R.I.P. Chuck Yaeger

[Drago]

He's gone to the big dogfight in the sky, aged 97.

 

[sheddy]

The Right Stuff indeed.

 

[classic33]

Should have bought the farm more than once, but he didn't.

 

[PeteXXX]

I saw the film of him wrestling the controls as he was breaking the sound barrier!!
Scary stuff 🤯

 

[Cycleops]

He was a guinea pig for supersonic flight, he was entering the unknown. Nobody knew how an aircraft would react, in fact it made control very difficult as the airflow is no longer "sticking" to the surface, instead creating turbulence. Flow separation occurs at the trailing edge, exactly where the control surfaces tend to be. This means that instead of deflecting into smooth flow, they enter turbulence. This can cause buffeting in the controls, and makes the control surfaces much less effective hence him wrestling with the controls. It was found the solution is to make the elevators all moving which you find today on most fighter jets.

If anyone fancies making their own Bell X1 Revell make a nice 1:32 scale model complete with a figure of Chuck.
https://www.scalemodelnews.com/2019/08/chuck-yeagers-bell-x-1-supersonic.html

 

[Drago]

Indeed. One of the considerations was that Yaeger was deemed 'expendable', in the sense that if the worst were to happen he was not unique with his then skillset and experience and the programme could continue. I'm sure he knew that, and it took some cojones.

 

[classic33]

A "Single Day Ace", and the bartender in "The Right Stuff".