Breaking it again at 89 with DGMC's assistance

by James Spellman
60th Medical Group Public Affairs

10/17/2012 - TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif -- Yeager... Few last names in modern Air Force history evoke as much lore, legacy, respect and admiration by Airmen everywhere as this local living legend. Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Charles "Chuck" Yeager retraced history Sunday, 65 years to the minute, as the first test pilot to break the sound barrier, taking to the skies once again to fly faster than the speed of sound.

The 89-year-old, a two-time best-selling author and the focal point of Tom Wolfe's 1979 book and 1983 feature film, "The Right Stuff" flew in the back seat of an F-15D Eagle as he "laid down a pretty good sonic boom over Edwards" Air Force Base in southern California.

The World War II "double-Ace" hit Mach 1.3 at 10:24 a.m. above California's Mojave Desert. It was the same area where he first achieved the feat above Muroc Air Field, now Edwards AFB.

It was Oct. 14, 1947, barely one month after the Air Force became a separate branch of service from the Army, when then 24-year-old Capt. Yeager piloted the experimental rocket-propelled Bell Aircraft XS-1, named "Glamorous Glennis" for his wife, through the sound barrier.

The thin-winged, bullet-shaped, orange X-1 is now on permanent display at the Smithsonian's Air & Space Museum in Washington. Meanwhile, the aviation and aerospace world would never be the same. The area surrounding Edwards was virtually transformed overnight into a destination for the hottest test pilots who flew higher, faster and further in the latest aircraft of the day.

Fast forward 65 years. After flight surgeons from David Grant USAF Medical Center reviewed Yeager's medical records and signed off on his Medical Recommendation for Flying or Special Operational Duty form, the Air Force icon and living legend was cleared again to surpass the speed of sound while flying at 45,000 feet in altitude above the desert in the F-15D that took off from Nellis AFB, Nev.

"I was honored and thrilled General Yeager entrusted our team here at DGMC to care for him and ensure he was physically fit and ready to pilot an Air Force jet for the 65th anniversary of his record-breaking flight," stated Lt. Col. (Dr.) Dustin Zierold, 60th Surgical Operations Squadron trauma and critical care surgeon. "General Yeager is an icon of professionalism and dedication to service. Our entire surgery clinic enjoyed speaking with him, and even getting an autograph or two!"

"I really appreciated the Air Force giving me a brand new F-15 to fly. It was a smooth flight today," said Yeager of the anniversary flight. "I'm very familiar with the area and got a good view. The F-15 is my favorite airplane, and that's why I came here to fly it."

Capt. David Vincent, 65th Aggressor Squadron pilot, took Yeager up in the F-15D for the milestone flight, but it was the general who was in control of the aircraft when he "punched a hole in the sky." His final aerial move, he told CNN afterwards, was a fly-by, buzzing the Nellis tower.

Asked by a young girl if he was scared during Sunday's flight, Yeager joked, "Yeah, I was scared to death." The legendary pilot, who lives in Penn Valley, Calif., near Beale AFB, said he continues to fly all the time and it was "just another flight to him."