I believe that America is the greatest nation on Earth. I don’t mean that in some cheesy, obligatorily patriotic way; I mean that through the successful implementation of enlightenment ideals, the free-market system and the record of achievements both technological and otherwise, America is the best. I’m sorry if that offends the rest of the world, and I’m sorry if that doesn’t jibe with self-loathing liberals. Nobody has offered the world more than America, and I’ll never be ashamed to admit that fact.
A small part of what has made America so great is the pioneering spirit. The story of America is the story of pushing the boundaries of what we once thought was impossible. 65 years ago yesterday, Chuck Yeager strapped himself into a seat on top of what was, essentially, a rocket and broke the sound barrier. The first flight had only occurred 44 years prior. That is the American spirit.
In our age of cushy, heated car seats and convenient smartphones, we sometimes forget the harsh realities of the world. The greatest generation fought the Nazis and the Japanese, then came home and spent the next forty years worrying about the Soviet Union. America stood as the ultimate vanguard against Soviet aggression, and being that vanguard meant that we always had to be one step ahead. As we reached the jet age of aeronautics, we needed to push the boundaries more and more, go faster and faster. That’s where the Chuck Yeagers, Alan Shepards, Gus Grissoms and John Glenns came in to play.
Being a test pilot took a kind of iron-willed resolve. After all, the technologies these men were testing were not predicated upon decades of tried-and-true methods- these technologies were exciting, brand new concepts, and that made them all the more dangerous.
Two days before his famous flight, Yeager broke two ribs in a horseback riding accident. Afraid he would be taken off the mission, he refused to be treated for it, but instead saw a veterinarian in another town. Having sufficiently given new meaning to “playing through the pain,” Yeager climbed into his Bell X-1, named “Glamorous Glennis” after his wife, and achieved Mach 1 at exactly 10:24 AM, October 14th, 1947.
Having achieved such a feat in a top-secret program, Yeager could not brag about his achievement. Instead, the personal glory of knowing that he had travelled faster than any man before coupled with the pride in having helped his country innovate and usher in the “jet age” of aeronautics swelled the fearless pilot with pride.
Yesterday, exactly 65 years to the minute after his historic flight, Mr. Yeager, in an F-15, broke the sound barrier again, giving us all a reminder that it is never too late to achieve.
Chuck Yeager’s flight was one of a million phenomenal achievements of the 20th century. Within the span of 66 years, mankind saw an airplane take off in a field in North Carolina, a man break the speed of sound and a man walk on the moon. We take achievements for granted these days, wondering when the next iPhone will come out, seldom marveling at the colossal achievements that occurred that produced the technological innovations we accept as continually evolving. We have become desensitized to wonder of achievement, and we seem to always ask, “What’s next?” We must take time to remember the efforts and sacrifices of great Americans, and recall that today’s achievements are built upon the pillars of yesteryear’s feats.
With all the anti-American sentiment both at home and abroad, it is important to set the record straight; America is not, nor has ever been, perfect. But dammit, it has bred some of the greatest innovations and innovators the world has ever known and no country has done more to advance the human race than our pantheon of thinkers, doers and dreamers.
I’m an Electrical Engineer specializing in RF and microwaves.
I work mostly in military applications.
Let’s not forget that there was a mountain of pencil pushing geeks behind Yeager that made his flight possible.
Working out the physics that pushed his plane to that speed without it blowing up or spinning out of control took the work the of hundreds of geniuses that I’m not worthy of of tying their shoes.
And they did all of that without computers or even calculators!!
We could have millions of Chuck Yeagers, but they would never achieve much of anything without army of engineers and technicians that design and build the machines they pilot.
In short, I just want to put out a word of praise and thank you to all the geeks that worked late into the night to design the F-15s, the Blackbirds, the Warthogs, the B-52s, etc. They rarely receive any recognition.
To them seeing their machines fly is more than enough satisfaction.
Steve,
You are correct about all the faceless people behind the scenes; however, Chuck Yeager has the “stones” to be the one in harms way. He deserves a “little” credit for what was accomplished.
AMEN! I can tell you are a real man as well as a true American, never forgetting we all have our help. No one does it alone and what we do best we do together.!
I am so sick of the I,I,I and ME ,ME me OF Obama the narcissist in chief!
