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The Lockheed NF-104A in which chuck suffered sever burns as a result of bailing out with a full pressure suit on

The NF-104A was an F-104A with a 6,000lb-thrust rocket mounted in the tail just above the jet tail pipe. To enable the NF-104 to fly in the stratosphere, the airplane was equipped with hydrogen peroxide thrusters in the nose; tail and wings to control pitch, roll and yaw. The aircraft was tested by Lockheed test pilot Jack Woodman to Mach 2.6 and 118,400 feet altitude.

 

The NF-104A

 

 

 

 

Going For Another Record

 

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In a full pressure suit Chuck walks to the Lockheed NF-104A

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A better view of the pressure suit.

Yeager wanted to establish operating parameters for the aircraft before the schools students began to fly them. While he was at it, Yeager wanted to establish a new altitude record. On the morning of December 10, 1963 Yeager took the NF-104 up to 108,000 feet. Yeager describes it as “a beautiful flight”. Chuck’s mom was visiting and together with Yeager’s wife Glennis, had lunch with Chuck on the base. After lunch, Yeager took to the air in the NF-104 again and at 37,000 feet Yeager ignited the rocket motor and began to zoom up at a 70º angle of attack. The jet engine flamed out at 60,000 feet and the rocket carried Yeager up to an altitude of 104,000 feet. At the top of its long arc, the airplane began to push over, but as the angle of attack reached 28º, the nose of the nose of the airplane began to pitch up. Using the thrusters had no effect (one of the thrusters under the nose had stuck in the open position) unlike his morning flight where the same situation occurred. The airplane went into a flat spin at 104,000 feet. Using all his know-how, Yeager tried everything he could think of to recover control. Without engine Rpm’s there was no hydraulic pressure to operate the avionics. Yeager even tried the spin recovery ‘chute, which got the nose down, but as soon as the ‘chute was released, the nose pitched up again. Yeager said “The data recorder would later indicate that the airplane made fourteen flat spins from 104,000 feet to impact on the desert floor. I stayed with it through thirteen of those spins before I punched out. I hated losing an expensive airplane but I couldn’t think of anything else to do”.

Ejecting in his full pressure suit (the first time an ejection was attempted with such a suit), Yeager and the seat parted company and he began his fall. Somehow when the ‘chute deployed the seat became entangled in the parachute lines. When the ‘chute popped, the seat smashed through Yeager’s helmet visor. There was still residual fire (solid rocket propellant) in the seat rocket motors and that set fire to the pure oxygen still flowing in Yeager’s helmet. Yeager’s face was in the middle of a goddamn inferno. Choking to death on the smoke and stench from his own burning flesh, Yeager somehow managed to push up what was left of his visor and that shut off the oxygen supply.

 

 

Bud Anderson Witnesses Yet Another Yeager Bailout

 

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Flying chase for chuck on this flight was Chuck’s good friend Colonel Clarence E “Bud” Anderson in a T-33. Anderson was not the designated chase pilot for that flight but as Yeager’s chase pilot aborted due to a nose-wheel shimmy, Bud came on the radio loop as he knew Chuck’s flight would be cancelled without a chase plane “Hey, I’m right over the field and I’ll chase for you”. After bailing out at 14,000 feet, Yeager hit the ground hard and managed to wave to Anderson on his second go around (Anderson thinking Yeager was okay at this point). A motorist on Highway 6 came to assist Yeager, when the poor guy got near Chuck he turned his head away and was nearly sick. Yeager’s face was charred meat. Yeager asked the motorist for a penknife to cut off his glove a the pain from his hand was excruciating. While cutting away the rubber lined glove, part of two burned fingers came of with it. That DID make the guy puke. The chopper arrived soon after and took Chuck back to the base and he was admitted to hospital. It looked as though Yeager would lose the sight in his left eye. But while the Doctor was poking at the baked crust of blood, Yeager could see light. If it were not for the baked crust of blood, Yeager would have lost the sight from his left eye. His Doctor, Stan Bear notified the Yeager’s that to prevent scarring, he would have to hurt Chuck by scraping off the scabs every four days. The pain of this procedure was the worst Yeager had ever encountered. Yeager stayed in hospital for a month and it is thanks to Doc. Bear that today the skin on his face is perfect with only a few criss cross scars on his neck. Six weeks after the accident, Yeager was restored to flight status. A truly brave and remarkable feat.

 

The F-104 Ejection Seat

 

December 10, 1963

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The Lockheed NF-104 aerospace trainer was a modified F-104A airplane, incorporating a liquid fuel rocket engine in addition to the conventional turbojet engine. The modification was done to allow flight in regimes and under conditions not obtainable with available operational airplanes. The aircraft was used to provide space flight training at a fraction of the cost of fully rocket-powered research aircraft.

The first NF-104A was delivered on October 1, 1963, with the other two following a month later. They were operated by the Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards AFB, which was commanded at that time by Colonel Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager.

“On Dec. 10, 1963, while testing an NF-104A rocket-augmented aerospace trainer, he narrowly escaped death when his aircraft went out of control at 108,700 feet (nearly 21 miles up) and crashed. He parachuted to safety at 8,500 feet after vainly battling to gain control of the powerless, rapidly falling craft. In this incident he became the first pilot to make an emergency ejection in the full pressure suit needed for high altitude flights.”. The crash is depicted in the movie "The Right Stuff." However, the director/writer changed most of the facts/events surrounding the crash. About the only thing they got right was that an NF-104A did crash and it was piloted by Yeager.

The aircraft was destroyed in the ensuing crash. An investigation later showed that the cause of the crash was a spin that resulted from excessive angle of attack and lack of aircraft response. The excessive angle of attack was not caused by pilot input but by a gyroscopic condition set up by the J79 engine spooling after shut down for the rocket-powered zoom climb phase.

 

 

The Crash Site Today

Unlike the crash sites of the XB-70 or the B-1A, this site is small. We went to the area three times before locating it. The first two times we came within 20 yards of the site and didn't see it. On our third try we located the end of a debris field and followed it for about 100 yards before locating the crash crater.	Click on Picture to enlarge
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The photo above left is a composite of the photo on the right and the crash site photo. We wanted to see if you could locate the exact point from which the photo was taken. The two photos blended together perfectly. It is amazing how little the bush in the photo has changed over the years.
Here is another photo of the site where the main fuselage came to rest. About 15 yards from the tail.	Click on Picture to enlarge
Click on Picture to enlarge	As with most crash sites, small parts of the aircraft can be found laying on the surface of the ground.

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