I met General Yeager in 1988 onboard USS Carl Vinson when he visited along with some other dignitaries and celebrities. I didn’t meet anyone else but him. No else compared to his accomplishments. RIP, General.
Beautifully done scene in every way. Quaid could not have been better in that piece of dialogue with the reporters. Phil K's direction was admirable. This is one of the best and most underrated films of the eighties.
The concept of “The Right Stuff”, in my opinion, is 100% real. I know Chuck Yeager didn’t exactly believe in it, but hear me out. I spent 23 years in the USAF as an enlisted man, and many years as an AF contractor after that. The vast majority of the fighter pilots that I spent time with, and worked for, were the absolute best of the best in everything they did, whether it was a flying task or a non-flying task. I learned from their example and I was a better man for it. I started as a young, dumb airman who was more interested in goofing around and doing just enough to get by. It amazed me to see a young fighter pilot, about the same age as I was, who had the discipline and drive, the “want to”, to be the best at everything he did, even if it was some incredibly menial task. These guys were great men, great leaders of men. I still see that same greatness in today’s Force, the only difference is now there are women among them, but make no mistake, those women are great leaders, too.
19 years old in Viet Nam with Task Force Delta (USMC) A-4's A-6's F4's. Saw the same thing. My dad died when I was 11 and these men became role models. Professionals. Spent 23 years in USMC and USN (battalion surgeon). Seems like another life time ago. Thanks for the post.
Lee Baker Thank you for your service! I sincerely mean that .... from a family of Marines. My father was a weapons company Sgt , 1st Marine Division- Korea. I currently work in a facility surrounded by pilots and aircrew from every branch of the military (some active , some retired). I respect them all, But Marines & the USMC as a whole is a part of my family. SEMPER FI
Saw this movie three times back to back at the Devon Theater in Chicago. What a great story. What a great man. A true American icon! Put the Spurs to her Chuck!
Levon helm (Riddley) is a fascinating guy. I've only encountered him in one other movie (as soon as he spoke in Shooter I knew who he was.) Rolling Stone ranked him as one of "The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time."
I never knew he was the drummer and singer for "The Band" until I researched their song The Weight. It blew me away because I've seen The Right Stuff many times and I really like that song. He was so good in the movie I assumed he had been an actor all his adult life.
@@StuartMcCormack Watch his debut film appearance in Coal Miners Daughter as Loretta Lynn’s father, he was EXCELLENT in that and should’ve been nominated for an Oscar
I worked on F-104's at Edwards, including the NF-104. I love the movie and Chuck Yeager was a one of a kind. I always have to chuckle when I see Sam Sheppard flip the switches for the rocket in the tail, but when he is taxiing on the ground there is no rocket in the tail. I used to love on Armed Forces Day when they would have a tower flyby of this aircraft and then hit the rocket and go straight up. What a sight!
Look it up its was designed for mach 1.4 flight, but the speed at touch down on the runway was about 180 Knots (334 kph, 207 mph). Recommended speed in your landing approach stay above 210 Knots (390 kph, 242 mph). You have to have the airspeed to fly and not chicken out. This plane demanded a good pilot or else it would kill you.
Adding insult to injury, this purebred interceptor was assigned to tactical nuclear fighter/bomber wings in Germany. One of those planes thought obsolete with the introduction of missile defenses and assigned a mission based on need and availability in what seems like one hell of a botched procurement.
Infantry are stacked with so much load it is a wonder they can fight with this. During the Apollo project NASA would tell contractors - This is the maximum weight and come up with something. It makes no sense that men otherwise athletic would have broken backs at forty. Cut it down to thirty pounds with double the effectiveness eggheads and we can't wait ten years for AI to trade jokes with the locals so how about carry all mules right now? Not a science project, something the guys out there would define.
I was 16 when I saw this movie in the spring of '84 at a theater in #Georgetown #DC. I was a #USSenate #page. #JohnGlenn was serving in the Senate. A living breathing #hero of mine. I doubt anyone epitomized #masculinity (to me) more than #SamShepard in this role.
