The Right Stuff
December 7, 2020 8:32 PM Subscribe
Chuck Yeager, arguably America's best pilot has died at the age of 97 “The fastest man alive,” “the guy with the right stuff,” “Mr. Supersonic,” Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager has been called a lot of things in his 80 [97] years, but none is more fitting than the title, “a true American.”
Despite a youth in the poverty-stricken backwoods of West Virginia, Yeager became a fighter ace, a legendary test pilot, a leader of men, and an icon for generations, all while doing what he loved: flying. His is an American story, one that inspires us and teaches us to always look to the skies.
As a kid, I wanted to be a pilot and an astronaut. For medical reasons, I never got close. I lived to read about the pilots with the "right stuff" . Chuck Yeager was an inspiration and dare I say a hero to me.
His NYT obit
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As a kid, I wanted to be a pilot and an astronaut. For medical reasons, I never got close. I lived to read about the pilots with the "right stuff" . Chuck Yeager was an inspiration and dare I say a hero to me.
His NYT obit
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97 is a good run. 97 after taking the kind of risks he took all in the name of expanding our knowledge and abilities... is sort of miraculous. I'm glad he was here -- the kind of hero we don't have too many of these days.
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posted by hippybear at 8:36 PM on December 7, 2020 [7 favorites]
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posted by hippybear at 8:36 PM on December 7, 2020 [7 favorites]
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posted by scottcal at 8:36 PM on December 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by scottcal at 8:36 PM on December 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by Going To Maine at 8:40 PM on December 7, 2020
posted by Going To Maine at 8:40 PM on December 7, 2020
I watched The Right Stuff at an impressionable age, and boy, did he make an impression. The daring hero brought down by a successor age, and not by any lack of skill. Me reading his memoirs in a closet by flashlight so my parents wouldn’t realize I hadn’t gone to bed. Reading those memoirs and questioning the values of war or even simple gun ownership, playing those questions against the portrayal by Sam Shepard I’d seen at the Tivoli Theatre, Chuck fighting broken ribs to force the latch shut with a broomhandle, Chuck walking away from flaming wreckage like a total badass, when his act itself was one of rebellion and desperation and futility.
Serious questions about narrative and injustice and self-honesty those weeks, a crucial part of growing up, and even if he didn’t intend it, all thanks to Chuck.
Godspeed. Thank you, sir.
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:56 PM on December 7, 2020 [31 favorites]
Serious questions about narrative and injustice and self-honesty those weeks, a crucial part of growing up, and even if he didn’t intend it, all thanks to Chuck.
Godspeed. Thank you, sir.
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:56 PM on December 7, 2020 [31 favorites]
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FUCK. Gonna go watch him break the sound barrier in The Right Stuff, and make sure you get up to 2 minutes where he starts to hallucinate. If you haven't watched The Right Stuff, the first 30 minutes or so is less like a movie or a biography, and more like a poem about human achievement and the glories of science, but also, FUCK.
The Right Stuff:
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:58 PM on December 7, 2020 [42 favorites]
FUCK. Gonna go watch him break the sound barrier in The Right Stuff, and make sure you get up to 2 minutes where he starts to hallucinate. If you haven't watched The Right Stuff, the first 30 minutes or so is less like a movie or a biography, and more like a poem about human achievement and the glories of science, but also, FUCK.
The Right Stuff:
There was a demon that lived in the air. They said whoever challenged him would die. Their controls would freeze up, their planes would buffet wildly, and they would disintegrate. The demon lived at Mach 1 on the meter, seven hundred and fifty miles an hour, where the air could no longer move out of the way. He lived behind a barrier through which they said no man could ever pass. They called it the sound barrier. Then, they built a small plane, the X1, to try and break the sound barrier. And men came to the High Desert in California to ride it. They were called test pilots. And no one knew their names.Chuck Yeager killed the demon.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:58 PM on December 7, 2020 [42 favorites]
*quietly gestures at user name*
Also: I learned today that there is a full-ride scholarship to Marshall University named for Chuck Yeager. From Justin McElroy's twitter:
Also: I learned today that there is a full-ride scholarship to Marshall University named for Chuck Yeager. From Justin McElroy's twitter:
Chuck Yeager was a West Virginian and @sydneemcelroy received a scholarship that was named after him. Every year the Yeager Scholars would have a banquet and Chuck Yeager would show up without fail.posted by The demon that lives in the air at 9:03 PM on December 7, 2020 [57 favorites]
Every year, he would show up in a windbreaker and then take stage and announce “Now we’re gonna watch a movie about me.” We would then, in fact, watch a short film about Chuck Yeager. Anyway, that’s my anecdote.
