"There was a demon that live at about Point One on the Mach meter."
Tom Wolfe wrote a terrifically good narrative style study of the early Mercury astronauts and Flight Test guys at Edwards. Specifically BG Yaeger.
I had to read it in ENG 1101 in college and couldn't believe how great a story it was. And the movie is pretty good too. Which is actually, sort of the point of this post.
Read the book. Enjoy the movie and avoid that craptastic reboot bullshit on NatGeo. Heard it was going to cancelled. That's good.
And I had a thought while watching the film last night. When BG Yaeger nearly buys the farm in the NF-104A, he's talking with Jack Ridley.
Jack Ridley was killed trying to fly relief supplies into Japan in 1957. Yaeger nearly bought it in 1963.
Ridley and Yaeger were good friends. He missed his buddy and the old days of test flight.
Just a thought. Thanks for stopping buy. And go read the book!
Back around 2011, I was a counter jockey at Huntington's in Oroville, CA (as in RCBS Huntingotn). BG Yeager would stop by now and again to visit with Buzz Huntington. Yeager drove a white Dodge Dakota with the license plate "Bell X-1".
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