5 ms·

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 (cann

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.
  - justin66 10y ago
    Ah, that's an interesting mission, and it's nice to know that Yeager supported his flying on that. There was some armchair quarterbacking of how Armstrong handled that, as you may know, by some of the lesser known astronauts. It was pretty much the most dangerous situation an American astronaut ever encountered in orbit that required specialized piloting skills and very quick reactions to survive. A couple of other pilots thought he used too much fuel solving the problem, which resulted in him having to abort and reenter right away. The NASA leadership thought he did well enough that he was qualified to command an Apollo mission likely to land on the moon...
    - protomyth 10y ago
      If I remember the passage correctly (It has been over a decade), he used it as an example of how important it was to have actual skilled, trained pilots in the space program (basically taking pilots mattered). It was in the chapters about the X-15, I think. I would assume command of the first Moon landing would be taken as an endorsement of his solution and probably acknowledgement that on such a difficult mission he might need to solve a similar problem. Of course, I have read interviews where he called Armstrong a better engineer than pilot, but I get the feeling that Air Force does not complement Navy unless making a point about the professions as a whole.

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.
- justin66 10y ago
  Ah, that's an interesting mission, and it's nice to know that Yeager supported his flying on that. There was some armchair quarterbacking of how Armstrong handled that, as you may know, by some of the lesser known astronauts. It was pretty much the most dangerous situation an American astronaut ever encountered in orbit that required specialized piloting skills and very quick reactions to survive. A couple of other pilots thought he used too much fuel solving the problem, which resulted in him having to abort and reenter right away. The NASA leadership thought he did well enough that he was qualified to command an Apollo mission likely to land on the moon...
  - protomyth 10y ago
    If I remember the passage correctly (It has been over a decade), he used it as an example of how important it was to have actual skilled, trained pilots in the space program (basically taking pilots mattered). It was in the chapters about the X-15, I think. I would assume command of the first Moon landing would be taken as an endorsement of his solution and probably acknowledgement that on such a difficult mission he might need to solve a similar problem. Of course, I have read interviews where he called Armstrong a better engineer than pilot, but I get the feeling that Air Force does not complement Navy unless making a point about the professions as a whole.