GEN CHUCK YEAGER'S F-15D EAGLE

Chuck Yeager logged over 10,000 hours in over 330 different types of aircraft including foreign and experimental rocket aircraft. In 1947, Yeager piloting the Bell X-1, broke Mach 1 at Muroc Air Base (now Edwards AFB). He continued to fly the X-1 as a research vehicle and checked out many other pilots in it. In 1953, he flew the Bell X-1A to break Mach 2 (Mach 2.435 or 1650 mph at 70,000 feet). He was the first American to test a captured Russian Mig 15. Among the many aircraft that he has flown are the F-86, F-100, X-1 (34 flights, X-3 (3 flights), X-4 (7 flights), F-80 accelerations tests, and chase for Jackie Cochran. During his years at Edwards AFB, Yeager served as Commandant of the Air Force Test Pilot School and the Aerospace Research Pilot School.

SCALE: 1:48
W/S: 11 1/4  INCHES
LENGTH: 16  INCHES

Item Number:    B4448F3CY                                                                                               Price:    $249.95

Historical Note:    October 14, 1997 Chuck Yeager commemorated the 50th anniversary of the breaking of the sound barrier in an F-15D named Glamorous Glennis! The F-15A Eagle was first flown on 27 July 1972 by the Chief Test Pilot for McAir, Irving L. Burrows. Colonel Wendall H. "Wendy" Shawler was selected to be the first USAF pilot to fly the Eagle as well as the "USAF Director, F-15 Joint Test Force". The Eagle would go on to become one of the greatest tactical fighters ever built. Its design was inspired by the need to counter the threat of a new generation of Soviet Fighters. It was the Mikoyan-Gurevich Mig-23 "Flogger" and the Mig-25 "Foxbat" which prompted the USAF to begin the search for a new fighter aircraft. This would culminate in the development of the F-15A Eagle. The F-15 would prove itself worthy to be called the best. It would do this by breaking all records of its predecessors as well as its adversaries. Some of these records would include all time-to-climb records such as the time to 15,000 and 30,000 meters in 1 min 17.04 sec, and 3 min 27.80 sec., respectively. It would, for the first time, demonstrate a thrust to weight ratio of greater than one with approximately 1.2 to 1, a thrust that would exceed its own weight thus giving the Eagle the advantage of fast response maneuverability - in essence, a first generation of modern "dogfighters". The F-15 would go on to be used by not only the US, but by Israel, Japan, and Saudi Arabia.  The Eagle would prove itself on many occasions. Some of these would include the Israeli destruction of over 80 first line Soviet-made Syrian flown aircraft in June, 1982. Further, the F-15 would become the mainstay of TAC. It has distinguished itself whenever called to do so, up and including Operation Desert Storm. With the development of other versions, the F-15 has continued to prove itself a champion over others and has insured its continued use in the inventory of the U.S. Air Force into the next century.