Chuck Yeager was on of those people I had heard a lot about and admired but never thought I would ever have any contact with him. While still in the Air Base group flying T-33’s and the L-20 I was told to go to Landstuhl, overnight and meet Lt Col Yeager and take him to Toul AB so he could check out the base where he would be moving his new wing of F-86H’s the hottest fighter in the AF at that time. We met at the base ops counter at the prescribed time, filed a flight plan and were off to Toul AB, France. I let him fly most of the way but I did not let him make the landing I squeeked it on and he said that was good. I shadowed him around during the tour of the base and he remained mostly silent. The barracks and BOQ’s where OK, the mess hall and NCO and officers clubes where OK, the motor pool was operable but surrounded by mud, Like wise the POL area was in a mire of mud. In other words it was a lot like Laon when we first arrived there. We made it back to the airplane and as we fired up to go back to Landstuhl he muttered on the interphone “a pigs sty”. No he never moved his wing of F-86H’s to Toul AB, France, it was overtaken by events and the F100’s were quickly moved into Europe replacing all the day fighter units in a very short time.

After Laon I was stationed a Albuquerque, NM. We mostly flew in support of the Atomic Energy Commission (AC) but on one Occasion we where tasked to send two L-20’s to Edwards AFB to be the targets for the new F-106 that was being tested. I got to go for one of the weeks we where there and we traded rides as was the custom, by chance Chuck Yeager rode with me again this time in a B-57 as I closed the canopy I asked if he remembered the last time we had flown together, he said yeah it was that quick trip to Toul. I did get a ride in one of the F-106’s and it was a comedy of errors.

I was supposed to rotate at a certain speed and retract the gear before another speed I missed them both, the instructor got us out of after burner, recycled the gear and instructed me to come out of after burner about 2000ft below our target altitude, roll inverted and pull down to the horizon and roll out. Well I was slow coming out of afterburner and slow getting inverted and did not pull enough G’s to hit out target altitude but eventually we got there but mean while we had gone mach one which caused some paper work, we eventually learned that the test was called off and he asked if I wanted to go mach two I said of course, we pointed north hit the burner and soon the needle said we were going Mach 2 plus it didn’t feel any different than at slower speeds so I guess it was one of those airplanes that could fly across the whole speed spectrum with no noticeable differences to the pilot. Getting back to Edwards I elected to shoot a simulated flame out which worked out really well, we had enough fuel for another and the instructor landed further down the runway than I did. It was a blast. I know it was a pain in the ass for some but it was sure a great experience for me.

A year or so later the AEC wanted to test a sounding rocket they had invented and wanted to know how high our B-57 could do a vertical launch of there 3000lb sounding rocket. So our OPS officer asked me to go up and do loops or immilmens as high as I could with about 9000lbs of fuel on board. I made it to 33,000 but I would not recommend doing it again, in other words the airplane and I where totally out of control for a long time. I decided that 30,000 was the max anyone should try this maneuver. A few weeks later we got a report from the test pilots school that what I had done was impossible.

So my OPS officer and I went to Edwards AFB again not as a helper but as a challenger their computers said what I was doing routinely was impossible. Chuck Yeager met us and said I have got to see this. Yes he remembered me. We flew again, I just got it up past vertical and then let the G’s fall off to less than one till the plane was in free fall but still marginally controllable at way below stall speed. Think about it if the airplane doesn’t weigh any thing then there is no stall speed. The heavy pointy end pointed down and I was able to fly out of the maneuver every time with no problems. Some years later when my son Robin was in fighter pilot school he commented that they were teaching “energy maneuverability” keeping control of the aircraft below stall speed. Yeah I had some great experiences in the Air force… Bob