Editing Chuck Yeager (section)

=== Post-World War II ===
==== Test pilot – breaking the sound barrier ====
[[File:Yeager supersonic flight 1947.ogv|thumb|Yeager broke the sound barrier on October 14, 1947, in the X-1.]]
After the war, Yeager remained in the [[United States Army Air Forces|U.S. Army Air Forces]]. Upon graduating from [[U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School|Air Materiel Command Flight Performance School]] (Class 46C),<ref>{{cite web |title=Getting schooled with the Air Force's elite test pilots |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/getting-schooled-with-the-air-forces-elite-test-pilots <!--|title = Test pilot Capt Chuck Yeager--> |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170906051721/https://www.cnet.com/news/getting-schooled-with-the-air-forces-elite-test-pilots/ |archive-date=September 6, 2017 |access-date=April 30, 2017 |publisher=CNET}}</ref> Yeager became a test pilot at Muroc Army Air Field (now [[Edwards Air Force Base]]). After [[Bell Aircraft]] test pilot [[Chalmers "Slick" Goodlin]] demanded {{US$|150000|1947|round=-4}}<!--over US$1.7 million in 2020 dollars--> to break the sound "barrier", the USAAF selected the 24-year-old Yeager to fly the rocket-powered [[Bell X-1|Bell XS-1]] in a [[National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics|NACA]] program to research high-speed flight.<ref name="yeagerbio_121">{{harvp|Yeager|Janos|1985|p=121|ps=.}}</ref><ref name="right_stuff_52-53">{{cite book|author-link=Tom Wolfe|last=Wolfe|first=Tom|title-link=The Right Stuff (book)|title=The Right Stuff |location=New York|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|year=1979|isbn=0-374-25033-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/rightstuff00tomw/page/52 52–53]}}</ref> Under the [[National Security Act of 1947]], the USAAF became the [[United States Air Force]] (USAF) on September 18.

[[File:Chuck Yeager.jpg|thumb|Yeager stands in front of the [[Bell X-1]] named ''Glamorous Glennis''. He named all of his assigned aircraft in some variation after his wife.]]
[[File:Chuck Yeager X-1 (color).jpg|thumb|Yeager is in the Bell X-1 cockpit.]]
Yeager's flight was scheduled for October 14.<ref name="yeagerbio_157">{{harvp|Yeager|Janos|1985|p=157 |ps=.}}</ref> Two nights before his flight, Yeager went horseback riding with his wife, fell, and broke two ribs under his right arm. Worried the injury would remove him from the mission, Yeager had a civilian doctor in nearby [[Rosamond, California|Rosamond]] tape his ribs.<ref name="Ryan">{{cite book|last1=Ryan|first1=Craig|title=Sonic Wind: The Story of John Paul Stapp and How a Renegade Doctor Became the Fastest Man on Earth|date= 2015|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-1-63149-079-8|pages=98–99|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ID-dBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT98|access-date=February 26, 2016}}</ref>{{refn|In some versions of the story, the doctor was a veterinarian; however, local residents have noted that Rosamond was so small that it had neither a medical doctor nor a veterinarian.<ref name="Ryan"/>|group=lower-alpha}}

To seal the hatch of the XS-1, the pilot needed to hold the hatch in position and use their right arm to slam down a heavy lever. Yeager would not be able to seal the hatch with his broken ribs, so Yeager secretly asked his friend and fellow project pilot [[Jack Ridley (pilot)|Jack Ridley]] for a solution. Ridley sawed off the end of a broom handle for Yeager to use as a lever to seal the hatch.<ref>{{cite news|last=Fountain|first=Nigel |date=December 8, 2020|title=Chuck Yeager obituary|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/08/chuck-yeager-obituary|access-date=December 8, 2020|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