I met Chuck Yeager at an airshow twenty years ago. He looked like some local farmer that had just gotten off of his tractor. Then he got into a P-51 Mustang and flew the hell out of it side by side with his old friend Bud Anderson in his mustang. It was like watching a history book come to life.
He IS a hillbilly. Grew up in them hills and learned about mechanics fixing the machines that would break down.Eventually became the first man to break the sound barrier the year I was born : 1947.
@@axiomist1076 not really. He is a pretty normal person at board meetings and lunches, its not until he gets to an airshow or event that he gets real cocky. Kinda have to be cocky though when your one of the greatest pilots of all time
Yeager crashed because he refused to fly the zoom at the correct angle of attack because he couldn't see the horizon. Others had already flown the NF-104 higher and landed it before Chuck brought the entire project crashing down due to his enormous ego. That's the truth.
@@haitolawrence5986 You're right, I'm not. But those whose careers were black-balled to cover for Yeager's ego-fueled mistake were far better test pilots than he was when the flight required more discipline and a willingness to trust the flight profile than when it depended on the size of the pilots balls.
@@imd1b4u If you accept the (mostly) fictional embellishments of Wolfe's book over actual historical records. In 1947 Crossfield did ask for more money. He knew any military pilot who flew the first supersonic flight would get early promotions and the fast track up the career ladder. Corporate pilots didn't get raises or increased power for successful flights. By the early 1960s when the NF-104 program occurred things were a bit different. The majority of the first flights of the NF-104 were flown by Lockheed engineering test pilot Jack Woodman from Lockheed's facility in Palmdale where the "skunkworks" did the modifications to the three airframes. Air Force test pilot Robert W. Smith flew a few of the flights at Lockheed's Palmdale facility and the vast majority of the NF-104 flights once the three airframes were turned over to the Air Force at Edwards. No one was refusing to fly the NF-104. Smith reached 121,800 feet, which would have been a new world record if the sanctioning body in Paris had been notified of the flight in advance and had an observer there for the flight. Woodman reached 118,400 on one of his flights. Bob Rushworth, a highly successful X-15 pilot, reached 112,000 in his only NF-104 flight. Yeager never got above 105,000 before crashing in his 4th flight in the NF-104. He didn't fly it because no one else wanted to, he flew it because he threw his weight around to try and get another record when someone else had already broken the record, but in an unsanctioned (by the international body that sanctions official world flying records) flight.
Bob Hoover is the greatest pilot I ever saw in person. flew N.A. Aero Commanders upside down 5 feet off the ground. I never met Neil Armstrong or John Young, but I would have given my right foot to shake their hands.
I feel lucky to have seen him fly in the late 90s, when he was in his mid 70s. Mr. Hoover was amazing. It was funny because a few years later we studied his license revocation as part of a class in law school. I remember I was able to raise my hand and explain what I’d seen him do with an airplane just about two years after the case we studied - it was worth it to wipe the sanctimonious smile off the professor’s face both by establishing Mr. Hoover’s reinstatement and blasting the stupid, complacent ageism that said he couldn’t fly because he was a certain age.
Great scenes. I think this movie has the best performances of Denis Quaid and Sam Shepard. Rest in Peace, Chuck. "Is that a man?" "You're damn right it is!" Chokes me up every time.
Got to meet General Yeager way back in 2002. Posed for a picture with me and also signed a photo I had of the Bell X-1. One of the highlights of my life.
Now that Gen Yeager is married to a hot younger woman who is biding time for him to pass, see what that photo signed would cost if purchased frpm his website.
Sometime when the crew is up against it, the breaks are beating the boys, tell them to get out there and give it all they got and win just one for the Zipper. I don't know where I'll be then doc, he said, but I won't smell too good, that's for sure.