What I recall from The Right Stuff (which I see at the selfsame Tivoli theatre as Capt. Renault) was Yeager’s strained relationship with the Mercury 7. Given some of the insanely dangerous stuff he did, I am surprised he outlived them all.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:05 PM on December 7, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:05 PM on December 7, 2020 [4 favorites]
.posted by JoeXIII007 at 9:13 PM on December 7, 2020
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posted by oneswellfoop at 9:24 PM on December 7, 2020
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:24 PM on December 7, 2020
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posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 9:35 PM on December 7, 2020
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 9:35 PM on December 7, 2020
Chuck Yeager lived near where I live. Which means his ugly family business was a local paper story. Chuck Yeager is in love. Three of his kids doubt his new wife, who's half his age, is made of the right stuff. They're suing. Chuck Yeager and Family Near a Deal. A Test Pilot's Family Crashes and Burns.
All a decade old now, and I'm not entirely sure how that turned out except that I'll note the despised much-younger wife is the one who signed the tweet announcing his death. For her part, her Twitter account is full of tweets and retweets supporting President Trump's attempt current at an autocoup overturning the election.
Real people are hot messes, y'all.
posted by Nelson at 10:03 PM on December 7, 2020 [20 favorites]
All a decade old now, and I'm not entirely sure how that turned out except that I'll note the despised much-younger wife is the one who signed the tweet announcing his death. For her part, her Twitter account is full of tweets and retweets supporting President Trump's attempt current at an autocoup overturning the election.
Real people are hot messes, y'all.
posted by Nelson at 10:03 PM on December 7, 2020 [20 favorites]
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posted by brambleboy at 10:05 PM on December 7, 2020
posted by brambleboy at 10:05 PM on December 7, 2020
My father worked with a man named Chuck Yeager. As a kid, whenever I’d hear something about the famous pilot Chuck Yeager, I thought they were talking about Dad’s colleague. I’d think, wow, what a life he must have had before he came to work at the power plant!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:21 PM on December 7, 2020 [19 favorites]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:21 PM on December 7, 2020 [19 favorites]
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posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 10:31 PM on December 7, 2020
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 10:31 PM on December 7, 2020
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
posted by chavenet at 12:48 AM on December 8, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by chavenet at 12:48 AM on December 8, 2020 [5 favorites]
Chuck Yeager was born in 1923 in rural West Virginia. It should not surprise anyone that he had a long, documented history of racism and misogyny. It should disappoint everyone that over 7-plus decades as a conscious adult, he never apologized for or demonstrated any change in these views.
No dot. No respect.
Definitely seems like a case of right place, right time, right gender, and right color of skin, rather than Right Stuff.
Woody Allen is 85. Bill Cosby is 83. Henry Kissinger is still alive at 97! Are we going to give them all flattering tributes as well?
posted by Anoplura at 1:11 AM on December 8, 2020 [33 favorites]
No dot. No respect.
Definitely seems like a case of right place, right time, right gender, and right color of skin, rather than Right Stuff.
Woody Allen is 85. Bill Cosby is 83. Henry Kissinger is still alive at 97! Are we going to give them all flattering tributes as well?
posted by Anoplura at 1:11 AM on December 8, 2020 [33 favorites]
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posted by Harvey Kilobit at 2:17 AM on December 8, 2020
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 2:17 AM on December 8, 2020
Tip of the hat to Anoplura.
posted by ivanthenotsoterrible at 3:29 AM on December 8, 2020
posted by ivanthenotsoterrible at 3:29 AM on December 8, 2020
Chuck Yeager was born in 1923 in rural West Virginia. It should not surprise anyone that he had a long, documented history of racism and misogyny.