Yeager broke the [[sound barrier]] on October 14, 1947, in level flight while piloting the X-1 ''Glamorous Glennis'' at [[Mach number|Mach 1.05]] at an altitude of {{cvt|45000|ft|m|sigfig=3}}<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1947/12/22/archives/new-us-plane-said-to-fly-faster-than-speed-of-sound-said-to-have.html|title=New U.S. Plane Said to Fly Faster Than Speed of Sound|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180723004851/https://www.nytimes.com/1947/12/22/archives/new-us-plane-said-to-fly-faster-than-speed-of-sound-said-to-have.html|archive-date=July 23, 2018|newspaper=The New York Times|date=December 22, 1947|quote=An experimental rocket plane, the Bell XS-1, has flown faster than the speed of sound a number of times recently, ''[[Aviation Week & Space Technology|Aviation Week]]'' reports in an issue to be released tomorrow.}}</ref>{{refn|Yeager was the first confirmed to break the sound barrier, and the first by any measure to do it in level flight. Other pilots who have been suggested as unproven possibilities to have exceeded the sound barrier before Yeager were all flying in a steep dive for the supposed occurrence. There is anecdotal evidence that American pilot [[George Welch (pilot)|George Welch]] may have broken the sound barrier two weeks before Yeager, while diving an [[North American F-86 Sabre|XP-86 Sabre]] on October 1, 1947, and again on October 14, just 30 minutes before Yeager's X-1 flight. However, the precision instruments used to carefully document the speed of Yeager's flight were not used during Welch's flights.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Blackburn|first=Al|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140511104429/http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/mach-match-361247/?all|archive-date=May 11, 2014|url=http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/mach-match-361247/?all|title=Mach match: Did an XP-86 beat Yeager to the punch?|magazine=Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine|publisher=The Smithsonian|date=January 1999|access-date=April 14, 2015}}</ref> Even earlier, German pilot [[Lothar Sieber]] was estimated to have broken the speed of sound during his fatal test-flight of the rocket-powered [[Bachem Natter]] on March 1, 1945, although the speed was not officially measured.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/pilot-chuck-yeagers-resolve-to-break-the-sound-barrier-was-made-of-the-right-stuff/news-story/b5cc3ee54c061c32b0bb08f42e11ab24|title=Pilot Chuck Yeager's resolve to break the sound barrier was made of the right stuff|last=Donnelly |first=Marea|date=October 13, 2017|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=March 29, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018195504/http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/pilot-chuck-yeagers-resolve-to-break-the-sound-barrier-was-made-of-the-right-stuff/news-story/b5cc3ee54c061c32b0bb08f42e11ab24|archive-date=October 18, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> In his 1990 book ''Me-163'', former [[Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet]] pilot Mano Ziegler claims that his friend, test pilot [[Heini Dittmar]], broke the sound barrier and that on July 6, 1944, he reached 1,130 km/h in dive, and that several people on the ground heard the sonic booms. There was also a disputed claim by German pilot [[Hans Guido Mutke]] that he was the first person to break the sound barrier, on April 9, 1945, in a [[Messerschmitt Me 262]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Yoon|first=Joe |url=http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/history/q0198c.shtml|title=Me 262 and the Sound Barrier|website=aerospaceweb.org|date=October 7, 2004|access-date=April 14, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305021742/http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/history/q0198c.shtml|archive-date=March 5, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>|group=lower-alpha}} over the [[Rogers Dry Lake]] of the [[Mojave Desert]] in California.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/X-1-airplane|title=Bell X-1|publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=English|access-date=December 8, 2022}}</ref> The success of the mission was not announced to the public for nearly eight months, until June 10, 1948.<ref name=ppgfsnd>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AAwNAAAAIBAJ&pg=2734%2C2355693 |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |agency=Associated Press |title=Two U.S. planes fly faster than sound |date=June 11, 1948 |page=4}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/yeager-breaks-sound-barrier |title=This day in history: Yeager breaks the sound barrier|access-date=September 5, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905061022/http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/yeager-breaks-sound-barrier|archive-date=September 5, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> Yeager was awarded the [[Mackay Trophy]] and the [[Collier Trophy]] in 1948 for his mach-transcending flight,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.naa.aero/html/awards/index.cfm?cmsid=192|title=Mackay 1940–1949 Winners|publisher=National Aeronautic Association|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127182450/http://www.naa.aero/html/awards/index.cfm?cmsid=192|archive-date=January 27, 2012}}</ref><ref name="collier-1940-1949-winners">{{cite web|title=Collier 1940–1949 Recipients|url=https://naa.aero/awards/awards-and-trophies/collier-trophy/collier-1940-1949-winners|publisher=National Aeronautic Association|access-date=July 22, 2020}}</ref> and the [[Harmon International Trophy]] in 1954.<ref name="nyt1954">{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0F10FC3B5E107B93C7A9178CD85F418585F9|title=Harmon Prizes go for 2 Air "Firsts"; Vertical-Flight Test Pilot and Airship Endurance Captain Are 1955 Winners|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 5, 1955}}</ref> The X-1 he flew that day was later put on permanent display at the [[Smithsonian Institution]]'s [[National Air and Space Museum]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Bell X-1 "Glamorous Glennis"|url=https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/bell-x-1-glamorous-glennis/nasm_A19510007000|publisher=National Air and Space Museum |access-date=December 8, 2020}}</ref> During 1952, he attended the [[Air Command and Staff College]].<ref>{{cite web|title=BRIGADIER GENERAL CHARLES E. "CHUCK" YEAGER|url=https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Biographies/Display/Article/105165/charles-e-chuck-yeager/|publisher=United States Air Force |access-date=April 26, 2022}}</ref>

