Oct 14th 1947

[Eagle]

Today in 1947 Yeager does the Impossible and breaks Mach 1 with broken ribs and a broom handle. Chuck is 97 now. A national treasure. Recovered his Mustang at Luke AFB in 1978 for the filming of Cloud Dancer . I had no Idea it was him flying until he removed his helmet and turned around to walk down the wing. I snapped to attention and saluted , while speaking in dismay,,General Yeager !!!!! Yes I am he replied,,,Where can I get some breakfast ? In 1976 he received a unique Congressional Silver Medal, "equivalent to a noncombat Medal of Honor, for contributing immeasurably to aerospace science by risking his life in piloting the X S - 1 research airplane faster than the speed of sound on October 14, 1947 .......My hero's don't kneel.

[Eagle]

I was on Buzz Aldrins page this morning... Isn't it an amazing phenomenon that we are able to share our thoughts with such icons of humanity ! Anyhow he mentioned how Yeager had ice water in his veins.. Someone joked and said all fighter jocks did. Because the Air Force was too cheap to install heaters. That reminded me,, it was kind of true. The Eagle had a switch in the avionics panel. A rotary switch. You could turn it towards COCKPIT or AVIONICS. The radar LRU'S loved to stay cold to operate. So we always selected AVIONICS. Because after the flight,, if the pilot wrote up that the radar overheated , we were there all night repairing it. But if the pilot wrote up that He was hot,,, we went to the Club. True story. Thanks Buzz for bringing back that memory. The switch was called The avionics circuit controller. Amazing I still remember stuff like that,,,,,,, now where the h#ll are my glasses and ice tea ?