The flight depicted in this scene was in 1947. The Wright Brothers first flight was 1903 -- just 44 years earlier and Orville Wright was still alive at the time of this flight. That's a lot of change in one person's lifetime.
The first flight of the B-52 was five years after this event in 1952. The B-52 is still flying in the USAF and will be for another 30+ years. WWII was a war for knowledge and information at a time when humanity was just learning how to interperate said information... look at all the technological advances in the years immediately following WWII...
Man is one of the reasons for my love of all things aviation. What a true loss. ☹️ Hope you can still fly aircraft in heaven because heaven would be boring without it.
I know this will sound eerie but I was watching this movie the day he died or the day before and I was asking myself how much time does Chuck Yeager have left. He's old. And by a freakish coincidence he died that same day or the day after
A man's man. A bonafide legend. His passing brings to mind a quote from General George Patton. "We should not mourn the passing of such men, but rather praise God that such men have lived."
А ты знаешь о Великой Депрессии - тот же голод,только в США (и это при наличии продуктов),в котором ПРОПАЛО!!!! 12 млн. американцев?,и тогда же появилось множество трудовых концлагерей,которые КАК РАЗ в года Великой Депрессии и понастроили множество дорог,городов,фабрик,заводов. построили Великую Стену у Миссисипи,что бы она не разливалась так широко,различные плотины и множество гидроэлектростанций
Tимо - знаешь, какая рифма к твоему имени? И что самое интересное(только ты не обижайся) - ОЧЕНЬ верная - МИМО !!! Потому что ты истории не знаешь абсолютно !!!! А уж тем более истории экономики. Я дам тебе миллион , если ты назовёшь,ГДЕ был КОММУНИЗМ !!! Ну и немного экономической истории - ну вот с хренов ли в США ВООБЩЕ мог быть кризис , если по производству продуктов питания она выступала на первом месте в мире , НО вот почему-то то,что не продавалось - раздавливалось тракторами , сгнаивалось , выбрасывалось в море и на мусорки , и просто сжигалось,если горело - как растительные масла.Вот ты представляешь,народ голодает из-за того , что капиталист решил поддержать текущие цены .и ПОЭТОМУ часть продуктов отправил под тракторы на мусорках. Нет что бы СНИЗИТЬ цены и раздать беднякам - да наклали они на народ , да и не их это народ ,пусть подыхает,лишь бы прибыль не снизилась!!! И как ты думаешь,ПОЧЕМУ Германия.которая репарацией расплачивалась (а это значит 95% всей прибыли шло на выплаты) ВДРУГ стала ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКИ ПОДНИМАТЬСЯ? Как ты думаешь,КТО стал ВДРУГ инвестировать в беднейшую Германию? ОЙ - а это ВДРУГ компании : - SIEMENS , COCA-COLA , BOSS , FORD , General Motors , Standart Oil , Maggi , Kodak , Allians , Krupp & Thyssen , Bayer ,Renault , Ikea и множество ещё более мелких компаний и по сей день существующих
@@maxfrankow1238 Mr Yeager's book corrects some things that are portrayed incorrectly in this film. And his own account of shooting down an ME-262 is different than how many people would like to believe it happened.
@Franklin Vaugn ribs if I remember correctly, and trust me if you add the pressure in the cockpit it's far more painful, because one can't stop breathing. 👍
I stopped watching it after episode 5. Mediocre acting, most of the astronauts look almost nothing like the real characters, dreadful CGI, cheap production (hate to say it but it shows), no Chuck Yeager,/X plane program/Edwards AFB era, no rocket development process and the whole show/story focuses on all the wrong things. I don’t care or want to know how many girls Shepard and Cooper screwed or see a complete run down of all the pool parties, LIFE magazine interviews and social gatherings they attended. I want to mostly know about the technical difficulties they faced, the scientific challenges, the space race with the Russians, the training they went through , the proper selection process and obviously the fears, concerns and doubts they had in every step and how they managed to push through. Nothing of that was shown, WTF!
@MacBookemDanno I might be wrong with this but I’ll say it anyway. My gut feeling is that the production simply does not have enough money to deal with this project properly. Showing X planes program and Edwards AFB record breaking attempts, missile tests, astronaut training facilities, labs, launching sites etc and do them properly, translates into immaculate and detailed -Nolan level CGI, blended with proper practical effects with real planes and good mock ups. All of the above translates into a huge budget for a TV show, which evidently do not have. If you notice 95% of the scenes are either indoors or small outdoor areas (swimming pool, parking lot) and involve people and dialogue whether that has to do with office stuff, interviews, flirting with girls, Family affairs issues etc. The budget you need to shoot all that is negligible: the only proper scenes I’ve seen thus far (watched up to episode 5) that warren some aerospace interest was the F-104 flight and the failed Redstone rocket launch, all done with CGI so bad that looks like Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 graphics.
@MacBookemDanno I would summarize the era thusly, borrowing from both Tom Wolfe and my own USAF uncle: 1.) Flying. 2.) Drinking. 3.) Driving. 4.) Screwing. That said, when the balloon went up and the chips were down: a.) You went where you were needed, and b.) You would sooner crash and burn than let your buddies down.
@@Shutterbun4 Right? I use it myself any time I describe needing to "go fast" Flooring my WRX? I put the spurs to er' Leading a sprint on my road bike? Putting the spurs to 'er Every once and a while I say it... and someone gives me the "look" Yeah... they know where it came from. Kindred spirit.
General Yeager has stated him and Lt Hoover could fly but it was Col Ridley who had the brains. Hoover being from Tennessee Yeager from West Virginia and Ridley from Oklahoma he said Col Ridley spoke their language and both trusted their lives with him. He also stated that if Ridley had at any given time told him it was unsafe to fly you would’ve never heard from “yours truly”.
The brief shot of the pictures on the wall at Pancho's @ 4:31 gets me everytime. Thank you to Phillip Kaufman for making part of this story the fact so many men gave their lives to help achieve this. That should never be forgotten. Like a winning quarterback, Chuck Yeager (not to take anything away from him), great as he is, gets the glory for the accomplishment of thousands and thousands of test pilots, engineers, craftsmen, maintenance men, repairmen, military officer, political leaders and really all of us Americans. It was a national achievement.