[[File:Charles Yeager photo portrait head on shoulders left side.jpg|thumb|upright|Yeager in 1950]]
Yeager continued to break many speed and altitude records. He was one of the first American pilots to fly a [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15]], after its pilot, [[No Kum-sok]], defected to [[South Korea]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Clark|first=Mark|title=From the Danube to the Yalu|location=New York|publisher=Harper|year=1954|page=208}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Kum-Suk|first1=No|first2=J. Roger|last2=Osterholm |title=A MiG-15 to Freedom: Memoir of the Wartime North Korean Defector who First Delivered the Secret Fighter Jet to the Americans in 1953|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|publisher=McFarland & Co.|year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7864-0210-6|page=158}}</ref> Returning to Muroc, during the latter half of 1953, Yeager was involved with the USAF team that was working on the [[Bell X-1#X-1A|X-1A]], an aircraft designed to surpass Mach 2 in level flight. That year, he flew a [[chase plane|chase aircraft]] for the civilian pilot [[Jacqueline Cochran|Jackie Cochran]] as she became the first woman to fly faster than sound.<ref name="yeagerbio_252"/>

On November 20, 1953, the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] program involving the [[Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket|Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket]] and its pilot, [[Scott Crossfield]], became the first team to reach twice the speed of sound. After they were bested, Ridley and Yeager decided to beat rival Crossfield's speed record in a series of test flights that they dubbed "Operation NACA Weep". Not only did they beat Crossfield by setting a new record at Mach 2.44 on December 12, 1953, but they did it in time to spoil a celebration planned for the [[Wright brothers|50th anniversary of flight]] in which Crossfield was to be called "the fastest man alive".<ref name="yeagerbio_252">{{harvp|Yeager|Janos|1985|p=252|ps=.}}</ref>

The new record flight, however, did not entirely go to plan, since shortly after reaching Mach 2.44, Yeager lost control of the X-1A at about {{cvt|80000|ft|m}} due to [[inertia coupling]], a phenomenon largely unknown at the time. With the aircraft simultaneously rolling, pitching, and yawing out of control, Yeager dropped {{cvt|51000|ft|m}} in less than a minute before regaining control at around {{cvt|29000|ft|m}}. He then managed to land without further incident.<ref name="yeagerbio_252"/> For this feat, Yeager was awarded the [[Distinguished Service Medal (U.S. Army)|Distinguished Service Medal]] (DSM) in 1954.<ref>{{cite news|date=August 1954|title=Airpower in the News|volume=37|page=17|magazine=Air Force Magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I1jdZ3m2uFgC&pg=RA9-PA9}}</ref>{{Refn|Yeager received the DSM in the Army design, since the [[Air Force Distinguished Service Medal]] was not awarded until 1965.|group=lower-alpha}}

