Aviation History - USA (2019-09)

movie aircraft was an F-104G

that lacked the external rocket

booster on Yeager’s NF-104.

The ejection sequence is accu-

rately portrayed, if a bit confusing.

Yeager’s seat rig had an explosive

charge to blast it out of the plane.

While he was falling alongside the

seat, its still-glowing end struck him

and broke open his helmet, severely

burning his face and hands.

All in all, onlyPM:QOP\;\]ٺ’s

aerial sequences have real value.

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dramatization of historical events it

holds up, but it should not be taken

too seriously. The one thing it can

be commended for was its effect

on the American public. After the

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and the Mercury astronauts found

themselves in the spotlight again.

Suddenly astronauts most Ameri-

cans had forgotten or ignored for

nearly 20 years were again sought

out for public appearances and auto-

graphs. I count myself among those

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Frequent contributor Mark Carlson is the author of

Flying on Film: A Century of Aviation in the

5W^QM[!, which is recommended for addi-

tional reading.

Boyd. Boyd chose Yeager and Bob

Hoover as pilots, Captain Jack Ridley as

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highly skilled engineer, former B-24

combat pilot and head of the Bomber

Test section at Wright, doesn’t appear

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brilliant engineers in the Air Force, but

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kick to Yeager, doing little more than

dispensing Beeman’s gum.

Edwards Air Force Base was the

setting for most of the X-1 and later

flight sequences. The X-1 aerial

shots were filmed using models, as

the FAA refused to allow the Ladd

Company to drop the full-scale

mockup from.QÅ, the Confederate

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setting flight while he was com-

mandant at the USAF Aerospace

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break the 114,000-foot altitude record set by a

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ger did not “steal” the plane. Jack Ridley is there

to dispense more Beeman’s gum but had actually

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STUFF OF DREAMS

The “right stuff” in

Philip Kaufman’s

1983 film was mainly

confined to aircraft

such as the Bell X-1

(top) and the dramatic

flying sequences.

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september 2019