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Chile, recently & 1954

August 16th, 2013 . Posted in Daily Life with Chuck Yeager, Famous People, Food, Friends, Hero, Traveling, Victoria D'Angelo | Comments Off on Chile, recently & 1954
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This is from a couple years ago traveling to Puerto Montt, Chile:

Wow. Delay. Delay. Delay….But it´s still faster than travel was before airplanes.

First, on Wed we were told our flight on Thursday to Santiago from Dallas was canceled and we were automatically put on Friday´s flight.

We figured they were combining two flights that weren´t full. One American Airlines employee said they´ve been pulling lots of planes – the FAA has noticed a seal issue on the bulkhead. (I say the seals should pay for seats like the rest of us :-)

We were all packed so on Friday we left early for the airport. Heidi, one of our favorite AA employees checked us in.  Sacramento to Dallas.was uneventful.

We walked about 5 miles from Concourse A to D. Then hitched a ride -. It was exhausting.

We stayed in the VIP lounge till time and went to the gate. A young man approached – he had a white bearch, mustache and hair and was about 42. He had hunted at age 7 with his Dad and General Yeager. Now he is a geologist. He had such fun memories.

We approached the desk – Gen Yeager had noticed the cowling off the engine. Oh, it´s just a computer problem they´re fixing is what we were told.

An hour later, we went up to the desk again – the woman there said they were putting the flight off till 10;30am. They fueled, but the gauge didn´t register it. Bad gauge.

Me: Or the fuel is going right out again.

Gen Yeager laughed. I was probably right. But no big puddle….that one could see….yet.

I asked re our vouchers for Santiago since we were arriving later than the last plane out  – you get that tomorrow.

So they bussed us 30 minutes to a hotel. We grabbed a terrible dinner because the restaurant was closed so bad bar food – on their $10 voucher which hardly covered coffee – and went to bed.

Promptly at 7;30am we headed downstairs, spent our $5 breakfast voucher on coffee and tea. The price went up when she heard we had a voucher.

We were on the first bus at 8am. We considered just going home. Oh boy….little did we realize we should have. Very few were on the bus – they were going to get on the 8:30….and they weren´t all going to fit.

I asked re our vouchers for Santiago since we were arriving later than the last plane out  –  you get that in Santiago

The plane ride was uneventful – being during the day, Gen Yeager and I watched movies – he watched westerns, I watched historical and girly and skimmed thru stupid just to see what all the hype was about.

We got in at 11pm. Right off the plane were reps with vouchers. I asked re our vouchers for Santiago since we were arriving later than the last plane out  – you get that downstairs.

We got our luggage at 12 midnight – last one out. So much for priority travel :-)

I asked re our vouchers for Santiago since we were arriving later than the last plane out  – you get that upstairs.

O.K. I was done.

Me: I´m done. You guys have had 24 hours to figure this out. So where is a supervisor.

Lots of radio calls.

Deskclerk: Your vouchers are on the way.

And 10 minutes later: Two more minutes.

Twenty five minutes later, I told her she had 5 minutes or we were leaving and we would just let American Airlines know and send them our bill. Well, how could the Chileans skim off the top if we did that?

So she immediately came back with: Your vouchers are outside customs.

We got outside. No rep. Fortunately one of the other passengers saw us and led us to the man in hiding. He gave us a hotel voucher. He gave us transportation vouchers. No dinner voucher. Fine, we had eaten enough. And breakfast was dicey.

He told me to go to the second booth for transportation. I went there – the guy thought it was Christmas. The American Airlines rep said NO! and took me to the third booth.

He took our vouchers. Gave a guy a ticket for us. This guy took us to a van. Only one ticket, there weren´t two on the print out. Much fuss but they ran back. The van driver put in another passenger from our flight. Then the van driver starts putting in filthy, dirty, hippy-ish people with us. I tell him no.

I tell him we leave in 1 minute or we take our bags off. It is now 12:40 am.