==== Military command ====
[[File:Chuck Yeager 1950.jpg|thumb|Yeager was Commandant of the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School, with a model of the [[North American X-15]], 1959.]]
Yeager was foremost a fighter pilot and held several squadron and wing commands. From 1954 to 1957, he commanded the [[North American F-86 Sabre|F-86H Sabre]]-equipped 417th Fighter-Bomber Squadron (50th Fighter-Bomber Wing) at [[Frankfurt-Hahn Airport|Hahn AB]], [[West Germany]], and Toul-Rosieres Air Base, [[France]]; and from 1957 to 1960 the [[North American F-100 Super Sabre|F-100D Super Sabre]]-equipped [[1st Fighter Squadron (United States)|1st Fighter Day Squadron]] <!-- (later, while still under Yeager's command, re-designated the 306th Tactical Fighter Squadron) -->at [[George Air Force Base]], California, and [[Morón Air Base]], [[Spain]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Young|first=James|title=Squadron Leader|url=https://www.chuckyeager.com/1954-1961-squadron-leader|access-date=December 8, 2020|website=ChuckYeager.com|archive-date=December 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201208060758/https://www.chuckyeager.com/1954-1961-squadron-leader|url-status=dead}}</ref>

He was a full colonel in 1962,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chuckyeager.com/1961-1975-to-new-heights|title=Yeager (n.d.). To New Heights: 1961–1975|access-date=September 5, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130926221739/http://www.chuckyeager.com/1961-1975-to-new-heights|archive-date=September 26, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> after completion of a year's studies and final thesis on [[STOL]] aircraft<ref>{{cite web|url=https://fairchild-mil.libguides.com/ld.php?content_id=42077711|title=The Ability of a STOL Fighter to Perform the Mission of Tactical Air Forces (1961)|access-date=December 8, 2020|page=3}}</ref> at the [[Air War College]]. He became the first commandant of the [[U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School|USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School]], which produced [[astronaut]]s for [[NASA]] and the [[United States Air Force|USAF]], after its redesignation from the USAF Flight Test Pilot School. He had only a high school education, so he was not eligible to become an astronaut like those he trained. In April 1962, Yeager made his only flight with [[Neil Armstrong]]. Their job, flying a [[T-33]], was to evaluate Smith Ranch Dry Lake in [[Nevada]] for use as an emergency landing site for the [[North American X-15]].<ref name="yeagerbio_6"/>

In his autobiography, he wrote that he knew the lake bed was unsuitable for landings after recent rains, but Armstrong insisted on flying out anyway. As Armstrong suggested that they do a [[Touch-and-go landing|touch-and-go]], Yeager advised against it, telling him "You may touch, but you ain't gonna go!"  When Armstrong did touch down, the wheels became stuck in the mud, bringing the plane to a sudden stop and provoking Yeager to fits of laughter. They had to wait for rescue.<ref name="yeagerbio_6"/>

Yeager's participation in the test pilot training program for [[NASA]] included controversial behavior. Yeager reportedly did not believe that [[Ed Dwight]], the first African American pilot admitted into the program, should be a part of it. In the 2019 documentary series ''[[Chasing the Moon (2019 film)|Chasing the Moon]]'', the filmmakers made the claim that Yeager instructed staff and participants at the school that "Washington is trying to cram the nigger down our throats. [President] [[John F. Kennedy|Kennedy]] is using this to make 'racial equality,' so do not speak to him, do not socialize with him, do not drink with him, do not invite him over to your house, and in six months he'll be gone."<ref>{{cite AV media |people=Stone, Robert (Writer, Director, Producer) |year=2019 |title=Chasing The Moon Episode 1|trans-title=It Took Millions of Steps to Make One Giant Leap |language=English |type=DVD |time=1:18:05 |publisher=WGBH Educational Foundation |id=AE61703 |isbn=9781531709419 |oclc=1531709419 }}</ref><ref name="The New York Times">{{cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Walter J. |title=Ed Dwight Was Set to Be the First Black Astronaut. Here's Why That Never Happened. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/16/us/ed-dwight-was-set-to-be-the-first-black-astronaut-heres-why-that-never-happened.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/16/us/ed-dwight-was-set-to-be-the-first-black-astronaut-heres-why-that-never-happened.html |archive-date=January 1, 2022 |url-access=limited |access-date=February 20, 2021 |work=[[The New York Times]] |agency=The New York Times Company |date=July 16, 2019 |url-status=live }}{{cbignore}}</ref>  In his autobiography, Dwight details how Yeager's leadership led to discriminatory treatment throughout his training at Edwards Air Force Base.<ref>{{cite book|publisher=Ed Dwight Studios, Inc.|title=Soaring on the Wings of a Dream: The Struggles & Adventures of the "First Black Astronaut" Candidate"|pages=213–219|author=Ed Dwight|year=2009 |isbn=9780984149506}}</ref>