Might want to take a moment and check your own biases.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 4:07 AM on December 8, 2020 [22 favorites]
Might want to take a moment and check your own biases.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 4:07 AM on December 8, 2020 [22 favorites]
Thanks Anoplura. I'd also like to ask that we think about the racism and misogyny that lurks in saying that Yeager's most fitting title is "a true American."
posted by medusa at 4:17 AM on December 8, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by medusa at 4:17 AM on December 8, 2020 [5 favorites]
Also the reason that so many commercial airline pilots of that generation do their voiceover for the passengers in that odd, difficult-to-place, not-quite-Southern accent.
posted by gimonca at 4:36 AM on December 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by gimonca at 4:36 AM on December 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
The story of how he almost died, but pulled himself out of it by being calm, cool, analytical, and intuitive, is my go-to inspiration for when the odds are insurmountable and the stakes are ultimate.
He was test-piloting an experimental aircraft, and it went into an accelerating fall, with the craft spinning on all three axises, pitch, roll, and yaw. He composed himself, and one by one, stopped the directions of spin, each after the other. You might say no other man could do that, but he did, so that means it's always a possibility to regain control.
posted by StickyCarpet at 4:43 AM on December 8, 2020 [5 favorites]
He was test-piloting an experimental aircraft, and it went into an accelerating fall, with the craft spinning on all three axises, pitch, roll, and yaw. He composed himself, and one by one, stopped the directions of spin, each after the other. You might say no other man could do that, but he did, so that means it's always a possibility to regain control.
posted by StickyCarpet at 4:43 AM on December 8, 2020 [5 favorites]
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Farewell my hero. I've read about him when I was maybe 11 years old and he was an inspiration ever since.
posted by hat_eater at 5:02 AM on December 8, 2020
Farewell my hero. I've read about him when I was maybe 11 years old and he was an inspiration ever since.
posted by hat_eater at 5:02 AM on December 8, 2020
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posted by octothorpe at 5:09 AM on December 8, 2020
posted by octothorpe at 5:09 AM on December 8, 2020
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I am not sure if it was Tom Wolfe or somebody writing later that pointed out just how many pilots wanted - and I assume still want - to sound like Chuck Yeager when they spoke to passengers on the intercom - which is to say: precise, wry, self-deprecating and utterly unflappable. Certainly as a passenger: that's how I'd like my pilot to sound.
(Link is to an amazing interview from 1968).
posted by rongorongo at 5:45 AM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
I am not sure if it was Tom Wolfe or somebody writing later that pointed out just how many pilots wanted - and I assume still want - to sound like Chuck Yeager when they spoke to passengers on the intercom - which is to say: precise, wry, self-deprecating and utterly unflappable. Certainly as a passenger: that's how I'd like my pilot to sound.
(Link is to an amazing interview from 1968).
posted by rongorongo at 5:45 AM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
Ed Dwight had the right stuff, and Chuck Yeager made sure that Dwight never had the chance to slip his surly bonds.
posted by gladly at 6:25 AM on December 8, 2020 [21 favorites]
posted by gladly at 6:25 AM on December 8, 2020 [21 favorites]
From a recounting of when Yeager had to bail out:
"I started assisting him the short distance to the chopper, when he suddenly turned and said he wanted his kneeboard (used for test notes by the pilots) then he said he had taken it off and placed under the windshield before he bailed out. I tried to dissuade him, but couldn’t and sure enough it was right where he said. He didn’t have to climb, just step up and reach in without any landing gear between belly and ground. His having that recall of his actions at such a moment was a memory I have never forgotten, because it characterized Chuck Yeager under duress."
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posted by Fukiyama at 7:34 AM on December 8, 2020 [3 favorites]
"I started assisting him the short distance to the chopper, when he suddenly turned and said he wanted his kneeboard (used for test notes by the pilots) then he said he had taken it off and placed under the windshield before he bailed out. I tried to dissuade him, but couldn’t and sure enough it was right where he said. He didn’t have to climb, just step up and reach in without any landing gear between belly and ground. His having that recall of his actions at such a moment was a memory I have never forgotten, because it characterized Chuck Yeager under duress."
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posted by Fukiyama at 7:34 AM on December 8, 2020 [3 favorites]
Chuck Yeager made sure that Dwight never had the chance to slip his surly bonds.
