It’s not West Virginia in 1948. And you’re not Chuck Yeager.
“Frank Knight had just announced that Capt. Chuck Yeager was going to fly over,” Kelley said. “I didn’t see a plane in the sky. I looked east, below the horizon, about where the Capitol is, and I saw a plane.
“I actually had to look down to see it. That’s how low it was. I thought, ‘Oh, my goodness!’”
He watched that jet fly right under the South Side Bridge.
The jet did a victory roll and roared out of sight.
“The crowd went nuts.”
“We all just looked at each other open-mouthed in disbelief,” said Boggs. “Then there was a swell of applause. By then, Yeager was probably halfway to Cincinnati.”
The press never broke the tale, and an unmolested Yeager went on to break the Mach 2.0 record and command fighter squadrons, among other achievements. That was back in the time when the US press could be in the tank for a military veteran and war hero.
Times change.
Yeager comes from Lincoln Co. in WV, the county motto is someting like, “Hold my beer and watch this!”
That Blue Angel skimming over the water at San Francisco was pretty impressive too.
On yet another tangent, October Sky was showing this evening. Another (semi)typical part of growing up that will never be seen again.
Nice to see this kind of rememberance in a newspaper, but what kind of reporter doesn’t know that a P-51 ain’t a jet?
What an interesting story this is. Thank you for pointing us to it. Brought back memories of the annual boat races on the lake in my hometown, and the classmate of mine (now deceased) who flew his dad’s plane under the TN River Bridge in the same hometown. Not a P-51, but pretty exciting for a teenager & his friends.
If the article was from 1948, Yeager had already broken the sound barrier. In 1947.
Uh, the article did say it was an F-80, and that he had already broken the sound barrier.
Just sayin’
I’m no fan of Chuck Yeager (everyone I know that’s met him says he’s pretty much an a-hole), but he’s done some pretty bad-ass stuff.
My father took over command of Chuck Yeager’s squadron at Aviano AFB in Italy back in the 60s.
A couple of months prior an inebriated Yeager drove a jeep through the wall of the O club. My mom worked there at the time.
In the ’60s I thought pilots had to drink and drive to be promotion eligible above Major. Driving through a wall just demonstrates initiative and determination. Doing it on base demonstrates dedication, and through the O club demonstrates a commitment to leadership and elan. Wing command almost has to follow.