Between December 1963 and January 1964, Yeager completed five flights in the [[NASA M2-F1]] [[lifting body]]. An accident during a [[Lockheed NF-104A#Third NF-104A|December 1963 test flight]] in one of the school's [[Lockheed NF-104A|NF-104s]] resulted in serious injuries. After climbing to a near-record altitude, the plane's controls became ineffective, and it entered a [[Flat spin (aviation)|flat spin]]. After several turns, and an altitude loss of approximately 95,000 feet, Yeager ejected from the plane. During the ejection, the seat straps released normally, but the seat base slammed into Yeager, with the still-hot rocket motor breaking his helmet's plastic faceplate and causing his emergency oxygen supply to catch fire. The resulting burns to his face required extensive and agonizing medical care.  This was Yeager's last attempt at setting test-flying records due to his apparent inability to fly the required flight profiles for optimum climb performance.<ref name=Crash>{{cite web|url=http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/NF-104A_crash_site.htm|title=The Crash of Chuck Yeager's NF-104A|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041207150655/http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/NF-104A_crash_site.htm|archive-date=December 7, 2004|via=Check-Six.com|date=December 10, 1963}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/10-december-1963/|title=This Day In Aviation, 10 December 1963|via=Thisdayinaviation.com|date=December 10, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kalimera.org/nf104/stories/stories_16.html|title=Yeager's View, In Review|via=Kalimera.org|date=}}</ref>{{efn|The movie ''The Right Stuff'' implies that Yeager took the NF-104 on a spur-of-the-moment, unauthorized flight. In reality, it was a part of a scheduled series of test flights.}}

In 1966, Yeager took command of the 405th Tactical Fighter Wing at [[Clark Air Base]], the [[Philippines]], whose squadrons were deployed on rotational temporary duty (TDY) in [[South Vietnam]] and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. There he flew 127 missions. In February 1968, Yeager was assigned command of the [[4th Fighter Wing|4th Tactical Fighter Wing]] at [[Seymour Johnson Air Force Base]], [[North Carolina]], and led the [[McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II]] wing in [[South Korea]] during the [[USS Pueblo (AGER-2)|''Pueblo'' crisis]].<ref name="af-retirement"/>

Yeager was promoted to [[Brigadier general (United States)|brigadier general]] and was assigned in July 1969 as the vice-commander of the [[Seventeenth Air Force]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Young|first=James|title=To New Heights|url=https://www.chuckyeager.com/1961-1975-to-new-heights|access-date=December 8, 2020|website=chuckyeager.com|archive-date=December 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201208040722/http://www.chuckyeager.com/1961-1975-to-new-heights|url-status=dead}}</ref>

From 1971 to 1973, at the behest of Ambassador [[Joseph Farland]], Yeager was assigned as the [[Air Attache]] in [[Pakistan]] to advise the [[Pakistan Air Force]] which was led by [[Abdur Rahim Khan]] (the first Pakistani to break the sound barrier).<ref name="hali">{{cite web|url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/758220-chuck-yeager-the-flying-legend-breaks-the-final-barrier|title=Chuck Yeager — the flying legend — breaks the final barrier|website=International, TheNews.com.pk|author=Group Captain (R) Sultan Mehmood Hali|date=December 14, 2020}}</ref><ref name="yeagerbio_391">{{harvp|Yeager|Janos|1985|p=391|ps=.}}</ref><ref name="dp">{{cite web|url=https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/29-Jun-2015/charles-yeager-and-pakistan-air-force |website=DailyPakistan.com.pk|title=Charles Yeager and Pakistan Air Force|author=Sarfaraz Ali|date=June 29, 2015}}</ref> He arrived in Pakistan at a time when tensions with India were at a high level. One of Yeager's jobs during this time was to assist Pakistani technicians in installing [[AIM-9 Sidewinder]]s on PAF's [[Shenyang F-6]] fighters. He also had a keen interest in interacting with PAF personnel from [[List of Pakistan Air Force squadrons|various Pakistani Squadrons]] and helping them develop [[Air combat manoeuvring|combat tactics]].<ref name="dp"/> 