For the record, there is another side to the story. Yeager discusses the matter in his autobiography. (He also praises other Black pilots with whom he flew in 1950s, men like Emmett Hatch and Eddie Levelle, neither of whom applied for the space program.) Can't testify, myself, but for today at least, De mortuis and all that.
posted by BWA at 7:38 AM on December 8, 2020 [3 favorites]
For the record, there is another side to the story. Yeager discusses the matter in his autobiography. (He also praises other Black pilots with whom he flew in 1950s, men like Emmett Hatch and Eddie Levelle, neither of whom applied for the space program.) Can't testify, myself, but for today at least, De mortuis and all that.
posted by BWA at 7:38 AM on December 8, 2020 [3 favorites]
He was a God who strode across the Earth. May he rest in piece.
posted by Beholder at 8:03 AM on December 8, 2020
posted by Beholder at 8:03 AM on December 8, 2020
Chuck Yeager - hell of a pilot, the man that astronauts looked up to, but also a racist and arch-conservative.
Is there some sort of unicode glyph for half a period?
posted by thecjm at 8:10 AM on December 8, 2020 [3 favorites]
Is there some sort of unicode glyph for half a period?
posted by thecjm at 8:10 AM on December 8, 2020 [3 favorites]
rongorongo - Here's the Tom Wolfe passage you're thinking of.
posted by thecjm at 8:13 AM on December 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by thecjm at 8:13 AM on December 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
Learned of his iconic status and tales of his test pilot daring-do when my grandfather (himself a WWII pilot, though he flew over the Himlayas) would watch AC Delco commericals with a certain reverence. Dad loved taking me to air shows as a kid, where his deified status was reinforced.
But I never quite got wrapped up in all of that as a young boy, probably for two reasons: I was already in love with sports, and Mom had already, quite remarkably, got me to think about aviation more in terms of culture and geography, rather than technology and bravery. I don't know what stroke of genius motivated her put airline route maps up in the bathroom of our house, but every day I would imagine new routes from city A to city B. All those red lines converging on hub cities just made me feel the gravity of these big cities -- a gravity that eclipsed any fascination I might have for the latest plane or bravest pilot. Growing up in the boonies, this made a huge impression on me.
That said, I always appreciated the technical side of aviation and, certainly, the bravery and heroism of pilots like Yeager. A year or two ago, amidst the onslaught of fake-strength babbling that somehow found its way into the White House, while at the library I noticed a Yeager autobiography, and snatched it up -- Yeager's accomplishments are definitely an antidote to the incessant posturing of 45. And it was a satisfying read in that regard. (His story of bailing out in France during WWII... wow.)
But the most lasting legacy of Yeager for me will be another quirky, personal reason: a couple months after I read the biography, my son told me about a project he was doing for 4th grade. Pick a inventor/pioneer from a prepared list, do some research on the person, create a presentation. He picked Chuck Yeager. I had never talked about him to my son, never showed him the book. Never said "Hey check this out", watched any videos or anything. He had seen my book lying around, gotten curious, and pursued that curiosity on his own, to the point where he wanted to do a project on it. Needless to say, we've queued up a nice selection of aviation/space books since then.
posted by Theophrastus Johnson at 8:31 AM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
But I never quite got wrapped up in all of that as a young boy, probably for two reasons: I was already in love with sports, and Mom had already, quite remarkably, got me to think about aviation more in terms of culture and geography, rather than technology and bravery. I don't know what stroke of genius motivated her put airline route maps up in the bathroom of our house, but every day I would imagine new routes from city A to city B. All those red lines converging on hub cities just made me feel the gravity of these big cities -- a gravity that eclipsed any fascination I might have for the latest plane or bravest pilot. Growing up in the boonies, this made a huge impression on me.
That said, I always appreciated the technical side of aviation and, certainly, the bravery and heroism of pilots like Yeager. A year or two ago, amidst the onslaught of fake-strength babbling that somehow found its way into the White House, while at the library I noticed a Yeager autobiography, and snatched it up -- Yeager's accomplishments are definitely an antidote to the incessant posturing of 45. And it was a satisfying read in that regard. (His story of bailing out in France during WWII... wow.)