We drive 50 yards and stop. He runs into the booth. I get out and ask the other passengers how they were getting to the hotel. They didn´t know. I asked the head guy to change the others in our van out or get another van for the other passengers.

We leave. We go round in circles to deliver one couple. We then drive to our hotel and arrive there at 1:30am (a 20 minute cab ride normally)  AFTER the other passengers who had had no ride when we left.

They were taking the last rooms! The receptionist took 15 minutes to handle this. Fortunately the three of them had been given three rooms so they gave us one of theirs. They were suites, in fact. We offered to let the other guy in our van stay in ours, but the hotel managed to find another room.

We were asleep by 2am. I had set the alarm for 8:45am hoping to wake up and tour Santiago. We had been to Chile now 7-8 times – General Yeager´s first time being 1954 along with the Patillo twins who were part of the Thunderbird team. Mine was in 2001 I think.

Well, the alarm went off and Gen Yeager was sleeping very soundly. I turned it off and rolled over for another hour :-) We needed it – can´t see much with your eyes drooping.

At 10:45am I got up and Gen Yeager leaped up – yes he is a leaper out of bed kinda guy.  We packed back up, left our bag downstairs, changed some money and checked out.

I knew changing money I would not be getting the best deal but couldn´t find out what the exchange rate was. I later learned from our friend outside Puerto Montt, it was 12%!!!! On top of this highway robbery (Chile really needs our dollars I have also just found out), when we gave the receptionist our keycard, he wanted our voucher. I told him he already got one from the guy whose room it was. He saw the determination in us and gave up.

We went walking to the old part of town.

Hungry, and no vouchers :-) we stopped in at a corner sandwich-pizza shop.

Gen Yeager had a meat forget the name in Spanish popover and I asked for avocado something.

Waiter prompted: Tostada?

Me: Ah! Si!

I was thinking American – big shell with salad, avocado, sour cream…

Uh. No. Toast with avocado spread on it. It was delicious. I looked around to see if anyone thought I was a weird American. Nope. Others were eating it too.

I also waited to see if the Chileans tipped. The first one got by me without my being ablr to determine. Usually I investigate all this before we leave. But we were visiting our friend as usual and he takes care of all this or answers my questions year to year.

The young tostada eating couple just left the change in coins as tip.

So I gave our change to the waiter. He was most appreciative. I think it was 60 cents on a 9.40 breakfast.

We continued on. When we got to the old church . the oldest building in Santiago, Gen Yeager wanted to sit down – we had walked over a mile without enough sleep and hardly good nourishment and it was fairly warm.

So we went inside. The services were going on so we sat in the back. VERY high ceiling but not quite the same as those 11th and 12th century churches  we visited in France in the fall.

The services chanted on in Spanish. I had meant to learn a little more Spanish before this trip but suddenly we were leaving – it was November and suddenly it was Feb and we were in Chile. How did that happen?

So rather than pick out English words with a Spanish accent, I listened to the hum of the chant and the singing.

As I was thinking all this, General Yeager with impeccable timing turned to me and asked: Do you know what they are saying?

Me (smiling – I had already bemoaned to him my not brushing up on-learning Spanish so was feeling sheepish): No.

Gen Yeager: Leave all your money in the collection plate. Give the rest you have at home, too.

I laughed. Up till then, I didn´t know he spoke Spanish except huevos rancheros con jambon. Tee hee.

I took some photos after he mentioned the amazing stonework.

We´d been blessed enough times we felt where it would carry us for the week and left. He sat on the fountain rim, I explored some of the smaller streets. Pretty architecture from the 19th century with their balconies and tall windows.

We then crossed the main thoroughfare and headed back on the other side of the street. He hesitated thinking I was going to make him walk up the hill to the fort. My body was unwilling. We looked for a place to set down in the park below – near a dog who really didn´t want to move. But his was the only bench in the shade. I realize I´m in a foreign country when I see dogs just roaming by themselves in a city.

