Numerous Special Appearances Planned Throughout The Week
One of aviation’s true living legends, Brig. Gen. Chuck
Yeager USAF (ret.), has confirmed his plans to attend EAA
AirVenture 2011. Gen. Yeager is scheduled to arrive Tuesday, July
26, and depart Sunday, July 31, with numerous special appearances
throughout the rest of the week. Gen. Yeager will give a
presentation at 1300 Wednesday, July 27, at the EAA AirVenture
Museum, then later that day, will be a special guest at the EAA
Young Eagles Volunteer Dinner in the museum’s Eagle
Hangar.
On Thursday, July 28, Gen. Yeager will attend the Gathering of
Eagles gala event in the Eagle Hangar, where one of the auction
items is a flight in the EAA Ford Tri-Motor with the legendary
pilot. That flight will take place during the day on Friday, July
29, along with youth flights and others. Theater in the Woods
welcomes Gen. Yeager on Friday, July 29, for an informal chat
scheduled to begin at 1830. Gen. Yeager makes his final appearance
at a presentation in the EAA AirVenture Museum on Saturday, July
30, at 1300.
Gen. Yeager is arguably among the world's most well-known pilots
of all time. He has flown more than 341 different types of military
aircraft in his long and distinguished flying career. Gen Yeager
flew in four wars: World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and Pakistan for
their war with India in 1971-73. He distinguished himself in aerial
combat flying P-51 Mustangs with the 357th Fighter Group over
France and Germany from 1943-1945. He shot down 13 enemy aircraft
– five on one mission, four on another. He also shot down an
Me-262 jet and damaged several others.
The World War II ace then served a nine-year Air Force
assignment as the nation’s leading test pilot and became well
known throughout the world as the first person to fly an aircraft
faster than the speed of sound. That occurred on October 14, 1947,
when Yeager piloted the Bell X-1 "Glamorous Glennis" to a speed of
Mach 1.06 (700 mph) over what is now Edwards Air Force Base in
California.
In 1994, Gen. Yeager was named the second chairman of
EAA’s budding Young Eagles program, which had the initial
goal of providing flight experiences to 1 million kids ages 8-17 by
December 17, 2003 – the 100th anniversary of the Wright
brothers’ first powered flight. Under Yeager’s
chairmanship, tens of thousands of EAA volunteer pilots flew a
total of 974,006 kids to surpass the goal, including flying more
than 300 himself.
“We are excited that General Chuck Yeager is going to be a
part of the AirVenture Oshkosh 2011 activities,” said Tom
Poberezny, EAA and AirVenture chairman. “His flying career is
one filled with extraordinary achievements, and we are very pleased
that he’ll share the inside story of those experiences and
his own passion for flying during this year’s AirVenture
celebration.”
In 1973, Gen. Yeager was inducted into the Aviation Hall of
Fame, and in 1976, he was presented with the peacetime Special
Congressional Silver Medal. In 1984, President Reagan presented him
with the Medal of Freedom. He received the EAA Freedom of Flight
Award in 1994, the year he succeeded Cliff Robertson as Young
Eagles chairman. When he stepped down as chairman in 2004, Yeager
was named EAA Young Eagles chairman emeritus.
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