Chuck Yeager said this project would not have succeeded without Jack Ridley. You have to read Yeager’s biography to know what I’m talking about. Ridley saved the project.
"Put the spurs to her Chuck..." an incredible time, and thanks to those who helped make an amazing film. In particular thanks to those we've lost and those who are still with us, including the actors, the pilots, and especially Chuck Yeager, Scott Crossfield and all seven Mercury Astronauts... Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Wally Schirra, Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper and Deke Slayton
Virgil "Gus' Grissom was the first of the Mercury Astronauts to die. He was killed along with Ed White and Roger Chaffee while inside an Apollo test module that caught fire on January 27, 1967. John Glenn was the oldest of the Mercury Astronauts and the last to die at age 95 on December 8, 2016.
Great scene. This moment was interesting in showing the transition from early flight to the beginning of the space age. He climbs into a rocket plane about to go supersonic -- wearing a leather jacket, leather helmet, and goggles!
@@glennellis1584 Dude... you don't know the half of it... hell yeah he had two big brass ones alright. Fun fact: at the time - hardshell flight helmets weren't a thing yet - so he modded a football helmet of the period to fit over his leather flight helmet and radio ear cups. You see him in the bar carving it up with a buck knife to suit his needs - that's why the line "gonna look like the galloping ghost (a famous football player) in this" when Ridley tosses him. the helmet. He did indeed use a modified football helmet for his flight. Also - he did fly with broken ribs, from a horseback riding incident and DID use a sawed off broomstick to latch the door on the X1 on his Mach 1 flight. His wife drove him 50 miles into town to see an off base doctor, so he wouldn't get grounded. So, That's true. Another interesting thing was, the door for the X1 was just in front of the wings and had no ejection seat - wings which were so thin there were guards placed on them when the plane was parked lest ground crew injure themselves on them... which means had Yeager attempted to bail out of the plane - he'd have certainly been killed. So while yes, he had a parachute, in his autobiography - he mentioned he only wore it so he had a comfortable pad to sit on - he had no illusions of actually being able to use it in an emergency to egress the plane. In the X1A (the plane he loses control of and busts the canopy with his helmet in) - he didn't even have a chute - the canopy was bolted into place and there was no escape system. So yeah - he almost died there. That scene actually happened more or less as depicted, he lost control at mach 2.3 and fell out of the sky and lost 10 miles of altitude before getting control back. He said in his autobiography, had the plane had an escape system or ejection seat - he'd have bailed out of it. Instead the guy did what he had to do and wrestled the beast back under control. there was a fair amount of Hollywood in the F104 scene in the movie - but he did nearly die in an NF104 doing re entry research workups for the (later cancelled) x20 dynasoar program.
Last Monday I had a sudden urge to watch this flick again. After watching it, I thought it'd be perfect for my school's aeronautics elective class so I showed it over three days. The students ate it up, really interested. After this scene on the first day a student asked me what happened to Yeager, I said he actually does a cameo in this film and he's still alive today. We looked him up to see what he was up to only to discover he had died the same day I had a desire to watch the film again...the day before. I was stunned. The universe strikes again. R.I.P. Chuck. I'm glad that I could be the one to regale another group of young men with your amazing feats, heroism, and determination. The world needs men like you, and sadly now, is severely lacking. But you struck a chord in my classroom, and that's the pinpoint beginning of your mammoth legacy.
Amazingly, just 15 years after Yeager exceeded Mach 1, Kelly Johnson and the Skunk Works built the SR-71. That plane remained the fastest ever built for 1/2 the time period of manned flight. The most incredible and innovative technical achievement in Human History. An analogy is building a computer in 1980, and it is STILL the Worlds fastest Computer in 2021.... That is what the SR-71 accomplished.
I believe the x-15 was much faster than the sr71. Your point still stands though, the x15 was also flown in the 60s and it's record has yet to be broken.
@@marchicagoThe X-15 is definitely the fastest of all time. It reached a speed of Mach 6.7 (4,534 mph) and also broke the altitude record by flying an incredible 354,000 feet. The pilots flew so high that they were actually given astronaut wings for officially being in space. But because it had to be dropped from a bomber and had rockets, it’s not considered a true jet. And that’s why the SR-71 is considered the fastest airplane.
@@josephastier7421 On 4 Mar 1987, Reagan made a further nationally televised address, taking full responsibility for the ' Iran Contra affair ' stating "what began as a strategic opening to Iran deteriorated, in its implementation, into trading arms for hostages".
But you wouldn't know it hardly after scoping the news media just now. Only CBS News and NBC News gave us any kind of information about his passing, and even at that, the story was buried. Shame on the media, especially after giving Ginsburg the royal treatment for weeks. Complete shame.
They cut off the very best part of the scene at the end. There is the sonic boom, and someone says " What's that sound, oh God". Then in the movie he says "He bought the farm" and then yeager goes flying by. Love this movie.
Levon was even better in Coal Miners Daughter. I always love just before this scene when he improvised that stick by cutting down a portion of a broomstick and then twirls it like a drummer would. I like to think that was his little nod to his years with The Band
Why on earth did you cut if off before showing the part where everyone realized Yeager had broken the sound barrier, and he did his victory roll? That was the best part of the scene.
The film didn't make a deal of it but the man flying the chase plane was Chuck's best friend Bob Hoover who was another legendary pilot, one of the few Chuck saw as his equal
The story of Yeager meeting Hoover is legendary, they Tangled in a mock dogfight above Wright field Yeager in an Xp-80 and Hoover in a P-38 and neither one could outfly the other.
@@kdrapertrucker Yeah I read both biographies and both had a funny tale about that day. They near killed each other unintentionally trying to out do each other!
Amazes me that Hollywood never made a movie about Yeager's life. After reading his autobiography and seeing this movie, I realized he had a story to tell.
My father’s boss was the son of aviation pioneer Ben Epps. He recently retired and gave those who worked with him for so long, including my father, some things he kept in his office. Among them was a model of the X-1, signed by Chuck Yeager himself only 3 years before his death. Knowing that I love aeronautics as much as he does, my father passed it down to me. It’s one of my most prized possessions.
This line is from a time when masculinity was hallowed and revered, I feel in some ways today it's being questioned, marginalized and ridiculed. Until that quality is needed again, perhaps even by the those who undervalued and derided it.