Gen Yeager sits down. I´m worried – the bench looks like it´s had too many people and too many LARGE people sitting on it. It is sagging and cracking… a LOT.

But we sit and watch the fountain.

On the front of the City Library, a beautiful 19th century building with Greek columns, is the graffiti Amor with lots of hearts. On the bench next to ours, is a couple taking the message very seriously.

And there were the usual beardy, dirty…types…possibly great poets.

We decide to move on. We think we read this is the bicentennial year for liberation from Spain. There is a mural for several city blocks on the side of the cultural center. Some fantastical stuff and some serious ones – a variety. Chile has the ocean, rivers, mountains, Indians, Spanish – a bit of a mix.

We eventually get back to our hotel. We are rewarded for going to church and hire a knowledgeable driver for 2 hours for not much more than it would cost to drive the 20 minutes to the airport. He takes us first to the hill we hadn´t climbed – tourists can go by car and for free (for everyone- no entrance fee). Woo hoo!

Our driver spoke English well enough and knew the history well enough. We saw all the hot spots. If we had had a lot more time, I would have lingered in the Plaza des Armes and the marketplace where he said it is popular on Sundays because Chileans after a big Saturday night, think eating fish is good for you. :-)

Gen Y told me about the Patillo twin brothers: Buck and Bill. GCY had done a South American Goodwill tour with them in the good old days (1954) when the Thunderbirds (the Patillo twins were members then) were a good outfit. Doing several air shows throughout South America, (about 40 air shows in as many or fewer days) GCY did the first aviation sonic boom in each of the South American countries. Those shows must have been spectacular especially for their time.

GCY also was called upon to fly many dignitaries supersonic. And to dine with a few such as Evita Peron.

Living history.

c. GCYI

Huntin’ for Bear – 1947

August 13th, 2013 . Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Huntin’ for Bear – 1947
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From General Yeager: “Pancho’s was the scene of many a wild night. And it was also the staging area for many great adventures. One of the most memorable was during the sound barrier flights. At 2am on a Saturday night, and a bunch of us were still at the bar, when Russ Schleeh, a great guy and a good pilot (even though he was not only a damned bomber pilot, he was also Chief of Test for the Bomber Division), suggested we go out on a bear hunt.

I had an old Mauser rifle that my Uncle Bill, a gunsmith in Hamlin, had made for me. Russ had a .38 calibre automatic. Bob Hoover and Jack Ridley had .22s. The four of us piled into Bob Hoover’s Roadmaster convertible and took off for Johnsondale, a logging camp up on the Kern River.

We arrived 2 hours later. It was cold and we ended up parked near the dump – we figured that’s where the bears would hand out. Hoover shined his headlights on the dump. We only had 2 sleeping bags so we flipped for them. Hoover and Schleeh won the bags so slept outside the car.

Ridley had the front seat in the convertible and I had the back seat – cold, leather upholstery, in our summer suits, trying to stay warm drinking Pancho’s Mexican sauce. Every so often Ridley would turn on the headlights and yell, You guys seen any bears yet”; but they were dead to the world.

We must have fallen asleep because I was abruptly awakened by a scream. We jumped up – Schleeh was standing up in his sleeping bag, looking down into the garbage pit, waxing his smoking gun shouting: “Jesus, I saw a bear and I think I got him!”

Then we heard a shout from the pit: “Hey you SOB, what are you doing?” Hoover, still in his sleeping bag, was down in the pit.

The zipper tassel on Hoover’s sleeping bag had tickled him causing Hoover to dream a bear was licking his face. He forgot that he was in a sleeping bag and about the embankment, rolled down it, screaming.

In the dark, he looked like a bear to Schleeh who emptied his bear at Hoover.

Ridley, at his best, said; “There ain’t no future bear-huntin’ with this sorry outfit.”

