The day Chuck and I talked Rolex Coke GMT flew fast - damn fast......

[InitialAndPitch]

Five years into my aviation career, I was a private pilot having flown a series of monocoque aircraft and always listed after more power. I was in my late twenties, and aggressively worked through tail wheel endorsements (made harder by flying short, unforgiving powerful Pitts Specials.

From the Pitts S2S (260Hp) upwards, I slid into Extra 300s, Sukhois, Yaks and towards the end of my unlimited flying time, the Edge 540 (Zivko).

In Australia, we know how to display aircraft - the military and we civvies had a unusual respect for each other. We flew low and hard with the life and death dance often separated by three feet. We learned discipline from our friends in the military and we swapped stories.

On one of my ferry flights, I ferried a Pitts Specials S2A about a thousand kilometres over some of the most beautiful land Australia could muster up. Occasionally, I’d do a position check and ten minutes later, I’d have two FA-18 Hornets in loose formation and listen as they made the call and lit the reheat and watch two magnificent machines launch just as imagine a seven year old might have watched it. We all admired what we each had to work with. On that flight, the Hornets effortlessly slipped skyward and it always made me deeply proud that these guys admired my humble skills and even though I wasn’t, I was treated like a member of that extraordinary club.

This sortie would see me touch down after a refueling stop in a small country town. Passengers boarding a twin engine Fokker RPT asked for photos and I gladly gave them. Sunset at Avalon saw me touch down ahead of a GlobeMaster. The crew and I laughed at each other once safely on the chocks.

A distinguished military man, commented on my smooth touch down and clearly numb bum as I climbed down. He said that pride in tailwheel landings were fading but that my fear made it a matter of honour as you never know who is watching. We talked ‘seat of your pants’ aviation - not just instruments or systems but the inherent feeling of right.

The older pilot bought me ginger ale and he drank beer. We sat outside in the dark and swapped stories. I told stories of how to use wool taped to a wingtip that would indicate if you were flying backwards. He talked about control reversals that happened in steep dives approaching transonic flight.

After a while he sensed my discretion and said he liked my admitted failures. I had half a dozen years under my belt and he served his country for 35 years. I like him enormously and up until that point he had only revealed that he was “just a pilot” and had always he’d worn on his lucky watch - A Rolex GMT Coke.

He’d worn that watch on October 14th - 1947 in a nice little orange rocket powered aircraft that he’d dubbed the Glamourous Glennis. General Charles E Yeager flew in pain that day as a horse he’d been riding knocked his ribs around a little. Nothing that a piece of broom handle used to close the hatch couldn’t manage. After the inflight launch, Chuck broke the sound barrier wearing his Rolex Coke GMT and a huge grin.



Chuck talked to me about fluttering control surfaces what would constitute a good - no second guessing - ejection.

Hang in there and I’ll tell you about the Astronauts, U2 pilots, SR-71 Blackbird pilots and modern day pilots equipped with unimaginable payloads. I’ll skip stories of the payload but check in for men who flew aircraft where the stakes could be no higher.

[SeaAndSky]

I don't believe he was wearing a GMT when he broke the sound barrier. That reference was released much later in time.
http://www.gmtmasterhistory.com/

[InitialAndPitch]

Originally Posted by SeaAndSky

I don't believe he was wearing a GMT when he broke the sound barrier. That reference was released much later in time.
http://www.gmtmasterhistory.com/

Yeah I was always under the impression that the GMT was a 1954 release. Then you get this sort of maybe revisionist history.



I have read many sources that say he wore a Submariner at times throughout his career. Love some expert input.

[GMT Aviator]

Chuck Yeager is one of those guys that falls into the category...

Don’t meet your hero’s.

I forget the watch he was wearing when he flew the Bell X-1 but it wasn’t a Rolex GMT.

It’s also doubtful he was the first pilot through the sound barrier.

In his book he makes a lot of claims about his time in France when he was shot down in WW2. Claims that are completely false.

Whilst his flying accomplishments need no introduction, to say he blows his own trumpet would be a massive understatement.

[ras47]

He said he never flew without a Rolex on his wrist. He was supposedly wearing an Oyster Perpetual when he took the Bell -1 to Mach 1.

He wore:

Oyster Perpetual 34mm (exact model unknown)
Submariner 6530
GMT Master II BLRO

[MTdweller]

An incredible aviator with great taste in watches. Thanks for sharing!

[strafer_kid]

Originally Posted by GMT Aviator

Chuck Yeager is one of those guys that falls into the category...

Don’t meet your hero’s.

I forget the watch he was wearing when he flew the Bell X-1 but it wasn’t a Rolex GMT.

It’s also doubtful he was the first pilot through the sound barrier.

In his book he makes a lot of claims about his time in France when he was shot down in WW2. Claims that are completely false.

Whilst his flying accomplishments need no introduction, to say he blows his own trumpet would be a massive understatement.

Really? False claims? Never heard that before....I thought his book was pretty good!

[InitialAndPitch]

Originally Posted by GMT Aviator

Chuck Yeager is one of those guys that falls into the category...

Don’t meet your hero’s.

I forget the watch he was wearing when he flew the Bell X-1 but it wasn’t a Rolex GMT.

It’s also doubtful he was the first pilot through the sound barrier.

In his book he makes a lot of claims about his time in France when he was shot down in WW2. Claims that are completely false.

Whilst his flying accomplishments need no introduction, to say he blows his own trumpet would be a massive understatement.

