Tag: Chuck Yeager

Chuck Yeager Exhibit Opens At Namesake Airport

A new exhibit on Chuck Yeager, coinciding with the 75th anniversary of his breaking the sound barrier, has opened at West Virginia International Yeager Airport.

A new exhibit on Chuck Yeager coinciding with the 75th anniversary of his breaking the sound barrier has been opened at West Virginia International Yeager Airport.

Officials from the airport participated in the opening Monday, along with staff from Marshall University, where Yeager donated artifacts in 1986.

“Gen. Yeager’s influence on our airport and on the aviation community at large is undeniable,” airport Director and CEO Dominique Ranieri said in a news release.

The exhibit is located in the airport’s observation area.

Lori Thompson, Marshall’s head of special collections, said that among the materials in the display are a framed copy of “Bell XS-1 Makes Supersonic Flight,” from Aviation Week, December 22, 1947; a plaque presented for years of dedicated service from the U.S. Air Force; a sculpture on a wooden base commemorating the 50th anniversary of breaking the sound barrier in 1997; and a plaque presented by the Charleston Gazette-Mail for “West Virginian of the Year.”

David Pittenger, a Marshall professor who also works with the flight school, said the long-term goal is to have a rotation of shows about Yeager that draw from the university’s archives.

Chuck Yeager Breaks the Sound Barrier: October 14, 1947

On October 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager’s Bell X-1 rocket airplane dropped from the belly of a B-29 bomber. Seconds later, Yeager entered the history books as the first pilot to break the sound barrier.

By this time, the 24-year-old Lincoln County native was already an aviation legend. During World War II, he had flown 64 combat missions over Europe and, in a single dogfight, had killed 13 Germans. In his eighth mission, he had been shot down over German-occupied France.

After the war, he served in California as a test pilot for high-speed planes. A year after breaking the sound barrier, he visited Charleston and gave the people a show they would never forget. During a boat race on the Kanawha River, he flew his Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star jet beneath Charleston’s South Side Bridge.

Yeager retired from the Air Force in 1975 as a brigadier general. Thirty years later, President George W. Bush promoted Yeager to the rank of major general. In 2012, on the 65th anniversary of his record-setting flight, he again broke the sound barrier—this time, at age 89.

August 14, 1945: VJ Day

On August 14, 1945, Japan surrendered to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. Victory over Japan—or VJ—Day was celebrated across the United States and in every West Virginia town. The Mountain State had contributed greatly to the war cause. West Virginia had the fifth-highest percentage of servicemen, with nearly 6,000 sacrificing their lives.

Many West Virginians distinguished themselves throughout the war. “Woody” Williams earned the Medal of Honor for his valor on Iwo Jima, “Spanky” Roberts became the first African-American cadet in the Army Air Corps, and “Chuck” Yeager shot down five German planes in one day.

Some 2,000 West Virginia women served in the armed forces. Winifred Love commanded the first contingent of WAVES overseas, Dolores Dowling was among the first American nurses to land in Sicily after D-Day, Florence Blanchfield was superintendent of the Army Nurse Corps, and Ruby Bradley nearly starved to death in a concentration camp—while nursing other prisoners.

West Virginians also supplied more than 600 million tons of coal to fuel the war; established the world’s largest synthetic rubber plant; and produced steel, gun barrels, and ships.

November 3, 1947: Dedication of Kanawha Airport

On November 3, 1947, Kanawha Airport was dedicated on Coonskin Ridge near Charleston. World War I ace Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was among those present. The massive earth-moving and mountain-leveling project had taken three years to complete.

The airport’s terminal building was finished in 1950, and an addition was built in 1970. A runway-extension project was completed a year later, allowing the airport to accommodate jet airliners. Other renovations have occurred periodically over the years.

In the 1970s, the airport was the site of two strange aviation incidents. In 1971, a former Boone County coal miner hijacked a plane from Kanawha and demanded to be taken to Israel. He was later apprehended at Dulles Airport near Washington. Eight years later, a cargo plane carrying 12 tons of marijuana plunged over the airport’s hillside. Looters made off with much of the marijuana before law enforcement could secure the area.

Kanawha Airport is now named Yeager Airport in honor of Brigadier General Chuck Yeager, a native of Lincoln County and the first aviator to break the sound barrier. The terminal is named for former U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller.

Yeager Among Aviation Hall of Fame Inductees

Record-setting test pilot Chuck Yeager and former astronaut Jon McBride are among eight people inducted into the West Virginia Aviation Hall of Fame.

The other inductees are former U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, Kemp McLaughlin, Irene Crum, Bill Pancake, Donald Judy and Angelo Koukoulis.

Media outlets report that the induction ceremony was held Monday night at The Resort at Glade Springs during the West Virginia Airport Managers Association’s annual conference.

Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier in 1947.

McBride was the lead chase pilot for the maiden voyage of the Columbia space shuttle and was the pilot of the Challenger space shuttle during an eight-day mission in October 1984.

Exit mobile version