Love Yeager's scene-- the choice of a silver/mylar pressure suit (which he would not have worn in that instance historically, would have used a regular flight suit) to riff off knights/shining armor and their steeds similar to Tom Wolfe's (the author of The Right Stuff) amazing essay 'Jousting with Sam and Charlie' about SAMs and Aviators in Vietnam, the way Yeager always asks for a stick of gum, not to be repaid till he lands, as an expression of absolute confidence that he WILL land alive, the recurring motif of the sun in the visor, conjuring memories of Icarus... just perfect.
Even if Yeager didn't crash an F-104, this scene was too good not to get on film. It so succinctly and beautifully captures the human need to go beyond, to break through, to reach.
However, test pilot Jack Ridley died in a C-47 crash in 1957, while this scene occurred in December 1963... indeed Charles Yeager was the best pilot ever !!!
I met Chuck Yeager when I was 21. I was the lighting guy at a convention. He talked with me for several minutes backstage before going onstage. Very decent man. My hero before I met him. His son bought my friends property after my friend passed away. Nice to see the Yeager name on a mailbox driving down the road.
3:25 - 5:21 Reminds me of when I was a kid, staying up late and watching our local station sigh off. Same airplane (F104) flew while a narrator read the poem High Flight, by John Gillespie Magee, Jr. Nice memories.
Sad to read the comments about how "Chuck" Yeager was "difficult" with people he struck in ordinary life. I think we need some empathy and context here. I never met him, but greatly admire his achievements. I have read and re-read his book. If I come across an interview with him I have watched it. To me (and to most others) he is a true patriot and aviation legend. The best? Too subjective and too many parameters. Certainly in the top ten. I know I would not feel comfortable talking with him, and he with me. There are probably 6 people (less now given his age) with whom he would feel comfortable. I would feel inadequate given his experiences against mine and wouldn't ask a single sensible question, because as I said, he has about 6 peers. You only have to look at how he spends his leisure - fishing and hunting and horseback riding. Mostly because they are solitary pursuits. He has been asked all the usuals many times : How does it feel to kill and enemy pilot/ what was the scariest moment in a plane/ did you ever feel you wouldn't survive etc...War? Long periods of boredom, bad food, cold and piss poor weather interspersed with moments of sheer terror. The only thing that got you through were they guys you were with. My words, not his. Scariest? How about being dropped from a bomber at 30,000 feet in a plane that's never been flown, with a rocket about 15 feet behind you that you are about to ignite? I guess in later life he can't spend his time doing what he loved - flying and hunting. As you age the realities of lack of mobility kick in (I am 68 and know what I'm talking about). I bet it just pisses him off. I seem to remember he had his own F 15 years ago in retirement that he could just take up for a spin. I saw him struggle into the back seat of one a few years ago and it made me sad. What would I ask him if I met him? His favorite gun and ammo and game, because it's something I know a little about. I like to think it would even make him smile a little. God bless you Yeager. Be happy and content and know that people are still astounded by your achievements.
It brought a lot out of some great actors. Scot Glenn, Ed Harris, Fred Ward, Shephard, Levon and yes, Dennis Quaid. All great. Anthony Munoz hall of fame football player was also great as the huge orderly when they all got tested. Plus Harry Shearer and Jeff Goldblum puking off the aircraft carrier.
One of my favorite scenes in the movie. It was very heartwarming how Gordo pulled back on his ego for a moment and gave a true tribute to his comrades both alive and dead. Sad that isn't what the press heard or wanted to hear. I remember it every time I get on a plane. And how I see everyone take it for granted going cross country in less than a day. Or seeing another rocket head into space. It all started with someone with balls of steal strapping themselves into an aircraft with an "X" on its tail and pointing it down a runway...
@@skipper9400 He talks about it in his book. Also mentions the time he almost killed himself in a Bell X1A when he lost control at 76,000 feet. In the movie, he and his ground crew sort of laughed it off with Yeager saying: "We sure chased that old demon this time hey, Jack?" In reality, he was scared to death that he destroyed his plane and wasn't going to make it back. (The X1 planes had no ejection seats) The actual radio transmissions were quite dramatic. After he landed, he was physically and mentally beat up. He almost bought it that day, and he knew it. Instead of that folksy "demon" line depicted in the movie, he apparently said something along the lines of: "I'll never do that again..."