From Mrs. Yeager: When Gen Yeager told this story at a lunch with Russ a few years before he died, Russ looked at me and defended his honor: “If I had been shooting at him, I woulda hit him!”

“Russ, I’ve no doubt,” I replied and smiled.

Flying Pennsylvania Ave, Wash., DC for General/Mamie Eisenhower

August 4th, 2013 . Posted in Aviation, Daily Life with Chuck Yeager, Famous People, Flying with Chuck Yeager, Formation Flying, Historical, Public Appearance, Role model | Comments Off on Flying Pennsylvania Ave, Wash., DC for General/Mamie Eisenhower
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General Yeager had agreed to serve as Grand Marshal for the National Memorial Day Parade 2012. He was honored to accept on behalf of and representing veterans to honor those who had died.

Just before the Parade started, he was asked to speak.

So that is how General Yeager came to be standing in front of the crowd of over 250,000 people and who knows how many millions on tv and radio, saying: “Now don’t tell anyone, keep this a secret….but I’ve flown down this avenue at treetop level. Big No No.”

“After General Eisenhower died, Mamie Eisenhower asked if I could plan, lead and execute a fly-by during his funeral procession in March 1969.

I responded: Yes, ma’am!

I called the Pentagon and Andrews to set it up. A two star said: “You aren’t allowed to fly down Pennsylvania Avenue so you will not be doing so.”

Me: Okay.

Just in case, though, I led two flights of 4 F-4s from Seymour Johnson to Andrews AFB ready to do the fly by down Pennsylvania Avenue for General Eisenhower.

However on the day of the funeral, March 31, 1969, probably reflecting how we all felt about General Eisenhower’s passing, the weather was stinkin’ – foggy. The 2 star general made it clear: we were not allowed to fly down Pennsylvania Avenue.

I got a call there: Yeager, this is General McConnell.

Me: Yes, sir.

Gen McConnell: Do you think you can fly down Pennsylvania Avenue today?

Me: Sir, can you see the Capitol Dome?

Gen McConnell: Just barely.

Me: Then yes, sir, I think I can.

Gen McConnell: Good. Then do it.

Me: Sir, there’s a two star general here that tells me we can’t do the flight.

Gen McConnell: Yeager, do you know who I am

Me: Yes, sir. General McConnell.

Gen McConnell: Right. And do you know what I do?

Me: Yes, sir. Chief of Staff of the Air Force.

Gen McConnell: So now any reason you can’t fly down Pennsylvania Avenue?

Me: No, sir.

Gen McConnell: Good. Then do it.

Me: Yes, sir.

General McConnell then spoke to he two star who, after he hung up, appeared to be very very unhappy. to say the least.

I’ll never forget as we were flying down Pennsylvania Avenue, I was leading two flights of four. The second flight was stacked down. The leader called in: Col, we’re awfully close to the tops of these trees.”

Gen Yeager: It ain’t the trees you need to worry about, it’s the Capitol Dome that will wipe you out!

He laughed.

That’s how Mamie Eisenhower got a formation fly by to honor her deserving, well-respected husband: General Eisenhower.

Here’s some video of it: at 10:29 minutes in:

c. GCYI

Test Pilot School – 1949 – Will I pass?

August 2nd, 2013 . Posted in Aviation, Flying with Chuck Yeager, Historical, Test Pilot | Comments Off on Test Pilot School – 1949 – Will I pass?
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General Yeager tells his story: On the way back to Edwards, and to face the “firing squad” at TPS, from France, we stopped off in Madrid. At dinner, I said: “General Boyd-” but he interrupted. “Chuck, we’re after hours now. Call me ‘Al.'”

I said….”General Boyd, the two of us can be stuck together on a desert island for the next ten years, but you’ll still be ‘General Boyd.'” I could no more call my dad “Hal” than call General Boyd by his first name. I think if I had ever tried to call him “Hal”, my mouth would not have known how to get it out.

When we returned to Edwards, I wondered whether I would be allowed to make up the class for TPS.

