5 ms·

This reminds me a lot of my Granddad's stories about working with / hanging out with Chuck Yeager, Jimmy Doolittle, and the Apollo 11 guys. I really need to rec

by sndean 10y ago

This reminds me a lot of my Granddad's stories about working with / hanging out with Chuck Yeager, Jimmy Doolittle, and the Apollo 11 guys. I really need to record all of his stories before they're lost.. Yeager and Armstrong were particularly quiet/private, so there's maybe less stories about them. But there's at least one instance of Neil Armstrong angrily pinning my Granddad up against a wall because he invited some people over for autographs.

justin66 10y ago
> Yeager and Armstrong were particularly quiet/private, so there's maybe less stories about them. But there's at least one instance of Neil Armstrong angrily pinning him up against a wall because he invited some people over for autographs. Two things to keep in mind: that's pretty much antithetical to everything anyone who knew him ever said about Armstrong's character or temperament, and Yeager was happy to spread falsehoods about Armstrong (and others).
- sndean 10y ago
  Oh, I meant he (supposedly) pinned my grandfather, not Yeager. I'm more inclined to believe that the story is true, Armstrong was acting out of character, and that he simply disliked my granddad. Personally, I've only met Collins, so I can only corroborate that he's a nice guy and collects tabloid articles about aliens.
  - justin66 10y ago
    Oh, gosh! That's an entirely different story. Collins seems like a genuinely nice and generous man, I've seen him speak. I didn't know that about the tabloids.
- protomyth 10y ago
  What did Yeager say bad about Armstrong? In his autobiography, Yeager called Armstrong and amazing pilot and credited him with saving one of the missions (cannot remember which one) with piloting skills.
  - CocaKoala 10y ago
    Well, the parent doesn't say that Yeager said bad things about Armstrong, just that Yeager was happy to spread falsehoods. I could easily see that being Yeager telling somebody "Oh yeah, did you hear that Armstrong benched 450 yesterday? It's a new personal record for him, make sure you congratulate him!" or something similar. Making up harmless lies as a practical joke, that sort of thing.
  - justin66 10y ago
    I'm not familiar with what you're referring to, but it's been a while since I read Yeager's first autobiography. I do remember one bit clearly, though. In the book he tells a story about reconnoitering a dry lake near Edwards in a twin-seat plane with Neil Armstrong. In his story, Armstrong wants to do a touch-and-go landing to test lake's suitability for landing, and Yeager tries to talk him out of it because of concerns about mud. They land and they get stuck. This is all part of a larger, kind of spiteful and jealous narrative of the NACA guys not being as skillful behind the stick as the Air Force pilots even though they may have been better engineers, etc. etc. Armstrong's version of the story (recounted only briefly in First Man - incredible book btw) makes it sound more like Neil Armstrong was the victim of a practical joke wherein Yeager encouraged him to land even though he knew full well they'd get stuck. It's actually a funnier story, but it doesn't play in with the whole narrative of the NACA pilots being obtuse geeks and so on. That's pretty much all Armstrong was quoted as saying about Yeager that I'm aware of. Yeager's not universally loved by his fellow test pilots, however. http://www.kalimera.org/nf104/stories/stories_16.html http://www.kalimera.org/nf104/stories/stories_16.html
    - protomyth 10y ago
      Nobody is universally liked, and I can see trying the practical joke route since its a pretty big part of the culture (recently watched a Navy video having to do with dropping greased pigs on another ship). The tension between services (Navy and Army Air Force / Air Force) is well documented along with tension with the civilian pilots. There is a bit of family problem going on with Yeager and his kids which is generating some bad press. Cannot find my copy of the book, but the mission Armstrong did the piloting was Gemini 8.

by sndean 10y ago

justin66 10y ago

> Yeager and Armstrong were particularly quiet/private, so there's maybe less stories about them. But there's at least one instance of Neil Armstrong angrily pinning him up against a wall because he invited some people over for autographs. Two things to keep in mind: that's pretty much antithetical to everything anyone who knew him ever said about Armstrong's character or temperament, and Yeager was happy to spread falsehoods about Armstrong (and others).

sndean 10y ago
Oh, I meant he (supposedly) pinned my grandfather, not Yeager. I'm more inclined to believe that the story is true, Armstrong was acting out of character, and that he simply disliked my granddad. Personally, I've only met Collins, so I can only corroborate that he's a nice guy and collects tabloid articles about aliens.
- justin66 10y ago
  Oh, gosh! That's an entirely different story. Collins seems like a genuinely nice and generous man, I've seen him speak. I didn't know that about the tabloids.
protomyth 10y ago
What did Yeager say bad about Armstrong? In his autobiography, Yeager called Armstrong and amazing pilot and credited him with saving one of the missions (cannot remember which one) with piloting skills.
- CocaKoala 10y ago
  Well, the parent doesn't say that Yeager said bad things about Armstrong, just that Yeager was happy to spread falsehoods. I could easily see that being Yeager telling somebody "Oh yeah, did you hear that Armstrong benched 450 yesterday? It's a new personal record for him, make sure you congratulate him!" or something similar. Making up harmless lies as a practical joke, that sort of thing.
- justin66 10y ago
  I'm not familiar with what you're referring to, but it's been a while since I read Yeager's first autobiography. I do remember one bit clearly, though. In the book he tells a story about reconnoitering a dry lake near Edwards in a twin-seat plane with Neil Armstrong. In his story, Armstrong wants to do a touch-and-go landing to test lake's suitability for landing, and Yeager tries to talk him out of it because of concerns about mud. They land and they get stuck. This is all part of a larger, kind of spiteful and jealous narrative of the NACA guys not being as skillful behind the stick as the Air Force pilots even though they may have been better engineers, etc. etc. Armstrong's version of the story (recounted only briefly in First Man - incredible book btw) makes it sound more like Neil Armstrong was the victim of a practical joke wherein Yeager encouraged him to land even though he knew full well they'd get stuck. It's actually a funnier story, but it doesn't play in with the whole narrative of the NACA pilots being obtuse geeks and so on. That's pretty much all Armstrong was quoted as saying about Yeager that I'm aware of. Yeager's not universally loved by his fellow test pilots, however. http://www.kalimera.org/nf104/stories/stories_16.html http://www.kalimera.org/nf104/stories/stories_16.html
  - protomyth 10y ago
    Nobody is universally liked, and I can see trying the practical joke route since its a pretty big part of the culture (recently watched a Navy video having to do with dropping greased pigs on another ship). The tension between services (Navy and Army Air Force / Air Force) is well documented along with tension with the civilian pilots. There is a bit of family problem going on with Yeager and his kids which is generating some bad press. Cannot find my copy of the book, but the mission Armstrong did the piloting was Gemini 8.