But the most lasting legacy of Yeager for me will be another quirky, personal reason: a couple months after I read the biography, my son told me about a project he was doing for 4th grade. Pick a inventor/pioneer from a prepared list, do some research on the person, create a presentation. He picked Chuck Yeager. I had never talked about him to my son, never showed him the book. Never said "Hey check this out", watched any videos or anything. He had seen my book lying around, gotten curious, and pursued that curiosity on his own, to the point where he wanted to do a project on it. Needless to say, we've queued up a nice selection of aviation/space books since then.
posted by Theophrastus Johnson at 8:31 AM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by vibrotronica at 8:53 AM on December 8, 2020
posted by vibrotronica at 8:53 AM on December 8, 2020
My dad (who, in his retirement, has become a sculptor) met Chuck Yeager a few times over the last 10-15 years at various art shows and other events. They talked about my dad doing a life-sized sculpture of Yeager for a dedication of some center or something like that, but his wife was in charge of any business or publicity deals, and her terms were totally unreasonable, she wanted my dad to do all sorts of work without any guarantee of pay, so it fell apart.
Here's a funny bit about her past that makes her sound like a real class act (although it's from The Sun, so not exactly world-class journalism):
"But work was tough, and Victoria tried to further her career by sneaking into Hollywood parties, hoping to make contacts.
In a 1998 Los Angeles Times article she was referred to as "Queen of the Wannabes".
With no acting prospects, Victoria allegedly made a living filing small-claims suits.
Court records show more than 30 cases filed by and against her from 1988 to 1998, including claims against airlines for losing her luggage and against a phone company for having static on the line."
posted by Saxon Kane at 8:59 AM on December 8, 2020
Here's a funny bit about her past that makes her sound like a real class act (although it's from The Sun, so not exactly world-class journalism):
"But work was tough, and Victoria tried to further her career by sneaking into Hollywood parties, hoping to make contacts.
In a 1998 Los Angeles Times article she was referred to as "Queen of the Wannabes".
With no acting prospects, Victoria allegedly made a living filing small-claims suits.
Court records show more than 30 cases filed by and against her from 1988 to 1998, including claims against airlines for losing her luggage and against a phone company for having static on the line."
posted by Saxon Kane at 8:59 AM on December 8, 2020
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posted by oozy rat in a sanitary zoo at 9:17 AM on December 8, 2020
posted by oozy rat in a sanitary zoo at 9:17 AM on December 8, 2020
It should not surprise anyone that he had a long, documented history of racism and misogyny.
I have no issue with addressing this in a memorial thread but if it’s what you want to contribute it would be helpful to include the documentation.
I do know that he’s been accused of impeding Ed Dwight’s career. And it wouldn’t surprise me if he had, you know, “old-fashioned attitudes” about women - also wouldn’t be surprised if he was a Republican on Twitter but we already know his wife is, too. That’s all I know, though.
posted by atoxyl at 9:20 AM on December 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
I have no issue with addressing this in a memorial thread but if it’s what you want to contribute it would be helpful to include the documentation.
I do know that he’s been accused of impeding Ed Dwight’s career. And it wouldn’t surprise me if he had, you know, “old-fashioned attitudes” about women - also wouldn’t be surprised if he was a Republican on Twitter but we already know his wife is, too. That’s all I know, though.
posted by atoxyl at 9:20 AM on December 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
Woody Allen is 85. Bill Cosby is 83. Henry Kissinger is still alive at 97! Are we going to give them all flattering tributes as well?
Also at least 2/3 of those feel like pretty weird comparisons.
posted by atoxyl at 9:38 AM on December 8, 2020 [4 favorites]
Also at least 2/3 of those feel like pretty weird comparisons.
posted by atoxyl at 9:38 AM on December 8, 2020 [4 favorites]
Yaeger shot down a bunch of Nazi planes too.
Like most people, a land of contrasts.
posted by Sauce Trough at 9:41 AM on December 8, 2020 [3 favorites]
Like most people, a land of contrasts.
posted by Sauce Trough at 9:41 AM on December 8, 2020 [3 favorites]
He put his name on a flight simulator game for the PC way back in the day. I think it was the only simulator I really liked, because it was the only one that just let you fly the damn planes and not fuck around too much with being as Flight Simulator perfect as possible. This was a really, really long time ago...