The old man marched on the test pilot school. The commandant told him, “General, there’s no way we can pass Yeager. He’s missed too much work.” The old man handed him the stability and control reports I had prepared on the XF-92 and the French jets. “Study that,” he said, “you might learn something. Yeager knows more about stability and control than you can teach him.”

The commandant said that might be, but rules were rules, and I couldn’t get a certification diploma without completing my course work. And without the certificate, my test pilot days were over. General Boyd turned red, then purple. He slammed his fists down on the table and his voice shook that room. “Goddamit, I’m in charge of this school. You will pass him.”

And that’s how I got my diploma.

MARBLES with Chuck Yeager

July 27th, 2013 . Posted in Childhood friends & neighbors, Chuck Yeager's family history, Daily Life with Chuck Yeager | Comments Off on MARBLES with Chuck Yeager
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Reminiscing about childhood from Chuck Yeager: I was pretty good as a kid at playing marbles and when I went off to war, I had amassed, by winning, about 2000, (cleaned out the town) which I gave to my kid brother, Hal, Jr.

Hal enjoyed the reminiscing and remembers it a little differently:  “Well, I don’t know about cleaning out the town, as we all were pretty fair marble shooters..both “ring & box or square”. (Definitions for marble neophytes are below). But remember this was 72 years ago.”

Of course, Hal was 8 when I left for war.

Hal continued: “Mom used to get on us for wearing out the knee’s of our pants…and our knuckles were always rough or splitting from being on the ground so much, some of the boys used a little patch of sheepskin to put their knuckles on – (sissies)

“Later on I added what I had to the canvas bag…and used some of them as ammo for my slingshot, shooting birds (especially cat-birds) squirrels or anything else that flew or moved in the woods.  Another use was at night taking a hand full of ‘em and throwing them up in the air and letting them come down on the tin roofs of a few houses in Hamlin…it did make a racket…

“Everyone had a favorite taul they used to shoot with….I still have mine after all these years kind of pitted from using it so much, they were just a little bigger than the standard marble. There was also a bigger marble we called a “breadroller” that was used as a taul. We also used “steelies”.

Another thing would happen is when someone would hollar (West Virginian for “holler”) squabbles…the big boys always won on this one.

“Box” was about a foot square that was drawn on the ground that you put your marbles in to start the game..  You would do something, (like roll a marble toward a line)…who ever got the closes shot first…the object of the game was to knock the marbles out of the box w/o leaving your taul in the box. if you “stuck” as it was called you lost your turn and the next guy shot.

You kept the marbles you knocked out of the box, hopefully more than you put in to start the game.

“Ring”, you drew a ring on the ground about 3 foot across, put in you marbles, they were placed in a plus shape,  the object of this game was to stay in the circle while knocking the other marbles out…it was called making your taul (stick) where it hit the other marble in the circle, knocking it out.. a small steelie was very good for this taul.

“Squabbles”   Someone would yell “squabbles”, and everyone would try and grab any marbles in the BOX or RING, regardless who they belong to, this was normally done by the older (bigger) boys.   See Below also

“Breadroller” As noted below, the breadroller was just the nickname for a larger marble, about 3/4 to 1″ that was used as a taul…(bigger taul easier to hit smaller regular size marbles) and not stick in the box or ring.

There was also a term called ….crowhop… this was when a guy would move his hand forward as he shot…making the distance shorter….a NO NO !!!      Hope this helps more than confuses…….”

I also remembered:

“Steelie” – was a steel taul

Purgatory – hole side of hill, tried to shoot your marble in it.