Four of us guys were walking to the parking garage at work, and another coworker snapped a picture of us from behind walking shoulder to shoulder. The boss had it framed with the title, "The Wrong stuff" and put it up at work. It's hilarious.
When I was about 22 years of age back in 1984, I visited some friends in West Bend, Wisconsin…..one morning they took me to a local breakfast diner where I had the privilege of sitting with a husband and wife team of engineers, probably in their 70’s at the time, explaining to me that they were part of the back room team working at Edward’s AFB in the era of Yeager, etc….the husband’s official title was “engineer” and the wife’s title was “computer” as she had to number crunch with a slide rule the collected data from test flights….they were both members of Pancho Barne’s “Happy Bottom Riding Club” and said Yeager was a good guy to work with…no ego….like I said, what a privilege to have spent a bit of time with them….
Out drinking at a bar the night before he's to make history. Falls off the horse and breaks his ribs and still climbs into the X-1 to break the sound barrier the next day!
I put together a Testors model of the X-1 back in high school. I kid you not, there was a tiny piece that I almost threw away until I looked closely at the directions; it was the broomstick handle. They even included a paint color recommendation for it as well as the location where General Yeager possibly placed it after getting settled in the cockpit.
When I was a kid growing up in the sixties in Boston, I remember hearing sonic booms as supersonic planes passed overhead. Never knew where they came from or where they were going. Just every so often that huge BOOM out of a clear blue sky.
RIP Chuck Yeager (February 13, 1923 - December 7, 2020), aged 97 And RIP Sam Shepard (November 5, 1943 - July 27, 2017), aged 73 You both will always be remembered as legends.
The Beeman's gum was more important than many people think... chewing gum helped keep Col. Yeager's estuation tubes from closing for very long a time, if they had, there's a very real possibility of him busting out an ear drum from the great altitude / pressure changes. A busted eardrum(s) can result in loss of balance and vertigo, not to mention INTENSE pain. All things you do NOT need to be dealing with when you're Breaking the Sound Barrier after your Horse threw you and broke a couple ribs. Flight Surgeons, the WORST!
Very well created scene. Actually they had a part of an old B-29 fuselage leased from a museum and a wooden X-1 mockup in a studio. Plus some models and real "news-reel" segments for the exterior shots.
@@MA-wq2ih Yeah, "Fertile Myrtle", who also flew in "The Last Flight of Noah's Ark". Grounded for wing spar corrosion by the FAA and Kermit never had the time or money to pull her apart for a rebuild. CAF did Fifi, and now Doc is flying, so maybe Kermit will someday now that a process is known.
Me and the team I was with from Norton AFB were at Edwards when they were filming The Right Stuff. We were installing new telephone cables in the same area. Sadly, We were not allowed to have cameras because some of the places we were working at were classified . That sucked. Great Movie. 1835th E.I.S. AFCC.
This dude shot down jet fighters with a prop airplane during ww2. Later, he went on to break the sound barrier. When anyone mentions ‘American exceptionalism,’ this is the archetype.
I saw this in the theater as a teen. I thought it was weird that these guys were flying rocket planes but getting around on horses. Later watched it a million times on HBO. I love that contrast of galloping off in the sunset after flying their "space ships"👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾
my wife had difficulty understanding why it was such a big deal when he broke the sound barrier (not is some blasé way, just not understanding why the planes would continuously crash and he didnt) and what Mach was I told her Mach was the speed of sound - 750 miles per hour. up to that point planes were prop driven, and rocket power was just starting to come into use. she understood that soundwaves are physical properties, much like waves in an ocean. i explained that is when a plane is going below Mach 1 you can hear it coming before it passes you. the sound waves are moving faster than the plane. the closer one gets to Mach 1 (above .96) the waves begin to become compressed, and you're beginning to run into/overtake the sound waves. this is why the plane becomes unstable and the plane would literally shatter and disintegrate. the X1 was designed to withstand this enormous pressure put on the body of the plane, in theory it would work, all they had to do was test it. Yeager took a number of flights over several months in the X1 getting it close to Mach 1 to see how the plane performed before the engineers gave the ok to go for it. it wasn't a one-shot deal as depicted in the movie. we watched the scene several times as i explained the physics of what was happening, i told her watch close, you can see at .98 and .99 the plane is almost out of control, but then suddenly it becomes smooth as glass, on the ground they hear TWO sonic booms almost on top of eachother - the first boom is the nose of the plane going through the sound barrier, the second is the tail. when we watched it again she said excitedly that she now got it and understood, and how cool it was. i quickly showed her some videos on youtube of shuttle launches and i said you can actually SEE when the shuttle breaks the sound barrier, seeing what looks like a bunch of fog suddenly develop around the craft then it goes away as the shuttle goes supersonic. i also explained thats what "Go at throttle up" meant - the shuttle cuts the power of the main engines by about 25% to reduce pressure on the craft, then after they go super sonic they push the engines back up to 103% she loved it
Thank you for your comment. You are very lucky to have such a curious wife, and she is very lucky to have such a cultured and patient husband to explain the phenomenon so well. My uncle Gilles died in 1953 when his De Havilland Vampire plane crashed, it was the first jet plane in the Canadian Air Force. That's why I'm interested in the history of aviation.
General Yeager was so much more than the man who broke the sound barrier, but this was a major accomplishment for sure. A WWII fighter ace, he was shot down and actually talked his way back in to flying again when the rules clearly stated he could not. He went from the Army Air Corp to the Air Force, WWII, Korea and Vietnam, all the while working on air plane development, even into his retirement. He was a true hero. If you get one thing out of watching this, look up his autobiography, buy it and read it. You will not regret it, at all. R.I.P. General Yeager.
I had the pleasure of meeting with Gen. Yeager twice, once in Oshkosh, with his best friend and another American ace, "Bud" Anderson. We were meeting to start the translation of his autobiography into Spanish. Later the publishing house change its mind and the project didn't take off. But at least I got to meet my childhood hero and jad a few beers with him (I have a photo with him but can't find it a the moment). We both shared the fact of having 20/10 vision.
I always thought it was strange how the special effects in The Right Stuff rarely gets mentioned as being still some of the best ever on screen. From how well they incorporate stock footage with the incredible model work to the sets and mockups they built of cockpits. capsules, and command centers - this film still feels light years ahead of even modern films in how good it looks. Not to mention the story is incredible, the music perfect, and pretty much everything else about this movie makes it one of the greatest films of all time.
