Page 10 - DFCS News Magazine Winter 2012

By Jonathan Horn
ALBOA PARK — Chuck Yeager may be 89 but he can still break the sound barrier.
The last time the decorated Air Force pilot did it was Oct. 14. That was exactly 64 years after he became the first pilot in history to reach Mach 1, the speed of sound. To be precise, Yeager flew at 807.2 miles per hour over what is now Edwards Air Force Base in 1947.
“That’s just like driving your car 50 miles per hour,” Yeager told a group of reporters Saturday at the Air & Space Museum. “You don’t forget things.”
A lot has changed since Yeager was named the “fastest man alive” after his milestone.
Yeager was flying an F-16 last year when he created a sonic boom, the shock waves that result from breaking the sound barrier. In 1947, he did it in an experimental X-1 rocket plane launched from a B-29 bomber.
“He said, ‘You fly the cockpit and the rest of the plane comes with it,’ ” said Yeager’s wife, Victoria, who got her pilot’s license in 2008 and now flies two-seaters.
The Yeagers, who live in Grass Valley, northeast of Sacramento, came to San Diego on Saturday for a $190-per-person gala at the Air & Space Museum. The purpose was to raise funds for programs to help keep the memories of World War II alive. The event wrapped up a two-day conference at which several his- torical organizations planned how they will celebrate Spirit of ’45 Day, the second Sunday of each August. Congress in 2010 passed legislation to commemorate that day because President Harry Truman declared World War II over on Aug. 14, 1945.
“I think that Chuck as well as the others see that this Spirit of ’45 mission for the good that it really is, which is how do we pass that on to our next generation so that they understand what it takes to be a great country in a probably more compli- cated world than it was?” said Jim Kidrick, the museum’s presi- dent, who said Yeager did not charge an appearance fee for the event.
Yeager told reporters before the gala that he has flown 361 types of planes in many parts of the world in his lifetime, in- cluding an Airbus A380. Yeager, born in 1923 in West Virginia, said he remains grateful for what his Air Force service allowed him to achieve.
“When the Air Force asked me to serve as a consultant test pilot for $1 a year I said, ‘Yeah, be happy to, as long as I don’t have to buy the fuel,’ ” Yeager said. “And that’s the way I’ve lived my life. My attitude is that what I am I owe it to the Air Force and it’s that simple.”
After the 25-minute news conference, Yeager went down to the museum’s basement, where the staff is building a replica X-1 rocket plane. So far it’s just a fuselage but should be in the X-1’s bullet shape within a year, Kidrick said. Yeager said he has seen a few replicas over the years, including one made for the 1983 film “The Right Stuff.”
Saturday’s gala was a reunion of sorts. Yeager attended, as did the two men who helped him first break the sound barrier – Robert Cardenas, 91, who flew the B-29 that launched Yeager’s X-1, and Bob Hoover, 90, who flew the chase plane that docu- mented the mission.
Saturday’s gala was expected to bring in about $47,500.
The gala honored Yeager with a lifetime achievement award and presented awards to six companies that were noted as industry leaders during the war: Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Ford, General Motors, Lockheed Martin and Chrysler.
My name is Lawrence Everett and I would like to tell you the story of my DFC. I was the bombardier for the 29 missions our crew flew.
On April 9, 1945, our plane was leading the 458th Bomb Group out of Norwich, England. We bombed Lechfeld Air- field in Germany. We turned to return to our base. After I
had completed turning off the bombsight and checking other items, I tuned in the G-box and immediately determined the wing leader/ navigator had us off course. I showed this to our navigator who agreed. After contacting the command pilot who was flying with us, we con- vinced him that we should change course so we wouldn't be flying di- rectly over Frankfurt, Germany and take flak. We contacted the wing leader, but they wouldn't change course. They said they were not on course to go over Frankfurt. They were using dead reckoning naviga- tion and were not considering the wind blowing them toward Frank- furt. Our command pilot gave us permission to change course and move left of the original flight plan. Those in our group followed us, but the wing leader's group followed him. Within 15 minutes, they were get- ting planes blown up with flak and we had no flak. I saw one plane bad- ly hit and it looked like it bounced up 100 feet in the air. The mile we had moved to the left saved us.
Because of this navigation change, a few days later on April 14th, 1945, we were chosen to lead the entire Eighth Air Force down to Pointe de Grave, France. We flew past Paris down to Bordeaux, a town in south- ern France. We did a 180 degree turn and headed back up to Pointe de Grave on the west coast of France. We had done this to keep the Ger- mans from shooting us with their 88s which were pointed to the north- west. We had an excellent bomb run and dropped 83% of the bombs into a 500 foot circle. After we arrived back in England, there was a debriefing which included the pilots, navigators, and bombardiers. They flashed the picture of that bomb drop up on the screen and there was a standing ovation. The colonel said that was the best bomb drop he had seen! He later was the person who pinned on my DFC!
The President of the United States takes great pleasure in present- ing the Distinguished Flying Cross to First Lieutenant Lawrence W. Everett for extraordinary achievement while serving as Lead Bom- bardier on many heavy bombardment missions over enemy-occupied territory and Germany. The coolness and exceptional bombing skill of First Lieutenant Everett in the face
of heavy enemy opposition has been a major factor in the success- ful completion of these missions. His devotion to duty and determi- nation reflect the highest credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of the United States.
Summer 2012 Issue Page 10