...uh, it's a little difficult to survive being (falling) "a mile in the air" with a "parachute gone..." Yeager's chute wasn't "gone" - he landed safely under it.
@@Bob1Mack Bob, pilots don't have reserve chutes...only paratroopers have reserves...Yeager's (only) chute may have been smoldering from the ejection seat's rocket burn (he apparently caught some of that in his helmet), but he came down under his one and only parachute.
Best pilot I ever saw was Anatoly Kvochur. Actually, now that I think about it, I did see Bob Hoover doing his 8 point slow roll in a business twin with both engines out. Both of 'em were pretty special.
Funny you should mention Hartmann in this instance...as I understand it, his career with the Bundesluftwaffe was cut short specifically because he objected (justifiably) to their use of the F-104.
Those were heady days and I had a front row seat for a little bit of it...My Dad was a radar guidance engineer with GE who taught a class at Redstone Arsenal (Huntsville, Ala.) during the late 50's. He was there with Von Braun and the boys...he used to tell me stories about Von Braun. I was born there in '57 and we moved to Cocoa Beach in '58 and lived there until I graduated H.S. in '75...Pop worked at The Cape obviously...GE had the manned radar guidance contracts through Mercury and Gemini and the they were primary on most of the military satellite launches. I saw every manned flight and as a young tike saw a few of the early unmanned rockets blow up too...the Saturn V was awesome as hell...to this day I still count the one night moon shot launch as the most spectacular sight I have ever seen (a recently retired multi degreed Engineer who spent 32 years at America's largest defense contractor. As an aside it looks like we may be buying an oceanfront condo in cocoa beach as our retirement digs...I'm so excited to be moving back...never went far, as we live in Orlando/Oviedo but it will be so cool to look out the window and see the ocean.
Congratulations on your wel ln earned retirement from a fellow Floridian. I was a kid in palm beach and stood on my roof to see shuttle launches in the late 80's. I live on the west cost of Florida now like you, never went far from home.
Nobody mentioned Jimmy Doolittle. He invented instrument flying. Flew in the days of 'seat of the pants'. Bombed Tokyo from the Hornet with B-25s. Wikipedia has a long list of his accomplishments.
Jimmy Doolittle also tamed to Martin Marauder (B-26). Pilots used to call it "Baltimore Whore" because it was built in Maryland and its wings left it without a visible means of support. Doolittle rewrote the flight manual for the plane and it went on the acquit itself very well in WW II once pilots found out that the plane had to be flown with authority. Fail to keep ahead of a B-26 and it rewarded you with a funeral. Chuck Yeager and Jimmy Doolittle are just two of many pioneers of aviation. Billy Mitchell, Charles Lindbergh and Scott Crossfield come right to mind. Choosing one best pilot is probably an impossibility. It's a heck of a fun debate, though.
@@digitheadRex As a young lad, I saw Bob Hoover demonstrate in his Shrike Commander. Truly amazing. I was fortunate enough to go on to retire from American Airlines. I thank all those gentleman for inspiring me to pursue my career.
Lawrence Sperry had developed instrument flight and a practical autopilot long before Doolittle got in on the act. Although Sperry died in a crash in instrument conditions so he might not have been quite as masterful as Doolittle.
The scene with Ridley and Yeager is Epic. Groundcrew and Aircrew. For those of us whom lived these occupations, their exchanges in this movie represent perfectly the highest bonds of loyalty and respect that we too experienced.
Ridley was a very good and noted test pilot himself with an engineering education. He was not 'ground crew' . Ground crew, generally don't wear flight suits, they're getting dirty keeping the planes flying...Ridley was killed in the late '50's when the cargo plane in which he was flying, slammed into Mt. Fujiyama over Japan
I love that the F-104 and the F-86 (also briefly seen in the hangar there) are contemporary with each other. One is a beautiful but very conventional post-war early jet, and the other... is a rocketship. :D
I find it sad that Gordon Cooper tried to say that the best pilot he ever saw was Chuck Yeager but the media wouldn’t have it and started interrupting him until eventually he gave up on trying to say it and just said what the media wanted him to so Chuck Yeager didn’t get any credit for being the pilot that took the biggest risk out of all of them.