We had a lot of fun as kids without any money. And it sure helped in life – being able to aim, hit the target, learning strategy…

Wonder if anyone still plays?

c. GCYI

The French Engineers Just Shook Their Heads

July 20th, 2013 . Posted in Aviation, Flying with Chuck Yeager, Formation Flying, Historical, Test Pilot | Comments Off on The French Engineers Just Shook Their Heads
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From Chuck Yeager: A couple years after I broke the sound barrier, someone forced the issue and General Boyd was forced to order me back to test pilot school to complete the standard and evaluation course. The instructors knew I was not an academic and couldn’t wait to fail me, the pilot who broke the sound barrier, gave me extra work, railed on me. If I failed this, I could kiss my test pilot career goodbye. Jack Ridley tutored me every night.

Towards the end of the course and just in time, General Boyd ordered me to go to France with him to test aircraft at the request of the French and the USAF Chief of Staff. Just in time, he ripped me out of that class. This is how he describes our time in France:

General Boyd said: “The French wanted our advice about their prototypes and which ones to put into production. Our Air Force Chief of Staff assigned this mission to me and I chose Chuck Yeager to go with me. We took turns chasing each other in an F-86, while one or the other of us flew the prototype. We worked hard and under very trying conditions.
This was truly the unknown, flying in foreign aircraft with which we were unfamiliar, hoping the French engineers really had made themselves understood while speaking to us in imprecise English. We really missed having a Jack Ridley along- our own engineering backup to help us get through these tests on new equipment. We started by flying the MD 450 Dassault Ouragan and ended by flying the MD452 Mystere jet fighter. In between we flew their bomber and cargo plane prototypes. I recall taking off in their four engine jet transport. Chuck was in the copilot’s seat, and I had just put my wheels up when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to see a little man in a striped coat with a tray of champagne. I turned to Chuck and burst out laughing. “Oh my God,” I said, ‘that’s all I need on my first flight in this thing.

Chuck, of course, took up their fighters and did everything in the world that could be done with them. The French engineers just shook their heads. He spun them, dived them, stalled them-everything. As usual, he just impressed the hell out of me with his ability to perform under pressure and his understanding of the systems aboard. It was partly innate and partly self-taught, but whatever the reason, he had more than the equivalent of an engineering degree, many times over. After ten minutes, he flew those unfamiliar airplanes as if he owned them. His quick mastery over complicated equipment was just amazing.”

c. GCYI

The Hell There Ain’t….

July 10th, 2013 . Posted in Aviation, Aviation Maintenance, Daily Life with Chuck Yeager, Famous People, Flying with Chuck Yeager, Formation Flying, Friends, Historical, Test Pilot | Comments Off on The Hell There Ain’t….
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General Yeager told me this story today:

Jack Ridley was itching to fly the X-1 after we succeeded in breaking the sound barrier. Finally, when he got his chance, he asked if I would fly chase.

Almost every flight in the X-1 had an issue from electricity going out, to no radio, to the cockpit window fogging up (Dick Frost talked me down to landing- kinda funny, my window was frosted so Dick Frost…)

Once Ridley had been dropped from the B-29 and we had flown a few seconds, Ridley comes over the radio quite agitated: “Yeager, there’s a fire warning light on!”

The cockpit was pure nitrogen, no oxygen, so no fuel for fire, so I said: “Aw hell, Jack, there’s nothing in there that will burn.”

If a fist could come through the radio, it did. He retorted loudly: “The hell there ain’t. I’M in here.”

:-)

c. GCYI

“Chuck, I can’t see in here!”

July 10th, 2013 . Posted in Aviation, Aviation Maintenance, Daily Life with Chuck Yeager, Famous People, Flying lessons, Flying with Chuck Yeager, Formation Flying, Historical, Test Pilot, Uncategorized | Comments Off on “Chuck, I can’t see in here!”
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General Yeager: I never lost a pilot while flying chase, but there were many close calls.

From Carl Bellinger:

Flying chase was an art that not many test pilots bothered to perfect. There’s no glory flying chase – no goal assist, no brownie points. But a skilled and dedicated chase pilot often meant the difference between making it back or not in a dire emergency. Chuck Yeager was the best one to have flying your wing in a tight spot. Everyone wanted him to fly as chase because he had logged more rocket flying time than anyone else and knew those complex systems intimately. He was also the most skilled and experienced test pilot there, who had taken off and landed thousands of times on those lake beds in all kinds of situations.

