European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 29, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse Right stuff for an autobiography by Walter Hennessey new York Bureau Chuck Yeager is off on a new this time it int shooting Down five pcs scr Schmitt me109 fighters in one Day or breaking the sound or just Plain hell All of which he has excelled this time he is flying in really foreign air space a National Book tour promoting his jus published Auto i it tells All about How a farm boy from the Hills of West Virginia wound up becoming so famous that Hes known every president of the United states since Harry Over he Charles Chuck Yeager has been on the cover of received a peacetime medal of and raked in a stack of other prestigious Decora who retired As a brigadier general from the air Force in 1975 after 34 years of began his boo Selling venture in new York the other Day and his first interview went to the stars and a paper in which his name has been popping up for More than 40 it was and he was fresh and Dapper in a Blue red tie and Gray trousers As he greeted his first questioner in his suite on the 32nd floor of a Man Hattan shoot do i Call you general or Chuck Call me anything you when did you last Fly an air Force Jet at he remains a showpiece for the air and is As might be his Southern Cowkey yet pleasantly just dont let him get in Back of you in a As his closest Clarence Bud who flew p51 Mustang fighters with Yeager in world War puts it Chuck never missed when he fired his if the enemy was he got it should be added that Anderson was no Slouch he shot Down 17 German to initiate his Book Yeager want piloting a he was a passenger on a commercial flight from he will be piloting a Piper Cheyenne to most of the other cities on the Yeager Book was co written with Leo a for Mer time correspondent who covered the Apollo space a Book of the month club main it is being published by Bantam books at excerpts Are in the july Issue of since the publication of Tom wolfes the right stuff a couple of years a Book which sold Over a million copies and was made into a movie in which actor Sam Shepard played the Exgene ral has been enjoying a new wave of but he Doest much like it when people come up to him and ask one of the most famous combat and test pilots in the history of the air Force if he thinks he has the right the question annoys he because it implies that a Guy who has the right stuff was born that i was born with unusually Good eyes vision and i was mechanically oriented and understand machines my nature was to stay Cool in tight is that the right stuff All i know is that i worked my Tail off to learn How to and worked hard All the and in the the one big reason Why i was better than average As a Pilot was because i flew More than anybody if there is such a thing As the right stuff in then it is i dont deny that i was damned if there is such a thing As the i was at least one of the title fresh out of High and with no joined the service at 18 and trained to be come an aircraft he recalls throwing up All Over the Back seat on his first plane Little did he dream then that he would go on to log More than hours in the Pilot 180 different types of aircraft and become a War hero As Well As a Pioneer on the Edge of risking his neck in such experimental Craft As the Bell in which he became the first Pilot to exceed the Speed of the of was not your usual it was a flying 31 feet Long with a 22foot and loaded with 600 Gallons of mostly liquid nothing you would want to be dropped from the belly of a b29 but something Yeager did Over what is now Edwards Back in the late in those Many thought the so called sound bar Rier was like a Brick Wall in the the civilian test Pilot on the project backed demanding a Yeager took the Job at his regular captains pay a month piloting the Orange beast 33 on his ninth powered he was dropped from the b29 at feet and the Al shot upward in a climb recorded at Mach 700 Mph sending the first sonic Boom to the ears of ground Lings cheering his historic later he would Fly As fast As Mach in the sr71 Lockheed the real Barrier want in the but in our knowl Edge and experience of supersonic says who broke the sound Barrier a Day after he also broke a couple of ribs in a fall off a he kept his Mouth shut about the busted ribs because he didst want the flight to be Yeager eventually flew the Al to Mach 957 the which he had named after his the Mother of his four is unofficially called the glamorous it is now in the smithsonian institution in the Success of the Al led to still More daring experiments in the Al a Craft which Yeager would Fly four coming within seconds of death on after being dropped from a b50 bomber at then a and making a few Bucks More a blasted off in the Al a to a height of and went into a dive at Mach Mph which was the fastest anyone had Ever but he lost control of the plane As it accelerated to Mach and went into a spin that had it rotating on All three axes an impossible situation for any the ship flipped into a Normal spin at and i knew How to get out of Yeager he regained control at in the Harrow ing moments prior to the plane had spun Down Page 14 Chuck Yeager Center with his p51 Mustang ground the stars and stripes two by Bantam books feet in just 51 was he scared everyone has a natural fear of Yeager but you dont take foolish risks in you like you dont stick out your you take every precaution and study everything you can get your hands on before you test an i lost Many friends in the flight testing but it was the Only Way we could get the data we Yeager went on to explain that As a Pilot you dont look at fatalities in planes As being associated with your in other its just something that happens to the other in his he is even More hard nosed about the when he talks about his Early flight training in a p39 at in what he Calls a gruesome weeding out 13 out of 30 fledgling fighter pilots were lost in six when one of them became a grease spot on the i almost Felt relieved it was better to Bury a weak sister in training than in where he might not Only bust his but do something More than fail to do something that would bust two or three other asses in addition to his Yeager has lost count of How Many friends he has seen Auger in Over the but adds that either you become calloused or you of his combat Days flying out of he remembers How if a Pilot borrowed our Mustang on a Day off and was shot most of the Squadron members would become the dead Pilot might have been a but he want As special As our own Yeager almost augured in on 10 years to the Day after his near fatal spin in the Al this time he was in an a rocket pow ered version of the Lockheed at his ship went into a Flat which he describes As falling As if the Craft were like a record on a it was spinning and dropping straight Down like a instruments on the ground later showed the plane had spun 14 13 with Yeager fighting at the then he but his rocket powered ejection seat became entangled in his Chute shroud All but severing them and causing severe Burns to his neck and it was a near death situation from which Yeager says he got away All it Cost him was a month in the Hospi a series of painful plastic surgery procedures and the tips of two in the the Mercury astronauts were be coming the nations and Rich ones at having signed a lucrative contract with life Magazine to Tell the exclusive stories of their did Chuck the test Pilot who was risking his neck on the Edge of wish he had a slice of that pie not at he says my attitude was they get a dime for being selected for the space especially when the risks involved we rent half As great As some of the research flying done at Edwards Over the he want in the air Force for nor did he Ever consider leaving the military Short of retirement in what he Calls a basically unplanned i owe every thing Ive got and everything i have been to the air he says without the training and opportunities i have been i probably have been much of even if he had the required College Yeager says the Mercury program would not have interested him because the capsules were largely ground con and the occupants More passenger than some Jokester at Edwards liked to refer to them As spam in a but these Days things Are if he Yeager admits he would find a space shuttle flight very they Pilot the shuttle pilots Are flying he pointed its a Good it can do even if there is no space shuttle in his retired for 10 still gets his kicks from hang gliding and flying his ultralight a Craft with an engine that would do Justice to a and in which no sound barriers will be in Lucky to get that thing up to 40 Hes still flying air Force acts As a consultant for major aerospace and does television commercials for a spark plug Hying Ace Chuck Yeager logs his life photo by Anthony Loew Yeager As he appeared As a Pilot in world War ii and on the front jacket of his autobiography published on july july 1985 the stars and stripes Page 16