What doesn't make sense is that swept wings were proovened in WWII by Germany but, the United States still used straight wings on it first jets and it's rocket planes.
I knew a guy named Jack Tracy who flew F-104s at AF Test Pilot School. He said the reason Yeager lost the Starfighter at high altitude was when he shut the engine off because there’s not enough oxygen in the atmosphere for combustion, the compressor and turbine kept spinning, turning the aircraft into a gyroscope. The maneuvering thrusters moved the plane perpendicular to the thrust vector. Nobody expected that and the plane moves at right angles to the control stick. Flat spin, bail out, loss of aircraft. The problem was recognized and thrust control was appropriately adjusted on subsequent flights.
As a fellow Virginia man, I'm not sure if we're the bravest men on the planet, but we might be. RIP General Yeager, from the US Navy and beyond. Good luck and God Speed. Airman Marcum.
The government funds and the best engineers. Great pilots are found worldwide, but without the vast funds and resources and the brightest minds to create the amazing aircraft there is no moment in the sun and all the glory which comes from that. Not saying that great pilots grow on trees, just that they're the easiest factor to solve in the equation.
@@jamesshunt5123 Japan tried to establish naval aviation as a "top gun" elite samurai profession open only to the best of the best but after too many of these pilots were lost when four aircraft carriers were sunk at the battle of Midway the Imperial Japanese navy effectively castrated itself just as the American naval reserve and Marine corps reserve pilots gearing up to man the numerous new aircraft carriers being built in stateside shipyards.
The flight depicted in this scene was in 1947. The Wright Brothers first flight was 1903 -- just 44 years earlier and Orville Wright was still alive at the time of this flight. That's a lot of change in one person's lifetime.
President Truman gave permission for Orville Wright to be told the news of this success before he died.
And just 20 years after Lindbergh's flight across the Atlantic.
Wow! That's like Gutenburg seeing laser printers.
The first flight of the B-52 was five years after this event in 1952. The B-52 is still flying in the USAF and will be for another 30+ years. WWII was a war for knowledge and information at a time when humanity was just learning how to interperate said information... look at all the technological advances in the years immediately following WWII...
12 years from the B-52 to the SR-71. Less than five years from Francis Gary Powers's U-2 being shot down to the Blackbird.
RIP Chuck Yeager. A true legend and hero. December 7, 2020
Hard to believe he was shot down in World War II became great friends with the man that shot him down and then did all that wow
.
Man is one of the reasons for my love of all things aviation. What a true loss. ☹️ Hope you can still fly aircraft in heaven because heaven would be boring without it.
I know this will sound eerie but I was watching this movie the day he died or the day before and I was asking myself how much time does Chuck Yeager have left. He's old. And by a freakish coincidence he died that same day or the day after
@@joeybomba1712 Ridley is the guy who shot at him? 😳🤔
A man's man. A bonafide legend. His passing brings to mind a quote from General George Patton. "We should not mourn the passing of such men, but rather praise God that such men have lived."
Patton, MacArthur, Eisenhower and crushed by tanks "Hungry March" in 1932 injured 2,000 veterans, women, old people and children, seized 40,000 people
Тимо - не знаешь о Голодном Марше 1932 года ?
А ты знаешь о Великой Депрессии - тот же голод,только в США (и это при наличии продуктов),в котором ПРОПАЛО!!!! 12 млн. американцев?,и тогда же появилось множество трудовых концлагерей,которые КАК РАЗ в года Великой Депрессии и понастроили множество дорог,городов,фабрик,заводов. построили Великую Стену у Миссисипи,что бы она не разливалась так широко,различные плотины и множество гидроэлектростанций
Tимо - знаешь, какая рифма к твоему имени? И что самое интересное(только ты не обижайся) - ОЧЕНЬ верная - МИМО !!! Потому что ты истории не знаешь абсолютно !!!! А уж тем более истории экономики.
Я дам тебе миллион , если ты назовёшь,ГДЕ был КОММУНИЗМ !!!
Ну и немного экономической истории - ну вот с хренов ли в США ВООБЩЕ мог быть кризис , если по производству продуктов питания она выступала на первом месте в мире , НО вот почему-то то,что не продавалось - раздавливалось тракторами , сгнаивалось , выбрасывалось в море и на мусорки , и просто сжигалось,если горело - как растительные масла.Вот ты представляешь,народ голодает из-за того , что капиталист решил поддержать текущие цены .и ПОЭТОМУ часть продуктов отправил под тракторы на мусорках. Нет что бы СНИЗИТЬ цены и раздать беднякам - да наклали они на народ , да и не их это народ ,пусть подыхает,лишь бы прибыль не снизилась!!!
И как ты думаешь,ПОЧЕМУ Германия.которая репарацией расплачивалась (а это значит 95% всей прибыли шло на выплаты) ВДРУГ стала ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКИ ПОДНИМАТЬСЯ? Как ты думаешь,КТО стал ВДРУГ инвестировать в беднейшую Германию?
ОЙ - а это ВДРУГ компании : - SIEMENS , COCA-COLA , BOSS , FORD , General Motors , Standart Oil , Maggi , Kodak , Allians , Krupp & Thyssen , Bayer ,Renault , Ikea и множество ещё более мелких компаний и по сей день существующих
И опять - МИМО...Логически можешь объяснить? (миллион ты уже не хочешь получить?)
R.I.P. Gen. Chuck Yeager 1923 - 2020 😭
Greatest Pilot EVER!!!
50th like!
And to think this guy broke the sound barrier with a couple broken ribs
WHAT A FREAKING LEGEND
Oh he shot down 12 German planes, evaded capture when shot down, then came back and shot down a jet to add to his score.
@@maxfrankow1238 Mr Yeager's book corrects some things that are portrayed incorrectly in this film. And his own account of shooting down an ME-262 is different than how many people would like to believe it happened.
@@lagersparadice8739 I know. I have read Mr Yeager's account of what happened
Exactly and it's really painful.
@Franklin Vaugn ribs if I remember correctly, and trust me if you add the pressure in the cockpit it's far more painful, because one can't stop breathing. 👍
That newer version of the Right Stuff 2020 can never top this original movie from 1983!!!! A real all time favorite!