Hi Mike (I think), can I ask with respect, what hours have you logged in high performance jet time. I’ve flown strapped into two Martin Baker seats with Yeager. We spent time on the flight line, at the bar and in morning briefing. Although the log book said I was PIC, nobody really disputes that when Gen Yeager is onboard he’s the boss. That man can fly like the angels and I’m not religious. The Blue Angels. My experience includes sharing a strike flighter cockpit

What’s your source for his failure to bust Mach? If you think it’s George Welch flying an F-86 on Oct 1 1947, you may be sad to know that Welch had no measurement equipment, no credible witnesses and paper thin anecdotal evidence at best was an open joke. Yeager laughed and replied “George who?” Over the years the imaginary/unwitnessed and unmeasured F-86 flight became a ever fading piece of aviation humour. The landing gear on that F-86 had significant problems during its early flights. Gear recycling was unreliable and the main gear were locked down during the supposed time window that Welch flew. Locked down gear is just one factor than crippled the F-86. Pesky drag. No Mach runs in those weeks or conditions.

In “Aces Wild” - If an XP-86 broke the sound barrier before the April date in the official Air Force histories, the record of that flight has finished.

In 2009, when he was the U.S. Air Force historian, Richard Hallion, the author of several books about test pilots and the history of supersonic flight, looked into the controversy over the first Mach 1 flight and wrote in a letter to the president of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots: “I have never seen any record or indication that George Welch, prior to his tragic death in a F-100 inertial coupling accident, ever publicly claimed in any forum (or, so far as I know, to anyone at all) that he exceeded Mach 1 prior to Chuck Yeager.”

Welch never made a public utterance claiming first through Mach 1. Welch sired a ridiculed figured in a F-100 coupling incident.

Between the top secrecy surrounding early supersonic flight and the Air Force’s bad record-keeping, it’s still unclear if the J35-powered XP-86 got past Mach 1. There is no doubt that the X-1 did.

Read more at [url]https://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/mach-1-whodunit-180958702/#vsZpSq3zk8Z0CdjV.99

This guy rode the lightening. The guy with truth and witnesses on his side commit their story to magazine advertisements. And have that feat recognised by POTUS, the Smithsonian, NASA and the Air Force.

Chuck at 92 is a force of nature. George flew an F-86 but so did lots of gallant airmen.





George who?

[holdtime]

Originally Posted by InitialAndPitch

Five years into my aviation career, I was a private pilot having flown a series of monocoque aircraft and always listed after more power. I was in my late twenties, and aggressively worked through tail wheel endorsements (made harder by flying short, unforgiving powerful Pitts Specials.

From the Pitts S2S (260Hp) upwards, I slid into Extra 300s, Sukhois, Yaks and towards the end of my unlimited flying time, the Edge 540 (Zivko).

In Australia, we know how to display aircraft - the military and we civvies had a unusual respect for each other. We flew low and hard with the life and death dance often separated by three feet. We learned discipline from our friends in the military and we swapped stories.

On one of my ferry flights, I ferried a Pitts Specials S2A about a thousand kilometres over some of the most beautiful land Australia could muster up. Occasionally, I’d do a position check and ten minutes later, I’d have two FA-18 Hornets in loose formation and listen as they made the call and lit the reheat and watch two magnificent machines launch just as imagine a seven year old might have watched it. We all admired what we each had to work with. On that flight, the Hornets effortlessly slipped skyward and it always made me deeply proud that these guys admired my humble skills and even though I wasn’t, I was treated like a member of that extraordinary club.

This sortie would see me touch down after a refueling stop in a small country town. Passengers boarding a twin engine Fokker RPT asked for photos and I gladly gave them. Sunset at Avalon saw me touch down ahead of a GlobeMaster. The crew and I laughed at each other once safely on the chocks.

A distinguished military man, commented on my smooth touch down and clearly numb bum as I climbed down. He said that pride in tailwheel landings were fading but that my fear made it a matter of honour as you never know who is watching. We talked ‘seat of your pants’ aviation - not just instruments or systems but the inherent feeling of right.

The older pilot bought me ginger ale and he drank beer. We sat outside in the dark and swapped stories. I told stories of how to use wool taped to a wingtip that would indicate if you were flying backwards. He talked about control reversals that happened in steep dives approaching transonic flight.

After a while he sensed my discretion and said he liked my admitted failures. I had half a dozen years under my belt and he served his country for 35 years. I like him enormously and up until that point he had only revealed that he was “just a pilot” and had always he’d worn on his lucky watch - A Rolex GMT Coke.

He’d worn that watch on October 14th - 1947 in a nice little orange rocket powered aircraft that he’d dubbed the Glamourous Glennis. General Charles E Yeager flew in pain that day as a horse he’d been riding knocked his ribs around a little. Nothing that a piece of broom handle used to close the hatch couldn’t manage. After the inflight launch, Chuck broke the sound barrier wearing his Rolex Coke GMT and a huge grin.



Chuck talked to me about fluttering control surfaces what would constitute a good - no second guessing - ejection.

Hang in there and I’ll tell you about the Astronauts, U2 pilots, SR-71 Blackbird pilots and modern day pilots equipped with unimaginable payloads. I’ll skip stories of the payload but check in for men who flew aircraft where the stakes could be no higher.

You are so Full of it!

[101031-28]

You lost me at your 5 watch bundle thread

[Michaeli Paulo]

All I know is this is one of my favorite “hero shots,” with Chuck Yeager wearing ( to my eyes) a Submariner.