Chuck Yeager 100 -- February 13, 2023

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General Chuck Yeager, the first pilot to break the sound barrier on purpose, has died. During World War Two, he started as an enlisted mechanic in the US Army Air Force, and then became a flight officer (something like a warrant officer), He flew a P-51 Mustang in Europe and was credited with 11.5 victories. In 1944, he received a commission.

After the war, he became a test pilot and broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 rocket plane. He stayed in the US Air Force, commanding fighter squadrons and wings, and was the first commandant of the US Air Force Test Pilot School. 

Chuck Yeager was the best character in Tom Wolf's book The Right Stuff and in Phil Kaufman's movie adaption. Sam Shepard, seen in the photo with Yeager, played Yeager. 

Breaking the Sound Barrier 75 -- October 14, 2022

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75 years ago today, on 14-October-1947, Captain Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 rocket plane. He stayed in the US Air Force, commanding fighter squadrons and wings, and was the first commandant of the US Air Force Test Pilot School. 

Chuck Yeager was the best character in Tom Wolf's book The Right Stuff and in Phil Kaufman's movie adaption. Sam Shepard, seen in the photo with Yeager, played Yeager. 

Chuck Yeager, RIP -- December 9, 2020

listal.com

General Chuck Yeager, the first pilot to break the sound barrier on purpose, has died. During World War Two, he started as an enlisted mechanic in the US Army Air Force, and then became a flight officer (something like a warrant officer), He flew a P-51 Mustang in Europe and was credited with 11.5 victories. In 1944, he received a commission.

After the war, he became a test pilot and broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 rocket plane. He stayed in the US Air Force, commanding fighter squadrons and wings, and was the first commandant of the US Air Force Test Pilot School. 

Chuck Yeager was the best character in Tom Wolf's book The Right Stuff and in Phil Kaufman's movie adaption. Sam Shepard, seen in the photo with Yeager, played Yeager. 

Tom Wolfe, RIP -- May 16, 2018

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I was sorry to learn of the passing of author Tom Wolfe.  I loved The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test and The Right Stuff.  And the man knew how to wear a hat.

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Trips Festival 50 Years -- January 21, 2016

Fifty years ago, on 21-January-1966, the tribes gathered at San Francisco's Longshoreman's Hall for the Trips Festival.  I don't remember this, but I do remember later events in Golden Gate Park, which we could hear from our back yard.

Years later I read Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.  I better understood many things I had heard about when I was a kid, about Ken Kesey, Stewart Brand and the Merry Pranksters.  The Festival went on for three days.  The Grateful Dead and Big Brother and the Holding Company performed.