Seems like there's stuff he should have apologized for and didn't, and now that can't ever be erased.
posted by seanmpuckett at 10:00 AM on December 8, 2020 [4 favorites]
Seems like there's stuff he should have apologized for and didn't, and now that can't ever be erased.
posted by seanmpuckett at 10:00 AM on December 8, 2020 [4 favorites]
He put his name on a flight simulator game for the PC way back in the day
“Chuck Yeager’s Advanced Flight Trainer.” First video game I ever played (my dad had it in his office). I think I know where the disk is still.
posted by atoxyl at 10:03 AM on December 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
“Chuck Yeager’s Advanced Flight Trainer.” First video game I ever played (my dad had it in his office). I think I know where the disk is still.
posted by atoxyl at 10:03 AM on December 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
Woody Allen is 85. Bill Cosby is 83. Henry Kissinger is still alive at 97! Are we going to give them all flattering tributes as well?
This seems pretty disingenuous. Those men didn't just have regressive views on gender or race: Kissinger committed war crimes, Cosby is a convicted sex offender, and Allen has a host of sexual abuse allegations against him.
posted by star gentle uterus at 10:13 AM on December 8, 2020 [14 favorites]
This seems pretty disingenuous. Those men didn't just have regressive views on gender or race: Kissinger committed war crimes, Cosby is a convicted sex offender, and Allen has a host of sexual abuse allegations against him.
posted by star gentle uterus at 10:13 AM on December 8, 2020 [14 favorites]
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Yeager definitely had many problematic beliefs and he was about as toxically masculine as you can get. I don't believe he was a war criminal, serial rapist or pedophile. Wow, Mefi, you really just made me type that.
He was absolutely insane in the cockpit and if it weren't for lunatics like him we'd likely not have a space program. His biography is a great read. I remember a quote, probably from The Right Stuff, where someone described Yeager as hating hippies and whenever one gave him the peace sign Yeager would give them half a peace sign back. I'm sure you can figure out which finger they were referring to.
posted by photoslob at 10:32 AM on December 8, 2020 [9 favorites]
Yeager definitely had many problematic beliefs and he was about as toxically masculine as you can get. I don't believe he was a war criminal, serial rapist or pedophile. Wow, Mefi, you really just made me type that.
He was absolutely insane in the cockpit and if it weren't for lunatics like him we'd likely not have a space program. His biography is a great read. I remember a quote, probably from The Right Stuff, where someone described Yeager as hating hippies and whenever one gave him the peace sign Yeager would give them half a peace sign back. I'm sure you can figure out which finger they were referring to.
posted by photoslob at 10:32 AM on December 8, 2020 [9 favorites]
"Might want to check your own biases"
Chuck Yeager kept Ed Dwight from becoming the first black astronaut.
posted by jchack at 10:57 AM on December 8, 2020 [3 favorites]
Chuck Yeager kept Ed Dwight from becoming the first black astronaut.
posted by jchack at 10:57 AM on December 8, 2020 [3 favorites]
"Might want to check your own biases"
That was in response to the line that read like “of course he was racist, he was born in rural West Virginia.”
posted by atoxyl at 11:05 AM on December 8, 2020 [12 favorites]
That was in response to the line that read like “of course he was racist, he was born in rural West Virginia.”
posted by atoxyl at 11:05 AM on December 8, 2020 [12 favorites]
On the reddit thread there are a few personal encounters, like this one about a black kid who was told Blacks don't belong anywhere near a cockpit.