I stopped watching it after episode 5. Mediocre acting, most of the astronauts look almost nothing like the real characters, dreadful CGI, cheap production (hate to say it but it shows), no Chuck Yeager,/X plane program/Edwards AFB era, no rocket development process and the whole show/story focuses on all the wrong things. I don’t care or want to know how many girls Shepard and Cooper screwed or see a complete run down of all the pool parties, LIFE magazine interviews and social gatherings they attended. I want to mostly know about the technical difficulties they faced, the scientific challenges, the space race with the Russians, the training they went through , the proper selection process and obviously the fears, concerns and doubts they had in every step and how they managed to push through. Nothing of that was shown, WTF!
@@gpapa31
That's exactly what I expected from The Mouse. What a waste of potential.
@MacBookemDanno I might be wrong with this but I’ll say it anyway. My gut feeling is that the production simply does not have enough money to deal with this project properly. Showing X planes program and Edwards AFB record breaking attempts, missile tests, astronaut training facilities, labs, launching sites etc and do them properly, translates into immaculate and detailed -Nolan level CGI, blended with proper practical effects with real planes and good mock ups. All of the above translates into a huge budget for a TV show, which evidently do not have.
If you notice 95% of the scenes are either indoors or small outdoor areas (swimming pool, parking lot) and involve people and dialogue whether that has to do with office stuff, interviews, flirting with girls, Family affairs issues etc. The budget you need to shoot all that is negligible: the only proper scenes I’ve seen thus far (watched up to episode 5) that warren some aerospace interest was the F-104 flight and the failed Redstone rocket launch, all done with CGI so bad that looks like Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 graphics.
@MacBookemDanno I would summarize the era thusly, borrowing from both Tom Wolfe and my own USAF uncle:
1.) Flying.
2.) Drinking.
3.) Driving.
4.) Screwing.
That said, when the balloon went up and the chips were down:
a.) You went where you were needed, and
b.) You would sooner crash and burn than let your buddies down.
It doesn't have Barbara Hershey and Pamela Reed.
"PUT THE SPURS TO HER, CHUCK!"
It's amazing the Bell X-1 could stay aloft at all supporting such massive balls.
Seriously. Such a great line.
Brilliant response...
@@Shutterbun4
Right?
I use it myself any time I describe needing to "go fast"
Flooring my WRX? I put the spurs to er'
Leading a sprint on my road bike? Putting the spurs to 'er
Every once and a while I say it... and someone gives me the "look"
Yeah... they know where it came from. Kindred spirit.
WARNING....WARNING...CLICHE' DETECTED.
General Yeager has stated him and Lt Hoover could fly but it was Col Ridley who had the brains. Hoover being from Tennessee Yeager from West Virginia and Ridley from Oklahoma he said Col Ridley spoke their language and both trusted their lives with him. He also stated that if Ridley had at any given time told him it was unsafe to fly you would’ve never heard from “yours truly”.
The brief shot of the pictures on the wall at Pancho's @ 4:31 gets me everytime. Thank you to Phillip Kaufman for making part of this story the fact so many men gave their lives to help achieve this. That should never be forgotten.
Like a winning quarterback, Chuck Yeager (not to take anything away from him), great as he is, gets the glory for the accomplishment of thousands and thousands of test pilots, engineers, craftsmen, maintenance men, repairmen, military officer, political leaders and really all of us Americans. It was a national achievement.
Everything I've ever read and heard about him says he would agree with your comment as do I.
Team effort!
@@jeffsanders663 Yup! But somebody has to step up & be quarterback!
Chuck Yeager said this project would not have succeeded without Jack Ridley. You have to read Yeager’s biography to know what I’m talking about. Ridley saved the project.
Absolutely, people like that are amazing.... and i would Add .... world-wide.
"Put the spurs to her Chuck..." an incredible time, and thanks to those who helped make an amazing film. In particular thanks to those we've lost and those who are still with us, including the actors, the pilots, and especially Chuck Yeager, Scott Crossfield and all seven Mercury Astronauts... Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Wally Schirra, Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper and Deke Slayton
Virgil "Gus' Grissom was the first of the Mercury Astronauts to die. He was killed along with Ed White and Roger Chaffee while inside an Apollo test module that caught fire on January 27, 1967. John Glenn was the oldest of the Mercury Astronauts and the last to die at age 95 on December 8, 2016.
On December 7, 2020, I heard a big boom in the sky. It was Chuck Yeager who left us at the speed of sound.
~ The twin sonic booms you heard were the General entering Heaven @ Mach 2
Indeed.
Great scene.
This moment was interesting in showing the transition from early flight to the beginning of the space age. He climbs into a rocket plane about to go supersonic -- wearing a leather jacket, leather helmet, and goggles!
@ 95 General Yeager is a living legend. With two broken ribs he broke the sound barrier. May he live to see man break the speed of light next.
And the crudeness of the cockpit! It looks like it was put together in a backyard sheet metal shop.
A tru Rocketeer
And being at one with the machine he was flying.
@@glennellis1584
Dude... you don't know the half of it... hell yeah he had two big brass ones alright.
Fun fact: at the time - hardshell flight helmets weren't a thing yet - so he modded a football helmet of the period to fit over his leather flight helmet and radio ear cups.
You see him in the bar carving it up with a buck knife to suit his needs - that's why the line "gonna look like the galloping ghost (a famous football player) in this" when Ridley tosses him. the helmet. He did indeed use a modified football helmet for his flight.
Also - he did fly with broken ribs, from a horseback riding incident and DID use a sawed off broomstick to latch the door on the X1 on his Mach 1 flight. His wife drove him 50 miles into town to see an off base doctor, so he wouldn't get grounded. So, That's true.
Another interesting thing was, the door for the X1 was just in front of the wings and had no ejection seat - wings which were so thin there were guards placed on them when the plane was parked lest ground crew injure themselves on them... which means had Yeager attempted to bail out of the plane - he'd have certainly been killed. So while yes, he had a parachute, in his autobiography - he mentioned he only wore it so he had a comfortable pad to sit on - he had no illusions of actually being able to use it in an emergency to egress the plane.
In the X1A (the plane he loses control of and busts the canopy with his helmet in) - he didn't even have a chute - the canopy was bolted into place and there was no escape system.
So yeah - he almost died there. That scene actually happened more or less as depicted, he lost control at mach 2.3 and fell out of the sky and lost 10 miles of altitude before getting control back.
