# Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier again on 65 anniversary. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 15, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-yeager-broke-the-sound-barrier-again-on-65-anniversary/637793 "2012-10-15T17:38:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-yeager-broke-the-sound-barrier-again-on-65-anniversary/637793/1 "2012-10-15T17:38:51Z")
I found the audio interview very interesting. This guy is 89 years old and still very, very sharp. Still knows his engineering. Yeager flying a F-15. That’s the _Right Stuff_! > **[Chuck Yeager retraces history in the sky, breaking the sound barrier – again...](https://www.cnn.com/2012/10/15/us/nevada-yeager-anniversary-flight/index.html?hpt=hp_c3)** > > Chuck Yeager retraced history in the skies – 65 years to the minute – as the first test pilot to break the sound barrier. > [@](#): > > Chuck Yeager retraced history on Sunday, 65 years to the minute, as the first test pilot to break the sound barrier, taking to the skies once again to fly faster than the speed of sound. > > The 89-year-old Yeager broke the sound barrier in a U.S. Air Force F-15 at 10:24 a.m. over the Mojave Desert, the same location where he first flew past Mach 1 on October 14, 1947, the military said in a statement. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-yeager-broke-the-sound-barrier-again-on-65-anniversary/637793/2 "2012-10-15T18:08:45Z")
That is awesome. Yeager is a living legend, and in my mind, a national treasure. To still be with us at 89 and to still be able to fly 65 years after his historic feat is nothing short of inspiring. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-yeager-broke-the-sound-barrier-again-on-65-anniversary/637793/3 "2012-10-15T19:58:39Z")
Very cool. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-yeager-broke-the-sound-barrier-again-on-65-anniversary/637793/4 "2012-10-15T20:13:09Z")
I don’t know if he still does it, but Yeager used to give a talk at the National Air & Space Museum every year at about this time. I went to the one in 1997. He played the audio recording of his flight in the X-1A when it went out of control at Mach 2.4. The flight is described [here](http://www.af.mil/shared/media/document/afd-080107-018.pdf), with transcript. (warning: PDF) ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-yeager-broke-the-sound-barrier-again-on-65-anniversary/637793/5 "2012-10-15T20:48:36Z")
Funny how (relatively) routine it is to break the sound barrier now. Yeager’s plane was loaded with rocket fuel, tied to the wing of a bomber, and carried aloft for release at a suitable altitude; the rocket engines of the [Glamorous Glennis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glamorous_Glennis) developed all of 6,000 pounds of thrust, with a total burn time of just under five minutes. Yesterday Yeager went aloft in an F-15 fighter aircraft. Each engine on this plane is capable of up to 25,000 pounds of thrust, and together they can propel it to Mach 2.5; when dialed back for cruise, the F-15 can cover 3400 miles before touching down. And the F-15 design is already 40 years old! ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-yeager-broke-the-sound-barrier-again-on-65-anniversary/637793/6 "2012-10-15T22:21:13Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Yeager’s plane was loaded with rocket fuel, tied to the wing of a bomber, and carried aloft for release at a suitable altitude; the rocket engines of the [Glamorous Glennis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glamorous_Glennis) developed all of 6,000 pounds of thrust, with a total burn time of just under five minutes. A slight nitpick: The X-1 was carried aloft under the fuselage of a B-29; partially, but not completely, in the bomb bay. ([picture](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Bell_X-1A_in_the_belly_of_a_B-29.jpg)) Yeager would be in the bomber during takeoff, then climb down to the X-1 after they were airborne. On the first supersonic flight, he sneaked a piece of a broom handle with him so he could use his left arm to close the hatch. He had a couple cracked ribs on his right side from a horse riding accident. I think they only moved to the under-wing placement when they got a B-52 to do the drops. The X-15 was carried that way; I’m not sure which other of the X-planes were. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-yeager-broke-the-sound-barrier-again-on-65-anniversary/637793/7 "2012-10-15T23:26:31Z")
Yeager started as an enlisted man and was a aircraft maintenance mechanic. The military started a program that allowed enlisted men to become pilots. From there he went on to become an officer and eventually a general. Quite a career. It’s a shame they didn’t keep the program for enlisted man pilots. Seems like a good idea. > [@](#): > > The opportunity for enlisted men to become pilots ended in late 1942 with the Flight Officer Act. This law replaced the program’s sergeant pilot rank with the warrant officer rank, which was also eventually done away with. Retired Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager, famous for breaking the sound barrier, was in the last class of the enlisted pilot program when it was replaced. The following year, all sergeant pilots received orders to be promoted to the new “Flight Officer” rank. [http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=31103853](http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=31103853) ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-yeager-broke-the-sound-barrier-again-on-65-anniversary/637793/8 "2012-10-16T01:13:02Z")
[Bob Hoover](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Hoover) was his backup and flew a chase plane in 1947. I think Hoover is a much more interesting figure in aviation history. Certainly more likable when you read each of their memoirs.