You'd have no way of knowing this unless you were old enough but that "bugs" sound is the sound of the clockwork motors of the multiple movie cameras unwinding; always thought that was a brilliant detail.
Best pilot I ever saw... Eric “Winkle” Brown of the Fleet Air Arm. Holds the world record for deck landings at 2407. Deck landing has been described to me as “like landing a bed on a postage stamp”. The USN set a pilot to break this who went mad at 1500. Brown tested the captured Italian and Nazi aircraft at the end of the war,. Flew 487 different aircraft, and made the first landing on a carrier of a jet (Meteor) and a twin engined aircraft (Sea Mosquito). Also aided James Doolittle by evaluating the Mustang as the best aircraft to escort bombers. Flew helicopters as well, with the help only of a manual and a stiff drink as there were no instructors. He also survived the sinking of HMS Audacity and interrogated the “Beasts of Belsen”, Josef Kramer and Irma Gees. But it is a great debate. Yaeger, Doolittle, Alcock n’ Brown. That’s some company of brave men who have paved the way for aviation. The argument is all the fun.
RCAF Captain Clifford John (Hank) HENRY. "Fighter" pilot, instructor and test pilot. At 19 instructor for WW2 fighters, flew Corsairs off coast of France from RN carriier, transitioned to jets, flew the Canadair F-86 to air supremacy in the first 4TH Tactical Airforce competition with an individual high score never to be equalled. Hank and Chuck flew against each other, then went for beers, just good ole boys out for a shoot. Transitioned to instructor on the CF-104, one of the Originals, and then flew it at CFB Cold Lake and Europe. Never bailed out of an aircraft, never lost and aircraft, and as senior test pilot landed some others would have ejected from, including one CF-104 which he landed on the main gear struts, the wheels having fallen off during takeoff.
Did you know his career was in doing plays? Hollywood had one heck of a time.convincing him to to this movie. I'm glad he decided to. Sheppard was the "Right Stuff" for this movie.
He was awesome. How mind-blowing is it that TRS debuted in the same (Oscar) year as WarGames? One of the Political problems with the release of TRS was, at that time, John Glenn was running for President. (As a Democrat!!) Wish he was running now.
@@henrygustavekrausse7459 It was actually an authorized flight...he asked for, and received, permission to tack the altitude run to the end of the test flight. He had a chase pilot with him and all.
The '104 may have been a hot airplane for the day, but it had major flaws that nearly did Yeager in. The tail locked in the full up position when Yeager was at apogee, causing the initial stall and spin. He was able to use the trim to get out of it, but wound up in the fatal flat spin that lasted for 13 rotations, 7 of which he stayed with the vehicle before he yanked on the ejection yoke. The tail was never tested in a zero-g regime until right then.
@@elgordo151 That I know, this '104 didn't have the rocket on the tail or the RCS kit on the nose. Also the pilot of the craft was wearing standard helmet n mask kit, not the high altitude suit Yeager wore. I also learned the huge engine had a major influence on the spin due to the massive gyroscopic forces it inflicted on the airframe, jamming controls too.
Pure fiction. It took a large number of ground support to get the modified NF-104 into the air. The rocket motor had to be fueled immediately prior to launch. Yeager's last flight in the NF-104 was the second of the day for that airframe, and had been scheduled in advance with all of the needed support personnel present and participating. The book and movie also conveniently left out that the NF-104 had already been flown higher (than the altitude Yeager reached on the flight he crashed) and then brought back down and landed intact on more than one occasion before Yeager let his ego bring the program crashing down. He then made sure the careers of those who could lead the ensuing investigation in the direction that pointed to pilot error were over before the investigation was. Sometimes the truth's a bitch.
In the sixties i had over a hundred model airplanes, and this one was my favorite. It's just basically a rocket motor with a man attached to it, but I love the way the wings angled downward.