He said in his autobiography, had the plane had an escape system or ejection seat - he'd have bailed out of it. Instead the guy did what he had to do and wrestled the beast back under control.
there was a fair amount of Hollywood in the F104 scene in the movie - but he did nearly die in an NF104 doing re entry research workups for the (later cancelled) x20 dynasoar program.
A REAL Hero!...RIP sir, you're an inspiration to America.
RIP Chuck Yeager. First person to break the sound barrier.
Last Monday I had a sudden urge to watch this flick again. After watching it, I thought it'd be perfect for my school's aeronautics elective class so I showed it over three days. The students ate it up, really interested. After this scene on the first day a student asked me what happened to Yeager, I said he actually does a cameo in this film and he's still alive today. We looked him up to see what he was up to only to discover he had died the same day I had a desire to watch the film again...the day before. I was stunned. The universe strikes again. R.I.P. Chuck. I'm glad that I could be the one to regale another group of young men with your amazing feats, heroism, and determination. The world needs men like you, and sadly now, is severely lacking. But you struck a chord in my classroom, and that's the pinpoint beginning of your mammoth legacy.
Wish I had a teacher like you :)
Amazingly, just 15 years after Yeager exceeded Mach 1, Kelly Johnson and the Skunk Works built the SR-71. That plane remained the fastest ever built for 1/2 the time period of manned flight. The most incredible and innovative technical achievement in Human History. An analogy is building a computer in 1980, and it is STILL the Worlds fastest Computer in 2021.... That is what the SR-71 accomplished.
I believe the x-15 was much faster than the sr71. Your point still stands though, the x15 was also flown in the 60s and it's record has yet to be broken.
@@marchicago
x-15 used rocket engine and rocket fuel ..
sr -71 not
@@marchicagoThe X-15 is definitely the fastest of all time. It reached a speed of Mach 6.7 (4,534 mph) and also broke the altitude record by flying an incredible 354,000 feet. The pilots flew so high that they were actually given astronaut wings for officially being in space. But because it had to be dropped from a bomber and had rockets, it’s not considered a true jet. And that’s why the SR-71 is considered the fastest airplane.
Just when the US is in the pit of cowardice and despair this movie shines forth.....
yep it was released in 1984' during Prez Ronnie Reagans adminstration.
Speak for yourself.
@@josephastier7421 On 4 Mar 1987, Reagan made a further nationally televised address, taking full responsibility for the ' Iran Contra affair ' stating "what began as a strategic opening to Iran deteriorated, in its implementation, into trading arms for hostages".
Rest in peace General Yeager. I hope you are flying with the angels today.
Flying around in heaven in his P-51.
And still chasing demons.
I came here after hearing the news of Chuck Yeager's passing
me too
But you wouldn't know it hardly after scoping the news media just now. Only CBS News and NBC News gave us any kind of information about his passing, and even at that, the story was buried. Shame on the media, especially after giving Ginsburg the royal treatment for weeks. Complete shame.
I love that they gave the real Chuck Yeager a small role in this movie. “You fellers want something to drink?”
Got paid better, too, with a spoken line.
I was floored when I saw Chuck appear in an episode of I Dream of Jeanie! I was like, "WTF! Is that Yeager?!?"
The General was my neighbor, for many years we talked about flying together…….
I miss him deeply
He is a legend
This scene is an example of why the film won the Oscars for Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, AND Best Sound Effects Editing.
They cut off the very best part of the scene at the end. There is the sonic boom, and someone says " What's that sound, oh God". Then in the movie he says "He bought the farm" and then yeager goes flying by. Love this movie.
Levon Helm deserved an Oscar for playing Ridley. Did a great supporting part.
He was the dramatic version of the "straight man".
Levon was even better in Coal Miners Daughter. I always love just before this scene when he improvised that stick by cutting down a portion of a broomstick and then twirls it like a drummer would. I like to think that was his little nod to his years with The Band
Fair enough.
Why on earth did you cut if off before showing the part where everyone realized Yeager had broken the sound barrier, and he did his victory roll? That was the best part of the scene.
And the triumphant Conti score?!
Just wang it down. Highly technical term, coming from a mathematical genius.
rofl when you break the sound barrier for the very first time you can talk how ever you want to.
The film didn't make a deal of it but the man flying the chase plane was Chuck's best friend Bob Hoover who was another legendary pilot, one of the few Chuck saw as his equal
The story of Yeager meeting Hoover is legendary, they Tangled in a mock dogfight above Wright field Yeager in an Xp-80 and Hoover in a P-38 and neither one could outfly the other.
@@kdrapertrucker Yeah I read both biographies and both had a funny tale about that day. They near killed each other unintentionally trying to out do each other!
“Put the Spurs to her Chuck” awesome. RIP to one of the last heroes from the last great generation.
Chuck, you Blue Suit, badass SOB... You make me proud to have worn that same Blue Suit. Rest in Peace...
Amazes me that Hollywood never made a movie about Yeager's life. After reading his autobiography and seeing this movie, I realized he had a story to tell.
The problem is that his life was so amazing, many wouldn't believe it.
He's a white straight male. They'd never do it.
@@alanrogs3990 oh puh-leeze, they do movies about straight white males all the time
@@JugSouthgate not anymore
@@alanrogs3990 The First Man....
General Chuck Yeager Passed Away At the Age Of 97. Rest In Peace, General. Soar, Again, Into The Wild, Blue Yonder.
My father’s boss was the son of aviation pioneer Ben Epps. He recently retired and gave those who worked with him for so long, including my father, some things he kept in his office. Among them was a model of the X-1, signed by Chuck Yeager himself only 3 years before his death. Knowing that I love aeronautics as much as he does, my father passed it down to me. It’s one of my most prized possessions.
One of my favorite movies.I am astounded by the quality of these men.They really did push the envelope.
I haven't seen this in 30 years. Thank you. I miss the 80's really bad.
Fun fact: Jack Ridley was played by Levon Helm - drummer of the “The Band”
He also had a great small role in the movie "Shooter" with Mark Wahlberg
All this talk about the movie about a legend and not about the legend in the movie. One of the greatest drummers of all time.
"Sir, is that a man?
You damn right it is"!
The best line in the movie.....