And he had the best damned eyes of any of us and could spot trouble before a warning light flashed on the instrument panel.

Chasing was unselfish flying, and there were some pilots who just didn’t stay alert. Chuck was a noticeable exception. He flew as balls-out flying chase as he did flying the X-1. As a chase pilot, he was a ten; by comparison, most of the others were sixes or sevens. The difference was critical. I know.

Yeager saved my life.

I was testing Republic’s prototype, the X-F-91, a rocket-propelled experimental fighter, in the summer of 1951. Chuck flew chase on my first flight. We took off at the first light of dawn. I was rolling down the lakebed runway, getting ready to lift off, when he came by in a Sabre and began to fly in formation with me before I was even airborne – superb piloting right from the start. He did a half-roll right above my canopy to check me before I had my wheels up.

I had just lifted off the deck and retracted my gear when Chuck radioed: “Man, you won’t believe what’s coming out of your engine.”

A moment later, I got a fire warning light.

“Christ,” I said, “I think I’m on fire.”

He replied, “Old buddy, I hate to tell you, but a piece of molten engine just shot out your exhaust and you’d better do something quick.”

He meant I should immediately punch all my wing tanks and turn right back onto the runway.

We were about 500 feet over the lakebed heading out.

He cautioned: “Don’t you hit my house with those tanks, either.”

Normally, I would’ve laughed but we both knew I was in one helluva bind, too low to eject and my cockpit filling with dense black smoke. The fire in back was tremendous, and I radioed to him, “Chuck, I can’t see in here.”

“Do a two-seventy to the right and keep it tight,” he replied in that calm voice.

I followed his instructions, got me gear down, and in only a few crisp words, he had me lined up and landing. He stayed right on my wing as we touched down.

I had that canopy open and hit the ground the moment the ship stopped rolling. I jumped for it just as the tail melted off. Flames and smoke poured into the sky.

Chuck was right there and I climbed on his wing. His canopy was open and I just shook my head.

“Damn, that was close,”  I shouted at him.

“It really was,” he laughed.

We taxied up the lake bed with me holding onto his fuselage and met the fire trucks racing towards us in a cloud of dust from seven miles away.

From the time Chuck saw my engine start burning until he talked me down took no more than ninety seconds. That’s about all the time we had.

The X-F-91 had burnt to ashes by the time the fire engine arrived at the scene.

c. GCYI

General Chuck Yeager’s Grandma’s Award Winning Butterscotch Pah

June 27th, 2013 . Posted in Adventures in food, Books, Chuck Yeager's family history, Daily Life with Chuck Yeager, Uncategorized, Victoria D'Angelo | Comments Off on General Chuck Yeager’s Grandma’s Award Winning Butterscotch Pah
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Gen Yeager makes great butterscotch pah (which is West Virginian for pie). But not often.

To get General Yeager to make some, I entered him in the men only baked goods contest for the Nevada County fair. He grumbled.

It’s Grandma Yeager’s recipe. Grandma Yeager, Adeline, was an interesting character. She was the barometer of size. If someone was describing another and said, He was big; the immediate response was: “As big as Adeline?”

Of course her husband, Grandpa Yeager, was skinny.

Grandma Yeager also smoked a pipe and carried it in a garter under her dress.

Grandpa Yeager is General Yeager’s hero. Grandpa Yeager could do anything. If he couldn’t, he’d ponder it for a while and figure it out. Sound familiar?

There’s some tricky maneuvers to make butterscotch pah but even a bad one is pretty good. The first one didn’t turn out great. The second one did.

We kept the 2nd one and entered the first one. So you can see our priorities.

