On this day, 82 years ago on August 10th 1944, Captain David Auldjo Jamieson of the British Royal Norfolk Regiment won the Victoria Cross. Despite being wounded in the eye and arm, he refused to be evacuated as a casualty as he was the only officer remaining functioning, and with only 100 men held off seven repeated attacks by superior forces against his bridgehead over the River Orne, Normandy, France.
British positions were counterattacked by tanks of the German 12th ϟϟ Panzer Division. D company was at the center of much of the bitter fighting as the Germans tried to dislodge the British from their positions. During the German assault, which lasted over 36 hours, the British destroyed five enemy tanks and an armored car.
In the course of the fighting, Jamieson, who had been badly wounded in the head and arm but had refused evacuation, left his trench to direct fire from a British tank onto the enemy. With most of the company’s officers out of action and with mounting casualties among the men, Jamieson, at 6 ‘5 a somewhat conspicuous figure, effectively took command.
Using radio to bring down artillery fire on the German positions, he walked about in full view of the enemy, reorganizing, rallying and encouraging his company. In what the official reports for his Victoria Cross described as “the seemingly hopeless situation”, Jamieson’s powers of leadership so inspired his men that they managed to repulse each fresh attack.
So great were the mounting casualties on the enemy’s side that, eventually, the Germans were forced to withdraw to regroup further back from the bridgehead. Three months later, Jamieson’s Victoria Cross was announced. The official citation made it clear that it was largely due to his personal actions that the important Ome bridgehead was held.
The son of Sir Archibald Auldjo Jamieson, chairman of Vickers Armstrong, David Jamieson was educated at Eton. With the imminent prospect of war, he abandoned his plans to go up to Cambridge and, in May 1939, aged 18, was granted a Territorial commission, joining the 5th Royal Norfolk Regiment.
He was granted a regular commission in 1941. After the war he stayed in the army and, with promotion to major, served as an instructor at the School of Infantry, Warminster, before being appointed an adviser to the British Military Mission in Egypt. He resigned his commission in 1948 and began what was to be an extremely successful business career.
Born into poverty in the woods of West Virginia, Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager was a World War II aircraft mechanic, fighter pilot, double ace, military commander, and a test pilot who broke the sound barrier. His journey from Army private to USAF Brigadier General is an inspiration to all.
Yeager began his Air Force career in September 1941 as a private in the U.S. Army Air Corps, serving as an aircraft mechanic. While he wanted to be a pilot, that career path was initially closed to him due to his age and lack of education, as the Air Corps required two years of college and a minimum age of 20.
Chuck Yeager stands in front of the Bell X-1 named Glamorous Glennis. He named all his assigned aircraft in some variation of his wife’s name. Image: NARA
After Pearl Harbor, however, the standards were revised due to the urgent need for pilots, and Yeager was accepted into the flight officer program. While Yeager had excellent eyesight and other attributes for flight training, his first few flights were memorable for another reason: Yeager vomiting in the cockpit.
With time, the queasiness went away, and Yeager excelled at flying. He graduated from pilot training at Luke A.F.B. in March 1943. He then transferred to the 363rd Fighter Squadron at Tonopah, NV, and was trained with the Bell P-39 Airacobra. Once while he was showboating, he clipped a farmer’s tree during a training mission and was grounded for a week.
Chuck Yeager’s P-51D Mustang that he flew for the majority of his aerial combat victories during World War II. Image: National Museum of the U.S.A.F.
In November 1943, the unit shipped out to RAF Leiston and began training with the P-51 Mustang.
Shot Down
On his eighth mission, Yeager, who had one aerial victory so far when he took out a Me-109 on the way to Berlin, was shot down over occupied France. He bailed out and hit the ground running for the tree line, evading the Nazis.