Chuck Yeager was surely a talented pilot but everyone I've talked to who has met him says he is "a little lacking" in the human decency and kindness department, and that IS putting it nicely.
I am coming to this scene one time every week, at least... Rarely anyone around me understand me about sky... about space... this movie and music understand my soul, and I know many of you understand me. I would die to do something like this, truly die, but not for myself, but for everyone. This spirit of ours we feel while watching this, no words... no words can explain. I know I will never be able to do this, but my soul is up there... beyond clouds, and beyond..., it's there, and my eyes goes teary, my soul is full. I know you can understand me. I have my eyes teary right now while playing this video and writin this comment. We will all die oen day, let's die with dignity, and proud we lived in the era... of this GIANTS... we need them ... we need them again, this world needs them... so badly. I know someone of you will understand me on everythin I've said. Greets from...Europe.
My book report on you was the first thing I ever got an A+ on in school because after reading about him I wanted to get it perfect. He probably handled Max Q like a champ.
I actually got a chance to meet and talk with Chuck Yeager when I worked on Edwards AFB. Him and I were out at the Pancho Barnes Ranch on the base along with his wife and camera crew. I wanted to ask him about his flights with the ME-262 and P-80 but he did not want to talk about it. When I did ask him about the movie the Right Stuff and the Edwards portion of it, he told me it was 80 to 90% accurate. Also he told me when I first met him, that I would never make it as a fighter pilot as I was too big (I am 6'3 nowadays) and I had beard. It was an interesting day to say the least.
Love this movie and this scene. Of course, this never actually happened, Chuck didn't take the F-104 without permission to try and break a record. His actual accident happened while they were testing very high altitude flight, where they would pitch the plane up and fly until the engine cuts out (almost 120,000 ft), then on the way back down the airflow would restart the engine. The accident happened when the thrusters on the nose failed and he couldn't pitch it down to get airflow over the wings and into the engine, the result was a flat spin. This then caused another issue when he ejected, the lack of forward speed caused the ejection seat to not get clear before his shoot opened, it got hooked up and then fall, hitting him in the face with a hot rocket nozzle.
I believe the aircraft in question was a modified 104....with a liquid fuel rocket on the tail...kinda like a DC 10 Those switches he throws in the film are supposed to fire that rocket He found the edge of his envelope....too much atmosphere for the hydrogenperoxide thrusters....too little for the aerodynamics But....I wasn't there...
Pure fiction. The NF-104 rocket motor required a good sized crew to fuel it immediately prior to take off. All of the support personnel that participated in the same airframe's first flight earlier that day (flown by one of the test pilots actually assigned to the test program) were still on hand and participated in Yeager's flight as well. There had been several previous flights when the test pilots had flown it higher than Yeager reached and landed it. Their careers were ruined in the coverup following Yeager's crash that also ended the program.
@@michaelclark9762 Now, go back and read my comment again. See where I said Deke flew solo? No? That's because I didn't *SAY* he flew solo. I said he was the last of the original 7 to fly in space. Which he was, flying as part of the crew on the Apollo-Soyuz Test project, in 1975. Also, Gordo was not the last to fly into space solo. That was Vladimir Komarov on Soyuz 1. Komarov was also the first to die on a space mission when the Soyuz 1 space craft malfunctioned and his parachute failed. The last person to fly solo in space was Ron Evans. He was alone on Apollo 17 as Schmitt and Cernan walked on the moon. Nice try on your correction. It's just to bad you have no clue what you are talking about.
I'm sure he was going to say Yeager. But as usual the media can't shut up and just listen. Was fortunate enough to meet General Yeager many years ago and he was a great guy, knew we were all former enlisted. RIP General!
A very difficult aircraft to land as a result from what I've read. It had a very high landing speed and was quite unforgiving if you got in to trouble.
@@tilesetter1953 Hence the German airforce joke, (they lost a lot of F104Gs): "Do you want to get a Starfighter cheap? Then buy a hectare of ground, and wait...."