When we went to the fair to see how General Yeager had faired (yup, I said faired), we found most of the pie gone except one piece (the 3 judges are only each supposed to take a bite, maybe two but clearly it tasted too good to stop).

One piece left – but with a blue ribbon on it. Woo hoo!

Some people asked if I had really made it – if they only knew. If I had made it…okay I’ll tell you that little story proving I could not have made a pah that won an award:

We had a hankering for butterscotch pah so CY asked me to make some. ME? It’s your family recipe.

I drew the short stick but he learned. The first pah, I didn’t have an ingredient, so I went online, learned of a substitute. Well, the substitute didn’t work out. So I tossed it over the railing for the deer.

The next afternoon I tried again. It…too…was bad. And remember I wrote: “even a bad one is pretty good” so these two attempts had to be pretty darn bad to throw over the railing for the deer.

The third day, success! The stars, the moon and the sun aligned so that I could make a decent butterscotch pah. So I made two. And our neighbors and we enjoyed butterscotch pah for a few days – a little goes a long way – it’s very rich.

After I finished the butterscotch pahs on the third day, while waiting for them to set, I went out to the porch to throw some other food that had gone bad over the porch. Standing below was the deer looking up with an insistently expectant look – Where’s my butterscotch pah?

Obviously they aren’t as critical as I am – heck maybe they especially liked the lumps and weird texture.

Right after we saw General Yeager’s butterscotch pah’s blue ribbon, we heard the local radio personality, who had won every year with his special apple pie, (not pah, he’s not from West Virginia) had sort of complained: I came in 2nd for the 1st time ever, but I guess if you have to lose, losing to Chuck Yeager isn’t so bad. I wonder if he got a little extra boost ’cause he’s Chuck Yeager?

Well! Fortunately we had not eaten the whole other pah, so the next day we brought our friend who had reported the story to us, a piece to give to the radio personality to try. Being honorable, the radio personality, accepted it and decided to taste it first on air.

RP: I’m tasting this in front of you so you can hear my honest, timely reaction.

RP takes a bite. Seconds, which in radio is hours, pass.

Finally RP says contritely: OK. That is good – that did deserve to win.

RP had sent us a piece of his pie to try to which we were looking forward with great anticipation.

We went to the office only to find the intermediary had eaten it before he even got to the office.

RP still owes us a piece of special apple pie.

We’ve been meaning to write a book: General Chuck Yeager’s Grandma’s Recipes (and a few of his own).

Now we can title it: General Chuck Yeager’s Grandma’s Award Winning Recipes (and a few of his own).

Has a much better ring to it.

c. GCYI

Kerfuffle – my new old word

June 27th, 2013 . Posted in Language, Victoria D'Angelo | Comments Off on Kerfuffle – my new old word
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I like words. Or some of them. There are so many interesting ones.
My friend used one I hadn’t heard in a long time. Kerfuffle.
I don’t have to use it in a sentence to explain it: I’ll just quote her: “There is much more to this movie – the kids were watching it later in life and this clip did not show that part. I really did NOT intend to stir up such a kerfuffle with it!”
My response was: Kerfuffle. Love that word. Never spelled it before. Kerfuffle.
Other people’s responses to such words can be very interesting which reflects back on my interest in words.

Other person’s response: “Kerfuffle, too long to use in scrabble game…”

I couldn’t resist since I play Scrabble or used to and love playing the game – words – so I responded: “You’re right any word you can’t use in Scrabble… And there is no piece of it that is a word on its own. Dang. *

I really like kerfuffle – it’s got all those consonants that swear words have so I’m going to try to train myself to yell that when I bang my toe or some such event.

People will probably be so startled they’ll say “God Bless you” or “Gesundheit” in response.

c. GCYI

*If you’re not a Scrabble player, you only have seven letters in your “hand” to spell a word but you must use what’s on the board already whether it’s one letter or a word. So if there were a piece that was a word on its own and were already placed on the board, you could add the to that word. But not with kerfuffle).

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