If I hadn't come across this comment I was going to say it myself. Thanks. Damn right.
It's a great line but it never happened.Jack Ridley had been dead for 6 years when this happened.
This line is from a time when masculinity was hallowed and revered, I feel in some ways today it's being questioned, marginalized and ridiculed. Until that quality is needed again, perhaps even by the those who undervalued and derided it.
Four of us guys were walking to the parking garage at work, and another coworker snapped a picture of us from behind walking shoulder to shoulder. The boss had it framed with the title, "The Wrong stuff" and put it up at work. It's hilarious.
Still one of my favorite VFX sequences in movies. Well shot and edited. Very intense without being over-the-top.
John Prudent I agree, one of the best scenes I've ever enjoyed.
You hit the nail on the head, intense w/o being over the top. That's excellent editing!
God speed, Gen. Yeager. Rest peacefully; you’ve earned it, Hero.
From breaking the sound barrier to GodSpeed Chuck Yeager. 😢
The most intense visceral sensation of speed ever put on film.
When I was about 22 years of age back in 1984, I visited some friends in West Bend, Wisconsin…..one morning they took me to a local breakfast diner where I had the privilege of sitting with a husband and wife team of engineers, probably in their 70’s at the time, explaining to me that they were part of the back room team working at Edward’s AFB in the era of Yeager, etc….the husband’s official title was “engineer” and the wife’s title was “computer” as she had to number crunch with a slide rule the collected data from test flights….they were both members of Pancho Barne’s “Happy Bottom Riding Club” and said Yeager was a good guy to work with…no ego….like I said, what a privilege to have spent a bit of time with them….
One of the last of the real stick and rudder aviators. Yeager, Glenn, Armstrong, I could keep going. Real Americans. Hand Salute Rendered.
this scene never fails to give me chills!
I watched this movie as a kid over and over. I loved it and to find it on TH-cam brings back memories. Thx 4 the upload.
R.I.P. General 🇺🇸 You definitely had The Right Stuff!!!
Out drinking at a bar the night before he's to make history. Falls off the horse and breaks his ribs and still climbs into the X-1 to break the sound barrier the next day!
RIP all the great are leaving us as we approach 100 years.
As far as I'm concerned, this is the BEST Picture of 1983!
RIP Yeager, you went far and you went fast.
I put together a Testors model of the X-1 back in high school. I kid you not, there was a tiny piece that I almost threw away until I looked closely at the directions; it was the broomstick handle. They even included a paint color recommendation for it as well as the location where General Yeager possibly placed it after getting settled in the cockpit.
That's pretty cool.
What is amazing, this man is still alive!!!!!!
I'm actually surprised that he never went into space. Not that the other people weren't good but it seemed like he could've became a great astronaut.
Damn! He really does have the right stuff...
What's crazier is he actually outlived Sam Shephard, the actor portraying him here.
@DaB1GNaSTY 99 In slight fairness, he had previously worked with some of those who were chosen, and didn't have a very high opinion of them as pilots.
Was... what a man RIP
Chuck Yeager has to be the greatest pilot of all time RIP Chuck you were a true American hero 👍
One of the truly "greatest generation", RIP humble hero!
I love the part
Where he ignites all four.
🚀 rocket engines
God bless you sir
I saw a trail in the morning sky
And thought it was
Him entering heaven
When I was a kid growing up in the sixties in Boston, I remember hearing sonic booms as supersonic planes passed overhead. Never knew where they came from or where they were going. Just every so often that huge BOOM out of a clear blue sky.
He did that with a BROKEN arm! That is true dedication and GUTS.
No broken arm. But he did have two broken ribs.
RIP Chuck Yeager (February 13, 1923 - December 7, 2020), aged 97
And
RIP Sam Shepard (November 5, 1943 - July 27, 2017), aged 73
You both will always be remembered as legends.
There was ONE old, bold, pilot.
RIP General Yeager. Your fellow Mountaineers are proud of you.
I met Brigadier General Yeager some decades ago, and even then he was not young he still had a very sturdy handshake.
"...he bought the farm."
"NO WAIT"
He truly had the right stuff. Great movie great soundtrack
so long Chuck.. thx for getting us to space 🚀
Remember when we had a country? Remember when we KNEW that we were a country?
The soundtrack still gives me goosebumps and damn cry a little...
The Beeman's gum was more important than many people think... chewing gum helped keep Col. Yeager's estuation tubes from closing for very long a time, if they had, there's a very real possibility of him busting out an ear drum from the great altitude / pressure changes. A busted eardrum(s) can result in loss of balance and vertigo, not to mention INTENSE pain. All things you do NOT need to be dealing with when you're Breaking the Sound Barrier after your Horse threw you and broke a couple ribs. Flight Surgeons, the WORST!
Rest In Peace Chuck Yeager
Very well created scene. Actually they had a part of an old B-29 fuselage leased from a museum and a wooden X-1 mockup in a studio. Plus some models and real "news-reel" segments for the exterior shots.
Also some in flight scenes with Fifi, the Confederate Air Force's B-29.
@@WiseguyThreeOne At least some of the scenes were shot with a former Navy B-29, no longer flying, now owned by the Weeks Air Museum in Florida.
@@MA-wq2ih Yeah, "Fertile Myrtle", who also flew in "The Last Flight of Noah's Ark". Grounded for wing spar corrosion by the FAA and Kermit never had the time or money to pull her apart for a rebuild. CAF did Fifi, and now Doc is flying, so maybe Kermit will someday now that a process is known.
At that time
"SONIC boom" was thought to first mean aircraft had EXPLODED, but quite the contrary. IT twas just the beginning of AMAZING era.
R.I.P. General. Say hello to Sam, he did you proud. I think you're both awesome.
Me and the team I was with from Norton AFB were at Edwards when they were filming The Right Stuff. We were installing new telephone cables in the same area. Sadly, We were not allowed to have cameras because some of the places we were working at were classified . That sucked. Great Movie. 1835th E.I.S. AFCC.
This dude shot down jet fighters with a prop airplane during ww2. Later, he went on to break the sound barrier. When anyone mentions ‘American exceptionalism,’ this is the archetype.
And this was all done before CGI!
crazy to think this came out just three years before Top Gun and the cinematography, SFX are like night and day--might as well be different eras
Every time I chew Beemans gum, I think of this movie
RIP Chuck. A real legend. Will we ever see a man like that ever again?
