Fantastic movie! Always loved it. I always felt an affinity for Chuck Yeager as he was my last base commander before I got out of the Air Force. He flew my plane many times. What a great guy he was. He always treated me as his personal mechanic instead of the usual “I’m a general and you’re just a Staff Sergeant” routine, like most other high ranking types would tend to do. Down to earth “real” human being!
Am I jealous, Fritz! My all-time favorite film, BTW! Loved the Yeager scenes the best. Especially near the end, where he’s walking in the desert, his face is burned, but he’s still chewing his Beemans.
Having loved the book, it was a little difficult for me at first to appreciate the movie on its own merits. Because I think it takes some of the themes discussed in the book and takes them completely over the top (the press for one).
In time though I have come to appreciate the film as well…great scene selection by the way.
I remember seeing Chuck Yeager open the air-show at Edwards AFB by breaking the sound barrier (again) in an F-15. He then landed and proceeded to the announcer’s stand where he welcomed everyone to the show and (I’m sure he was forced to) gave us all the safety nazi speech about speeding and drunk driving…which had at least one damn-it (not scripted I’m quite sure)in it. Quite the charismatic character.
There’s some bad info in the book. Grissom did not ‘freak out’ resulting in the loss of his capsule. If he had, he never would have flown again. The accident was eventually traced to a wiring error, which was no great surprise as it nearly blew off Glenn’s hand when *he* tried to fire the bolts on his capsule. His temper wasn’t all that bad, either. Certainly, he wasn’t responsible for the Apollo Fire.
My favorite test pilot is Yeager, of course. Did you guys know that he (A) never went to college (Last US General not to have done so!), (B) Became a combat ace on his *FIRST* mission in WWII and (C), the final two planes he shot down were done after he’d run out of ammo. He ’shot’ them down by maneuvering so deftly that they ran in to each other.
I heard Chuck Yeager killed a Bear using only his hands. He was also responsible for the development of the integrated circut. He also invented the Corney Dog.
Seriously, did you know Chuck Yeager designed the SR-71…by himself.
I also heard that Chuck Yeager splits atoms with his laser like eyesight.
I’m sure none of this sarcasm has to do with Yeager not being an Army aviator…
But he was an Army aviator…look it up.
Sam Shepherd was pretty cool in that movie. Dang……..anyway I saw him once at the Oshkosh Air Show Outlaw. Sort of waved at the crowd and then disappeared. That was the day they had a Sabre’ Jet and a Mig dog fighting (Korean War show down) freaking AWESOME! I mean it to. That was some cool stuff. When I got to Oshkosh my brothers house was at the end of the runway and as I pulled up, the B-1 bomber came flying over his house condensation rolling off its wing..GOD THAT WAS BEAUTIFUL!
Seriously though, looking on the Chuck Yeager wiki page HERE
one finds this little tidbit:
It goes on to state:
Still great stuff, but not exactly as stated above.
…and those fokkers were flying Messerschmitts…
Hey I raise you a Red Baron Rufus!
The Right Stuff is on TCM tonight, 10 EST, if anyone is interested.
Chuck Yeager wrote The Aneid. He also once destroyed an entire galaxy just by flexing his wrists.
Rufus: There wasn’t an air force in those days. If you flew, you were either a Naval Aviator, a Marine Aviator, or you were part of the United States Army Air Corps. Chuck was the latter.
The Air Force technically came into being in 1947, at which time most of the aviation and fliers were changed over to the USAF.
And they started building golf courses that happened to have runways nearby and called them Air Force Bases.
Hey, I’m not saying Air Force is any better than Army. I’m just giving history.
Rufus just likes saying Fokkers
I’ve read “The Right Stuff” four times and I still visit it occasionally. My favorite story is Yeager’s crash in the NF-104. He burns half his face off and takes half his pinky off his hand. Despite all this, he manages to find some kid after landing and chats it up with him while waiting for the rescue copter, calm as could be.
And Chuck Yeager doesn’t do a push-up – he pushes the Earth down.
“Pushing the Envelope” was a practice that doesn’t happen much anymore. There are so many rules and regulations to prevent this type of “individual hotdogging”, if you will. The old saying, “You’ve got to break a few eggs to make an omelet” doesn’t fly too much these days, because there’s going to be a lawyer (sorry Floyd) to meet you after your heroic effort, with a subpoena in hand, for your trashing of the rulebook.
Having a short personal history with Chuck Yeager has taught me that the man was a definite enigma. He broke some rules, yes. But he was creative about it, and for the most part the history, be it myth or fact, is on the plus side for the truth.