Thank you for great words well spoken my friend
Sorry Steve butthey WEREN’T pencil necked geeks, they were dirty fingernailed MECHANICS… MEN, who WORKED for a living, not a bunch of mamby-pamby office girls like makes ‘jets’ today..
Sorry Rob, but I’m an Electronics Technician, former US Navy, and I know who Steve was talking about. Not the dirty fingernailed mechanics who put the planes together and kept them flying, but the guys with the pocket protectors and (in those days) a slide rule, sitting at a drafting table DESIGNING something for the ” dirty fingernailed MECHANICS… MEN” to build and maintain. And he’s right! THEY own a piece of the history of American innovation too! Lets not forget in light of the article, that wizz-bang little PC or laptop your reading this on? That’s a DIRECT decedent of ENIAC, a ROOM sized monstrosity that had transistors, because there WERE no such things as integrated circuit chips yet, built expressly to crunch large numbers faster that those guys could shuffle their slide rules to facilitate staying ahead of the Soviet Union in the arms race!
Good article and I second what Steve G says.
Spot on atricle
They dont’ make men like this today. Too many of them are like the one that (who tries to be a man) is in the white house today. They are week and want to take from those who work hard and give to those who chose to do nothing with themselves.
My Grandson loves the latest TIME issue and can quote Yeager’s stats. Glad to see he is getting the attention he deserved. I am neither 15th or 50th but had to put in my 2 cents
As chairman of The Ohio State University College Republicans, I would love to have these materials to share with my peers.
Ya Go Chuck! one of the highlights of my life was meeting you at Mcairn field in Vegas. your first book had just come out and i heard the excitement in the FBO. I looked out to see your P-51 taxi in. I was in AWE. you were so polite and signed my book. I treasured it as one of my prize possessions. however it was stolen in looting after a hurricane in the Florida keys in 2005.
I will remember that day and your ever so regular guy ways for ever. You are a true American hero.
thank you
This started a long time ago, the hippies children of yesteryear are your Politicians of today if not the politician but there supporters. Even before with the 17th amendment to the Constitution when they said it would be better for you if the U S Senators were elected rather than appointed. (the just took your firing ability away and now you have to fight against all there special interest that support them. The changed the feeling of the Supreme court to allow this . In the early 1900′s that took away the coining and printing of money and gave it to a private Bank. They can set there own rules and said they will police themselves also give themselves there own wages. It is no longer a service to the people and run by “We the People but is a very lucrative career. That why they will not allow term limits. Are greatest threat is who we elect or ignor as they will destroy us. (The Republic)
Steve G.,
I went to school for Mechanical Engineering, and later obtained my PE license, so I guess you could call me one of those “geeks”. I spent the first 13 years of my career working as an engineer for an aerospace defense contractor that made the guidance system for the F-111, F-16, Space Shuttle and more, so I can relate to your comments. There were contract people, project managers, design engineers, production engineers, quality engineers, logistics people, assembly, inspection and test personnel – all working for one company in charge of making only guidance system. Of course, a jet is much more than just a guidance system, so the companies and teams behind Chuck Yeager were massive. That being said, Chuck was the only one who risked his life based on the sum of those efforts, and that certainly deserves praise as well. Thank you to all the men and women involved “behind the scenes”, and thank you for putting your life on the line Chuck.
I’m sure you’ve seen the movie “The Right Stuff”.
Chuck wasn’t the only one that risked his life. Sadly many test pilots lost their lives before Chuck got the winning plane.
Many of them died because engineers like you and me hadn’t worked out all the bugs of supersonic flight yet and those pilots paid for the shortcomings of the engineering work with their lives.
The movie was very inspiring because it showed the men that risked their lives in unproven technology. If I remember right at one point of the movie one of the wives comments that each day the test pilots have something like a one in 15 chance of not coming home alive.
To face those odds everyday is beyond my comprehension.
Every single one of them was and ,for the few still alive, is truly the very definition of bravery.