posted by phliar at 11:08 AM on December 8, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by phliar at 11:08 AM on December 8, 2020 [5 favorites]
That time when Chuck Yeager's face was on fire. He ejected after losing control of a NF-104 during a test flight. From The Right Stuff"
"In this infinitely expanded few seconds the lines stream out and Yeager and the rocket seat and the glowing red socket sail through the air together… and now the seat is drifting above him… into the chute lines!… The seat is nestled in the chute lines… dribbling lava out of the socket… eating through the lines… An infinite second… He’s jerked up by the shoulders… it’s the chute opening and the canopy filling… in that very instant the lava – it smashes into the visor of his helmet… Something slices through his left eye… He’s knocked silly… He can’t see a goddamned thing… The burning snaps him to… His left eye is gushing blood… It’s pouring down inside the lid and down his face and his face is on fire… Jesus Christ!… the seat rig… The jerk of the parachute had suddenly slowed his speed, but the seat kept falling… It had fallen out of the chute lines and the butt end crashed into his visor… 180 pounds of metal… a double layer visor.. the goddamned thing has smashed through both layers… He’s burning!… There’s rocket lava inside the helmet… The seat has fallen away… He can’t see… blood pouring out of his left eye and there’s smoke inside the helmet… Rubber!…posted by kirkaracha at 11:14 AM on December 8, 2020
It’s the seal between the helmet and the pressure suit… It’s burning up… The propellant won’t quit… A tremendous whoosh… He can feel the rush… he can even hear it… The whole left side of his helmet is full of flames… A sheet of flame goes up his neck and the side of his face… The oxygen!… The propellant has burned through the rubber seal, setting off the pressure suit’s automatic oxygen system… The integrity of the circuit has been violated and it rushes oxygen to the helmet, to the pilot’s face… A hundred percent oxygen! Christ!… It turns the lava into an inferno… Everything that can burn is on fire… everything else is melting… Even with the hole smashed in the visor the helmet is full of smoke… He’s choking… blinded… The left side of his head is on fire… He’s suffocating… He brings up his left hand… He has on pressure-suit gloves locked and taped to the sleeve… He jams his in through the hole in the visor and tries to create and air scoop with it to bring air to his mouth… The flames… They’re all over it… They go to work on his glove where it touches his face… They devour it!… His index finger is burning up… His goddamned finger is burning!… But he doesn’t move it… Get some air!… Nothing else matters… He’s gulping smoke… He has to get the visor open… It’s twisted… He’s encased in a little broken globe dying in a cloud of his own fried flesh… The stench of it!… rubber and human hide… He has to get the visor open… It’s that or nothing, no two ways about it… It’s smashed all to hell… He jams both hands underneath… It’s a tremendous effort… It lifts… Salvation!…"
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posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:28 AM on December 8, 2020
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:28 AM on December 8, 2020
Hell. You ever drop a period on someone's obituary post in Metafilter and then notice the commentary on their bigotry?
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:32 AM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:32 AM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
Hell. You ever drop a period on someone's obituary post in Metafilter and then notice the commentary on their bigotry?
I take it as a given that every obit thread now will have a bunch of comments on how every person did or believed something problematic because there’s always going to be someone who wants to drop a knowledge bomb. That’s just kind of the deal now, and maybe it always has been. The . is, I think, more for your idea of the person than anything the person actually was. That’s just me, though.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:47 AM on December 8, 2020 [8 favorites]
I take it as a given that every obit thread now will have a bunch of comments on how every person did or believed something problematic because there’s always going to be someone who wants to drop a knowledge bomb. That’s just kind of the deal now, and maybe it always has been. The . is, I think, more for your idea of the person than anything the person actually was. That’s just me, though.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:47 AM on December 8, 2020 [8 favorites]
For the record, there is another side to the story
Um, if that link is supposed to convince folks that Yeager *didn't* unfairly target Ed Dwight, it doesn't quite do what you seem to think it does.
posted by mediareport at 11:49 AM on December 8, 2020 [3 favorites]
Um, if that link is supposed to convince folks that Yeager *didn't* unfairly target Ed Dwight, it doesn't quite do what you seem to think it does.
posted by mediareport at 11:49 AM on December 8, 2020 [3 favorites]
I think it's extremely important to point out that damn near any white male American in any position of power in the 17th-20th centuries likely held beliefs that are widely seen as problematic at best and downright terrible and maybe even deadly at worst. History is full of powerful men who's views were not controversial during their day but when viewed in the rear view it's obvious they were monsters. I have absolutely no issue with pointing out that Yeager was a racist and a misogynist while also acknowledging his part in making the space program in the US a reality.