Capt. Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager in an official photograph from the U.S. Army Air Forces, circa 1943. Image: NARA
Initially, he trained the French Resistance (Maquis) in the use of explosives and timers, which he learned from his father, who worked in the gas fields. He escaped to Spain with the help of the resistance while helping another wounded aviator over the Pyrenees. He then spent time in Malta before returning to England.
A Talk With Eisenhower
After his downing, Yeager’s days of combat were over. Or were they? At that time, there was a regulation that prohibited downed pilots (evaders) from flying over enemy territory again. This was to prevent the resistance groups from being compromised if the pilot was captured and interrogated.
Yeager’s desire to fly again was so intense that he spoke with Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower to request a return to combat status. Actually, Yeager wrote in his memoir that “I raised so much hell that General Eisenhower finally let me go back to my squadron.”
An early photo of Flight Officer Charles Yeager in the U.S. Army Air Corps. The Army Air Corps was reorganized as the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1941 and then U.S. Air Force in 1947. Image: NARA
When they met, “Eisenhower said, ‘I’ve got guys shooting themselves in the foot to go home. What is the matter with you?” Yeager replied, “General, I haven’t done my job. I don’t want to leave my buddies after only eight missions. It just isn’t right. I’ve got a lot of fightin’ left to do.”
Eisenhower told him that it was the War Department’s policy, but he would ask for permission to send Yeager back. While waiting, Yeager was limited to short-range missions, but managed to bag a Junkers Ju-88 bomber flying over the English Channel for his second kill.
In August 1944, Yeager returned to combat status and was issued a P-51C Mustang with a Malcom Hood canopy and, almost immediately, a P-51D, which he christened Glamorous Glen III, after his future wife, Glennis Dickhouse. On Oct 12, 1944, Yeager made squadron history when he became their first “Ace in a Day” with five kills of Luftwaffe Me-109’s.
On November 27, 1944, Yeager continued his hot streak, downing four Fw-190 fighters. He would also score one of the first victories of a Me 262 jet fighter and end the war with 13 kills. On January 15, 1945, he flew his last mission and returned to the U.S., having completed 61 missions in total.
Chuck Yeager prior to a test flight in the NF-104. The NF-104 was a rocket-powered F-104 Starfighter. Image: U.S.A.F.
Due to his status as an Evader, Yeager was given his choice of assignments and chose to be a functional test pilot of repaired aircraft at Wright Field.
Test Pilot
With the war now over, Yeager graduated from the Flight Performance School and landed a dream job as a test pilot at Muroc Army Airfield (Edwards A.F.B.)
After a Bell Aircraft Test pilot demanded $150,000 to break the sound barrier with their new rocket-powered X-1, Col. Albert Boyd, the chief of the Flight Test Division, successfully lobbied to get the X-1 project under his command. Boyd had already assembled a team of the best test pilots around. Now, Yeager was selected to be the first to break the sound barrier.
Chuck Yeager in the X-1 Glamorous Glennis, which he flew to break the sound barrier. Image: NARA
Two days before the record-breaking flight attempt of the X-1, Yeager was out horseback riding with Glennis and broke two ribs. Yeager, certain the injury would get him scrubbed from the mission, found a civilian doctor in nearby Rosamond to patch him up.
Now comes the hard part. In order to close the hatch on the X-1, Yeager had to hold it down and slam down a lever to seal it. This was not going to happen with two broken ribs. He asked his pilot/flight engineer friend, Jack Ridley, to help him come up with a solution.
Ridley chopped off a section of broom handle, and the pair tested it on the ground. The next day, the broomstick hatch tool worked perfectly, and Yeager was on his way to the history books. Yeager broke the sound barrier with a speed of Mach 1.05 at an altitude of 45,000 feet.
The 50’s
Yeager was the first American pilot to fly a MIG-15 due to the defection of a North Korean Pilot. In 1953, Yeager was a part of the X-1A team in search of breaking the Mach 2 barrier. Yeager set a new speed record in December 1953 when he flew the X-1A to Mach 2.44, breaking a recent Navy record and spoiling their planned celebration of the event.