Actually, I read the book “The Right Stuff”. I should have clarified – there certainly were many more test pilots than Chuck Yeager, and I did not mean to slight them. The subject of this article included Chuck, so I made my comments accordingly. I am proud of the fact that I do not recall a single instance where anyone lost their life due to a guidance system malfunction. As a matter of fact, I do recall one incident when I was a supervisor in Quality Assurance when I went head-to-head with the Project Manager (a good man and a good friend) regarding a production issue. We disagreed on how serious the risk was and I fought hard and eventually won my case with executive management. Afterwards, he was not very happy with me, so I ended up having a heart to heart talk with him and we were able to patch things up. There will always be some amount of pressure and temptation to “cut corners” to save time and money, but human lives are too important to risk.
I always enjoy reading your columns. Andrew Breitbart was a unique person.
This started a long time ago, the hippies children of yesteryear are your Politicians of today if not the politician but there supporters. Even before with the 17th amendment to the Constitution when they said it would be better for you if the U S Senators were elected rather than appointed. (that just took your firing them ability away and now you have to fight against all there special interests that support them. They changed the feeling and decisins of the Supreme court to allow this . In the early 1900′s they took away the coining and printing of money and gave it to a private Bank. They can set there own rules and said they will police themselves also give themselves there own wages. It is no longer a service to the people and run by “We the People but is a very lucrative career. Thats why they will not allow term limits. Our greatest threat is who we elect or ignore as they can destroy us. (The Republic)
The gamblers on Wall Street are to blame but, also Barney Frank and the Freddy Mac and Fanny Mae mess. It all started I think with Clinton and Congress when they passed
the bill to force banks to give loans to people who could not pay it back. I’m 73 and live on $1,300 a month. I have never missed a payment on my mortgage and have a credit score of 753. All it takes is to live on what you need and not what you WANT. I am sick of all the takers and gimme my share, lazy people. That is saying it nice which is not what I feel
God Help Us
I often say that I am amazed at the innovation of the past century as opposed to. Just think how far technology has advanced. None of these things happened because of reward for not working. Only from the sacrifice of many brave men and women do we have so many of the things we take for granted. A great big “Thank you!” to all those who have spent their blood, sweat and tears so that life would be better for all of us. Let us not forget that hard work and sacrifice made this country great and only hard work and sacrifice will keep it that way.
“Two days before his famous flight, Yeager broke two ribs in a horseback riding accident. ”
Imagine that. If you’ve ever had ONE broken rib you know that pain. It’s murder just breathing, let alone being crunched into a cockpit. Tougher ‘n nails!
Chuck Yeager should have been given a ride in our F22 Raptor!! he earned that for sure. The F15 is an antiquated plane!
Met Andrew,He was a warrior Patriot. It is hard to find such dedicated and bold Patriots today as compaired to our founding. We all can learn a lot from Andrew and his passion for our Constitution and rule of law as well as his zeal to exspose the criminal empire here in America and abroad
I have read many things done by Dustin and this piece on Chuck Yaeger is phenominal. We all seem to lack interest in how things came to be. We are only interested in the result of what those before us have done to improve our lives, not the efforts and sacrifices made to achieve that end result. We should stand back and take a close look at what many have done to enhance our lives and appreciate what the achievers went through to make it happen. We should then thank God for giving those achievers the inspiration and drive to make it happen. People like Chuck Yaeger deserve more than to be forgotten after their greatness occured. America is not just the land of opportunity it is also the land of innovators and achievers. It is sad that our government is now working so hard to stiffel that greatness through taxes and regulation that are totally uncalled for in order to solidify their power over us. I for one will not be stopped. I pray that most innovators are of the same mindset.
At the time Chuck Yeager became an Army Air Corps aviator, such appointments were reserved for sons of the wealthy, many of whom had graduated from West Point.
Chuck Yeager was a farm boy from West Virginia who rose through the enlisted ranks in order to win a recommendation to Army Flight School. You see, soldier Yeager had an innate understanding of what made machines run, it had become second-nature to him, learned by fixing broken-down machines on his poor family’s small farm.
The proof of his abilities came full bore when he sat in the cockpit of the first training plane he was ordered to fly. From that moment, there was never again a question of his abilities, although many of his fellow officers, coming from “posh” existences, distanced themselves from the West Virginia farm-boy and his plain-spoken drawl.
It didn’t matter in the skies over Germany, flying his Mustang, it didn’t matter when he test-flew the newest designs, it didn’t matter when he flew “Glamorous Glynnis” the rocket design in which he broke the sound barrier. His drawl didn’t matter when he tested Chevrolet Corvettes on the G.M. track and prescribed the modifications to improve that design. Yeager is one in far more than a million!