It's one of the reasons IMO obits on Mefi probably ought to be paused while a framework is developed to make sure the terrible things people do in life are acknowledged in death.
posted by photoslob at 12:23 PM on December 8, 2020
It's one of the reasons IMO obits on Mefi probably ought to be paused while a framework is developed to make sure the terrible things people do in life are acknowledged in death.
posted by photoslob at 12:23 PM on December 8, 2020
Well, a space program for white astronauts a reality.
posted by Nelson at 12:26 PM on December 8, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Nelson at 12:26 PM on December 8, 2020 [3 favorites]
Also the reason that so many commercial airline pilots of that generation do their voiceover for the passengers in that odd, difficult-to-place, not-quite-Southern accent.
Brian Shul remarks on this voice in his wonderful and classic “speed check” story, about halfway down the page here.
Anyway, I maintain that Bob Hoover was Yeager's better - see his 2016 obit thread.
posted by exogenous at 12:28 PM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
Brian Shul remarks on this voice in his wonderful and classic “speed check” story, about halfway down the page here.
Anyway, I maintain that Bob Hoover was Yeager's better - see his 2016 obit thread.
posted by exogenous at 12:28 PM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
there’s always going to be someone who wants to drop a knowledge bomb. That’s just kind of the deal now, and maybe it always has been
Pretty sure it has been for a long time, here, and I don’t really mind. I’m not a big fan, though, of the specific technique of saying, basically, “everybody knows this guy was a piece of shit” without referencing either public documentation or personal experience. Bring the knowledge if you’re going to drop the bombs.
posted by atoxyl at 12:43 PM on December 8, 2020 [7 favorites]
Pretty sure it has been for a long time, here, and I don’t really mind. I’m not a big fan, though, of the specific technique of saying, basically, “everybody knows this guy was a piece of shit” without referencing either public documentation or personal experience. Bring the knowledge if you’re going to drop the bombs.
posted by atoxyl at 12:43 PM on December 8, 2020 [7 favorites]
Yeager definitely had many problematic beliefs and he was about as toxically masculine as you can get.
In Yeager's case, it's not just a case of what he believed. He also actively discriminated against Black pilots to make sure they didn't advance into the space program. On a hero's death, I think it's more than fair to acknowledge and mourn the achievements of the men he prevented from becoming heroes in their own right.
posted by gladly at 2:28 PM on December 8, 2020 [6 favorites]
In Yeager's case, it's not just a case of what he believed. He also actively discriminated against Black pilots to make sure they didn't advance into the space program. On a hero's death, I think it's more than fair to acknowledge and mourn the achievements of the men he prevented from becoming heroes in their own right.
posted by gladly at 2:28 PM on December 8, 2020 [6 favorites]
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posted by doctornemo at 6:12 PM on December 8, 2020
posted by doctornemo at 6:12 PM on December 8, 2020
In elementary school, I was assigned to write a report on an explorer. I tried to justify to my 4th grade teacher that Yeager had explored a new regime of flight (I grew up around aviation, so, these were just Things You Knew), but she wasn't having it and I ended up writing about Armstrong instead.
Sad to hear that he and his wife were not particularly nice people. Never meet your heroes I guess.
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posted by Alterscape at 8:20 PM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
Sad to hear that he and his wife were not particularly nice people. Never meet your heroes I guess.
.
posted by Alterscape at 8:20 PM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
I remember first reading about Yeager and the X-1 in elementary school. There was a book in the library that had the story of breaking the sound barrier and told it in the hagiographic terms expected of a book like that aimed at elementary aged kids circa 1970. I have long since forgotten the title of that book; I think the cover was bright orange, but may be conflating it with the paint job on the Glamorous Glennis. Anyway, for several years afterwards I was convinced I wanted to be a test pilot. (I also had some cousins named Yeager and so convinced myself he was a distant relative.) Eventually my interest in biology (and skepticism of the military) won out and I ended up in medicine instead. The NF104 website linked by Fukiyama in his comment above is really interesting. The story of using a modified F-104 to probe the edge of space is interesting in its own right, but he clearly is not a big fan of Yeager. I can’t vouch for the accuracy of his recollections, but he clearly considers Yeager a golden child whose career was protected by the top brass to the detriment of both other careers and the test pilot program itself.
posted by TedW at 8:17 AM on December 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by TedW at 8:17 AM on December 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by hap_hazard at 11:38 AM on December 9, 2020
posted by hap_hazard at 11:38 AM on December 9, 2020
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