Yeager's Anniversary Mach Flight

[sierra bravo]

All eyes were on Felix Baumgartner's freefall but another pretty cool flight took place yesterday, too. 65 years after he was the first ever to do it Gen. Yeager exceeds mach again. Bravo.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/15/us/nevada-yeager-anniversary-flight/index.html?hpt=hp_c3

 

[spinner2]

I thought that was a remarkable coincidence too.

I saw Yeager a couple of years ago at the Safari Club show in Reno. He was still interested in guns and hunting. Guns, hunting and airplanes. That sounds like a combination many SC.org guys & gals are fond of.

 

[HydroCub]

All eyes were on Felix Baumgartner's freefall but another pretty cool flight took place yesterday, too. 65 years after he was the first ever to do it Gen. Yeager exceeds mach again. Bravo.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/15/us/nevada-yeager-anniversary-flight/index.html?hpt=hp_c3

Yeager was the first to exceed Mach 1 in level flight..... it had been done many times before in a descent by a test pilot in a North American F-86.

 

[TulBiplane]

Huh? The F-86 didn't make it's first flight until Oct 1, 1947. That was 14 days before Yeager did his famous flight. Not disagreeing with you, just amazed how quickly they must have expanded the flight test envelope on the -86.

 

[HydroCub]

Huh? The F-86 didn't make it's first flight until Oct 1, 1947. That was 14 days before Yeager did his famous flight. Not disagreeing with you, just amazed how quickly they must have expanded the flight test envelope on the -86.

Actually, they were flying the XP-86.....

http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/mach.html

http://usfighter.tripod.com/f86.htm


I used to fly with a retired USAF Colonel (Korea thru post-Viet Nam era) who knew Yeager and Welch. He flew the P-51, then F-86 in combat, including downing a couple Migs with the F-86. He wasn't the type to hype, but he did speak of the "official" Yeager flight vs the evidence of the "booms" that Welch made when testing the XP-86. He flew several AF jets thru the F-4 in Viet Nam combat.... plus checked out in Navy carriers during a joint program. He always said the F-86 was his favorite "pilot's" fighter jet.