In all that time, he has been a humble man, outgoing when among people, making friends wherever he went. I met him personally at the EAA Air Show in Oshkosh, WI, where he attends quite often. Great pilot, A.F. General, and just one of the guys!
I’m happy to have had the opportunity to submit some facts about Chuck Yeager, a great American.
Andrew was a brave, noble, and ethical leader of the people. What better way to honor the man, his message, and his memory than to publish and disseminate his last work revealing crime, corruption, and control agendas in our beloved country.
Although his influence and contribution are carried on with our efforts, his leadership and courage continue to be missed with every Tweet, posting, blog entry, or stand #UberMensa conservatives take in this fight for our home.
Always,
Faithful
“Yeager” has been one of my favorite books since it came out! There aren’t many like Gen. Yeager anymore, and the current military does it’s best to weed them out (if you read the book, that’s not new, but they’ve gotten better at it). There are few out there with the cajones Andrew Brietbart had either! Too many so-called journalists end up becoming nothing more that a PR mouthpiece for one side or the other (mostly one side, I think we know which side that is). Anyone with a brain has long since turned to the internet for news. If you were to write a history book for future generations you wouldn’t want mass media sources for the references, unless you wanted it featured in the ‘Fiction section’!
What a Spitfire did in a day, a P-51 can do all week….That’s a paraphrase from Chuck that he made about his flying the P-51 Mustang….Men like Chuck Yeager and Bob Hoover are few and far between and it’s true they are standing on the shoulders of many personnel that did it all with a slide rule and a T square. The P-51 Mustang went from paper to metal in a matter of months. And I agree with a previous writer, they should have let Chuck fly the F-22 Raptor!!
I wish Andrew was around to see the fight this election season
I truly enjoy your e-letters, whether I win anything or not, you are a blessing to us who would remain uninformed if not for you and the very few others who have the chuzpah to tell the actual truth!
God Bless…, MG TerBush
That last paragraph is some powerful stuff. Very well stated!!
Chuck Yeager’s anniversary flight, and Felix Baumgartner’s Stratus jump have been wonderful sources of inspiration this week. We have needed a reminder of the greatness of our country and what is possible when people work to achieve big goals.
It is amazing that many of the military aircraft flying today were designed and built with 50s or 60s technology and slide rules instead of computers. That generation achieved amazing things, and I hope we can be inspired to have another American Century.
The debate about who contributed more is all good — I’m a 25 yr AF pilot. Part of the AF song goes: “Minds of men fashioned a crate of thunder, sent it high into the blue. Hands of men blasted the world asunder, how they lived God only knew. Souls of men dreaming of skies to conquer gave us wings ever to soar. With scouts before and bombers galore, nothing will stop the US Air Force.” Our forebears built the X-1 and General Yeager had the “right stuff” to get the job done. Our founders created the greatest nation in the history of the world, and it’s on us to guide it back on track. Thanks for your efforts.
I miss the good old days when men like Yeager and others filled my imagination with dreams of flight, speed and American Greatness. We need those days now!
God bless Chuck Yeager!
Many people were like him are ready to sacrifice their lives so America can stay free. They are not as loud as the liberals who constantly spew venom at anything they do not like, or cannot control. We all need to remember these things and to make sure our history is written as it really was, not as some people would like to remake it. Americans are some of the most generous people you will ever meet, and I’m including all the legal immigrants from all the years America has existed. One of my best friends is a Korean American; make that American Korean. She loves our country and has thrived here over the years. We have one of the best countries in the world and should never forget or regret that. We’re not in good shape financially, but I believe that can be corrected with the right leader(s) and prayer. God Bless America! Vote Romney as we know what Obama will do . . . more of the same lies and I’s.
I am a HUGE fan of Breitbart as well. I do have his last book – Righteous Indignation – and am so inspired by this man. His demise is so very sad because there just isn’t another Breitbart these days. A rare individual, indeed.
America was great because it was built on the right spiritual foundations. Those foundations are rapidly being destryed by the current lack of education of our history in the government schools, lask of teaching from the pulpits of the Bible principles that built this great nation.
There is no political solution for a spiritual problem!
No matter how bad it ever gets in America it is still better than any nation in the world!