Someday in the near future, another man will stand out, this man will break the “light barrier” and travel faster then light…
" Hey Ridley got any Beemans?"
I saw this in the theater as a teen. I thought it was weird that these guys were flying rocket planes but getting around on horses. Later watched it a million times on HBO. I love that contrast of galloping off in the sunset after flying their "space ships"👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾
Yeager, showing the angels how it's it done. RIP!
my wife had difficulty understanding why it was such a big deal when he broke the sound barrier (not is some blasé way, just not understanding why the planes would continuously crash and he didnt) and what Mach was
I told her Mach was the speed of sound - 750 miles per hour. up to that point planes were prop driven, and rocket power was just starting to come into use. she understood that soundwaves are physical properties, much like waves in an ocean. i explained that is when a plane is going below Mach 1 you can hear it coming before it passes you. the sound waves are moving faster than the plane. the closer one gets to Mach 1 (above .96) the waves begin to become compressed, and you're beginning to run into/overtake the sound waves. this is why the plane becomes unstable and the plane would literally shatter and disintegrate. the X1 was designed to withstand this enormous pressure put on the body of the plane, in theory it would work, all they had to do was test it. Yeager took a number of flights over several months in the X1 getting it close to Mach 1 to see how the plane performed before the engineers gave the ok to go for it. it wasn't a one-shot deal as depicted in the movie. we watched the scene several times as i explained the physics of what was happening, i told her watch close, you can see at .98 and .99 the plane is almost out of control, but then suddenly it becomes smooth as glass, on the ground they hear TWO sonic booms almost on top of eachother - the first boom is the nose of the plane going through the sound barrier, the second is the tail. when we watched it again she said excitedly that she now got it and understood, and how cool it was. i quickly showed her some videos on youtube of shuttle launches and i said you can actually SEE when the shuttle breaks the sound barrier, seeing what looks like a bunch of fog suddenly develop around the craft then it goes away as the shuttle goes supersonic. i also explained thats what "Go at throttle up" meant - the shuttle cuts the power of the main engines by about 25% to reduce pressure on the craft, then after they go super sonic they push the engines back up to 103%
she loved it
Thank you for your comment. You are very lucky to have such a curious wife, and she is very lucky to have such a cultured and patient husband to explain the phenomenon so well. My uncle Gilles died in 1953 when his De Havilland Vampire plane crashed, it was the first jet plane in the Canadian Air Force. That's why I'm interested in the history of aviation.
General Yeager was so much more than the man who broke the sound barrier, but this was a major accomplishment for sure.
A WWII fighter ace, he was shot down and actually talked his way back in to flying again when the rules clearly stated he could not.
He went from the Army Air Corp to the Air Force, WWII, Korea and Vietnam, all the while working on air plane development, even into his retirement.
He was a true hero.
If you get one thing out of watching this, look up his autobiography, buy it and read it.
You will not regret it, at all.
R.I.P. General Yeager.
I had the pleasure of meeting with Gen. Yeager twice, once in Oshkosh, with his best friend and another American ace, "Bud" Anderson. We were meeting to start the translation of his autobiography into Spanish. Later the publishing house change its mind and the project didn't take off.
But at least I got to meet my childhood hero and jad a few beers with him (I have a photo with him but can't find it a the moment).
We both shared the fact of having 20/10 vision.
this movie is so fun and epic at the same time, its a blast :- D
I always thought it was strange how the special effects in The Right Stuff rarely gets mentioned as being still some of the best ever on screen. From how well they incorporate stock footage with the incredible model work to the sets and mockups they built of cockpits. capsules, and command centers - this film still feels light years ahead of even modern films in how good it looks. Not to mention the story is incredible, the music perfect, and pretty much everything else about this movie makes it one of the greatest films of all time.
As a huge Levon Helm fan I will always love the drum-stick twirl he does with the cutoff broom handle.
He walked past a couple brooms to cut off the handle of someone using a broom.😂
The way the video cut out with the boom - you probably think it ended with Yeagar exploding in failure.
What doesn't make sense is that swept wings were proovened in WWII by Germany but, the United States still used straight wings on it first jets and it's rocket planes.
The Bell X-1 barely had wings, they had to be straight to get enough airflow to provide lift. A controlled rocket.
RIP chuck yeager - I’m glad you didn’t have to live to see what America has turned into
Side of Beeman’s pack then “Beeman’s Aids Digestion”.
I knew a guy named Jack Tracy who flew F-104s at AF Test Pilot School. He said the reason Yeager lost the Starfighter at high altitude was when he shut the engine off because there’s not enough oxygen in the atmosphere for combustion, the compressor and turbine kept spinning, turning the aircraft into a gyroscope. The maneuvering thrusters moved the plane perpendicular to the thrust vector. Nobody expected that and the plane moves at right angles to the control stick. Flat spin, bail out, loss of aircraft. The problem was recognized and thrust control was appropriately adjusted on subsequent flights.
The -104 practically defied physics across the board.
One of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite movies.
RIP Col Chuck Yeager
He was a general by the time he retired.
Sad year...2020
After seeing this now I am probably going to spend the next week trying to find ways to work "just whang it down" into my conversations lol
Rest in Peace Chuck Yeager... What an awesome life you lead.. Bad Ass All the Way!
RIP to a legend.
My father met him and he signed his book. Legend RIP.
As a fellow Virginia man, I'm not sure if we're the bravest men on the planet, but we might be. RIP General Yeager, from the US Navy and beyond. Good luck and God Speed. Airman Marcum.
Still one of my all time favourite movies…
The United States Air Force has always had the right stuff.
The government funds and the best engineers.
Great pilots are found worldwide, but without the vast funds and resources and the brightest minds to create the amazing aircraft there is no moment in the sun and all the glory which comes from that. Not saying that great pilots grow on trees, just that they're the easiest factor to solve in the equation.
@@jamesshunt5123 Japan tried to establish naval aviation as a "top gun" elite samurai profession open only to the best of the best but after too many of these pilots were lost when four aircraft carriers were sunk at the battle of Midway the Imperial Japanese navy effectively castrated itself just as the American naval reserve and Marine corps reserve pilots gearing up to man the numerous new aircraft carriers being built in stateside shipyards.
If we only has 50 more like him! ❤