In one instance in 1972, while visiting the [[No. 15 Squadron (Pakistan Air Force)|No. 15 Squadron "Cobras"]] at [[Peshawar Airbase]], the Squadron's [[Officer commanding|OC]] [[8-Pass Charlie|Wing Commander Najeeb Khan]] escorted him to [[K2]] in a pair of [[F-86F]]s after Yeager requested a visit to the second highest mountain on Earth.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.capitolhillbooks-dc.com/pages/books/13153/hussaini-tanvir-m-ahmed-jamal-a-khan-text-intro/paf-over-the-years |title=PAF over the Years|page=95|chapter=Trauma & Reconstruction (1971-1980)|author=Group Captain (R) Husseini & Pakistan Air Force|publisher= Directorate of Media Affairs, Pakistan Air Force|edition=Revised}}</ref><ref>{{cite tweet|url=https://twitter.com/GenChuckYeager/status/1049753383404371968|publisher=Chuck Yeager|title=Chuck's accounts on his visit to the K-2 in an F-86|number=1049753383404371968|user=GenChuckYeager}}</ref> After [[1971 War|hostilities broke out in 1971]], he decided to stay in [[West Pakistan]] and continued overseeing the PAF's operations.<ref name="hali"/><ref name="dp"/> Yeager recalled "the Pakistanis whipped the Indians' asses in the sky... the Pakistanis scored a three-to-one kill ratio, knocking out 102 Russian-made Indian jets and losing 34 airplanes of their own".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://casstt.com/post/pakistan-air-force-undoubtedly-second-to-none/492|website=[[Centre for Aerospace and Security Studies]]|title=Pakistan Air Force: Undoubtedly 'Second to None'!|author=Hassan Tahir |date=October 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813213947/https://casstt.com/post/pakistan-air-force-undoubtedly-second-to-none/492|archive-date=August 13, 2022}}</ref> 

During the war, he flew around the western front in a [[helicopter]] documenting wreckages of [[Indian Air Force|Indian aircraft]] of Soviet origin, which included [[Sukhoi Su-7]]s and [[MiG-21]]s. These aircraft were transported to the [[United States]] after the war for analysis.<ref name="hali"/><ref name="dp"/><ref name="yeager">{{cite book|url=https://a.co/d/5orMgpD|via=Amazon.com|title=Yeager: An Autobiography|author=Chuck Yeager}}</ref> Yeager also flew around in his [[Beechcraft Queen Air]], a small passenger aircraft that was assigned to him by the [[The Pentagon|Pentagon]], picking up shot-down Indian fighter pilots.<ref name="dp"/><ref>{{cite tweet|url=https://twitter.com/GenChuckYeager/status/1103121403971321856|title=Chuck's Beechcraft Queen Air|user=GenChuckYeager|number=1103121403971321856}}</ref> The Beechcraft was later destroyed during an air raid by the IAF at a Pakistani airbase when Yeager was not present.<ref name=theweek.in2020>{{cite web|url=https://www.theweek.in/news/world/2020/12/08/americas-greatest-pilot-chuck-yeager-1st-man-to-fly-over-speed-of-sound-dies.html|title='America's greatest pilot': Chuck Yeager, 1st man to fly over speed of sound, dies|website=theweek.in|date=December 8, 2020}}</ref><ref name="yeagerbio_398">{{harvp|Yeager|Janos|1985|p=398|ps=.}}</ref> Edward C. Ingraham, a U.S. diplomat who had served as political counselor to Ambassador Farland in [[Islamabad]], recalled this incident in the ''[[Washington Monthly]]'' of October 1985: "After Yeager's [[Beechcraft]] was destroyed during an Indian air raid, he raged to his cowering colleagues that the Indian pilot had been specifically instructed by [[Indira Gandhi]] to blast his plane. 'It was', he later wrote, 'the Indian way of giving [[Uncle Sam]] the finger'".<ref>{{cite magazine|date=October 1985|title=The Right Stuff in the Wrong Place|magazine=Washington Monthly}}</ref> Yeager was incensed over the incident and demanded U.S. retaliation.<ref name="hali"/><ref>{{cite book|publisher=Oxford University|title=The Gold Bird: Pakistan and Its Air Force – observations of a Pilot|pages=230–250|author=Mansoor Shah|year=2002}}</ref>