The Right Stuff

For this weeks post I decided to watch the 1983 blockbuster The Right Stuff, which tells the story of the Mercury Space program, which lasted from 1959-1963. Throughout the movie, the story of the astronaut is paralleled by the story of an Air Force Test Pilot by the name of Chuck. It wasn't until this assignment that I really looked into who the test pilot was, and it turned out to be none other than the legendary test pilot Chuck Yeager. Chuck Yeager is most famously known for being the first man to travel faster than the speed of sound, and was the man who trained the pilots for the Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle missions. During the movie, there is a critical scene, where Yeager pilots his NF-104 test plane in an attempt to break the russian altitude record in a jet. During the scene, Yeager looses control of his plane, and plummets out of the sky, ejecting just before he hits the ground. I always thought this scene was thrown into the movie for some sort of dramatic effect, but it turns out that the event is true, and on October 10th 1963, Chuck Yeager crashed his aircraft during a test flight. The film portrayal of Yeager is really quite accurate. Yeager is described as a quiet yet fearless man, determined to push the limits of whatever aircraft he is in, and in this movie, they hit the nail on the head, both with the facts of his flights, as well as the personality of his character.
SOURCES:
http://www.chuckyeager.com/1954-1961-squadron-leader
http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/yea0bio-1
http://www.askmen.com/celebs/interview_400/494_chuck-yeager-the-right-stuff.html