Maj. Chuck Yeager in the cockpit of the Bell X-1A. The X-1A was a larger, second-generation rocket-powered plane. Image: U.S.A.F.
The new flight record, however, almost killed Yeager. Just before reaching Mach 2.44, the X-1A became uncontrollable when it experienced “inertia coupling,” a condition that caused the aircraft to pitch, roll and yaw simultaneously. The X-1A dropped from 51,000 feet to 29,000 feet in less than a minute before Yeager regained control of the plane.
The 60’s
In 1962, Yeager, now a full colonel, became the first commandant of the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School. The school was the first stop for pilots wishing to become astronauts. While Yeager was arguably the best pilot at the time, his lack of a college degree kept him from serving as an astronaut.
The 6,000-pound thrust rocket engine enabled the NF-104 Starfighter to reach an altitude of 100,000 feet. Pilots would experience up to 90 seconds of weightlessness before re-entry. Image: U.S.A.F.
In December 1963, Yeager began test flights of the M2F1 “Lifting body, also known as the “Bathtub”. You may recognize this aircraft from the opening crash scene of the “Six Million Dollar Man” television series. It was here that Yeager suffered his most serious injury.
Another program in the works at the time was the NF-104, which was a rocket-assisted Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. It was one of the first programs created to train pilots for astronaut duties.
Yeager took off and reached nearly 100,000 feet when the aircraft became unresponsive and entered a flat spin. The Starfighter lost approximately 95,000 feet of altitude with Yeager attempting to gain control all the way down. At one point, Yeager deployed the Starfighter’s drag chute in hopes of straightening the aircraft and restarting the engine.
Chuck Yeager, Gus Lundquist and Jim Fitzgerald stand next to the Bell X-1 Glamorous Glennis. Image: U.S.A.F.
With only a few seconds left, Yeager ejected from the Starfighter. During the ejection sequence, the ejection seat base struck him in the head, and the hot rocket motor broke his faceplate, which caused the oxygen supply to catch fire and severely burn his face. Yeager suffered through numerous operations for his facial burns. This was the end of his test flight career.
Vietnam, Retirement and Beyond
In 1966, Yeager assumed command of the 405th Fighter Wing at Clark Air Base, Philippines, which rotated throughout Southeast Asia and South Vietnam, flying 127 missions.
In the early 1970’s, Yeager was assigned as the air attaché to the Pakistani Air Force, assisting them with integrating the AIM-9 Sidewinder missile onto their fighter aircraft.
U.S.A.F. Brig. Gen. Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager, retired, poses for photographers after returning from a flight aboard a 65th Aggressor Squadron F-15D Eagle in 2012. Image: DVIDS
In March 1975, Yeager finally retired with 34 years of service. Not one to sit around, Yeager kept busy with a variety of projects. He made a cameo appearance as Fred the bartender in the movie “The Right Stuff,” which, in part, told his story of breaking the sound barrier. He drove a Corvette pace car at the Indianapolis 500. He flew an F-15D Eagle in celebration of the 50th anniversary of his record-breaking flight. He was a spokesman for AC Delco auto parts and a consultant to Northrop Grumman for the F-20 Tigershark.
Yeager passed away on Pearl Harbor Day, 2020, at the age of 97.
Legacy
His military decorations and awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star with oak leaf cluster, Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, Distinguished Flying Cross with two oak leaf clusters, Bronze Star Medal with “V” device, Air Medal with 10 oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal, Purple Heart, Distinguished Unit Citation Emblem with oak leaf cluster, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Ribbon, and the Congressional Medal of Freedom.
Chuck Yeager smiles at the crowd during the Yeager Airport 2018 Salute To Our Veterans and First Responders Air Show held in Charleston, West Virginia, Oct. 14, 2018. Image: DVIDS
Yeager was a command pilot and had flown more than 12,000 hours in 361 different makes and models of military aircraft in service to his country.
