WI: Chuck Yeager Killed in the Indo-Pakistani War

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I was doing some reading on Wikipedia about Chuck Yeager and it mentions that he was sent to advise Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistani War in 1971 and one of his aircraft was destroyed in an Indian air raid. What impact would the death of a national hero like Yeager have on America's role in the region?
 
I was doing some reading on Wikipedia about Chuck Yeager and it mentions that he was sent to advise Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistani War in 1971 and one of his aircraft was destroyed in an Indian air raid. What impact would the death of a national hero like Yeager have on America's role in the region?

It might well get some pretty bad press. If this increases the American public's focus on the Indo-Pakistani war they might ask why American advisors are being sent to help out a regime which is carrying out rather questionable actions.

Using the 'fighting communism' excuse isn't going to be as effective at this point since 1971 is before Indira Gandhi really aligned India with the Soviets.
 

CalBear

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Yeager wasn't that much of a national hero in the early 70's. As the book & movie The Right Stuff illustrates quite nicely, Yeager wasn't an astronaut, which meant he didn't matter. If you were a pilot and not an astronaut the John Q. Public didn't know you from Adam. The NASA media machine made it really clear that ALL the best American military pilots were in the program (which was, of course, a load of crap, but perception IS reality). His reputation in the flying community was that of a living legend, but that community was a pretty closed off one during the 'Nam.

Of course, the same book & film that showed why Yeager was forgotten was why he was later remembered.

So, to answer the question, nothing much happens.
 
Most pilots wouldn't have got a look in for sure, but Yeager was a Brig. General, and was officially the first man to cross the sound barrier.

Also, there was a bit of a controversy over Yeager's being dropped as a potential astronaut I believe, something to do with a lack of education or something.
 
Yeager was so highly respected that when he invested in, promoted, and advertised the F-20, nothing happened.

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Most pilots wouldn't have got a look in for sure, but Yeager was a Brig. General, and was officially the first man to cross the sound barrier.

Also, there was a bit of a controversy over Yeager's being dropped as a potential astronaut I believe, something to do with a lack of education or something.


I always thought it was his own choice "monkeys in a spam can" or something like that.
 

CalBear

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I always thought it was his own choice "monkeys in a spam can" or something like that.


Yeager was over several of the lines. He was too old, he wasn't a college graduate, and he wasn't the type to play lab rat.
 
I always thought it was his own choice "monkeys in a spam can" or something like that.
to quote wikipedia:
...Chuck Yeager, who was shut out of the astronaut program after NASA officials decided to use college-degreed pilots, not ones who gained their commissions as enlisted men, such as participants in the USAAF Flying Sergeants Program in World War II.
No idea if it's actually true, just mentioning it because Calbear mentioned the books.
 
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While everyone knows Chuck Yeager, there was a back-up pilot who flew chase for the supersonic flight, and took the picture of the XS-1 producing shock cones out the tail. Yeager called him the best pilot of his time, and Jimmy Dolittle called him the best stick-and -rudder man in the world. During WWII, Yeager was shot down over France and evaded to Spain. This man, shot down by an FW-190, became a POW, escaped, and stole an FW-190, flying it to the Netherlands. And yet, outside the aviation, airshow, and air racing community, he is little known.

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What was his name, because neither Arthur Murray's, Jack Woolams' nor Chalmers Goodlin's wikipedia pages show anything like that.
 
Hoover's the name. Bob Hoover. I never got to see Jan Zurakowski do a show in the Martin Baker MB5, but I saw Hoover fly the Yellow Mustang, met him and got an autograph. (I have Zura's autograph on an Arrow picture.) I've seen plenty of aerobatics, but there's something special about warbird aerobatics. Hoover also flew a Shrike on two engines, one engine, and no engines. They call it energy management. For years, he was master of ceremonies at the Reno unlimiteds and called the start, in his Yellow Mustang, which pulled up into the vertical. He continued to orbit and assisted pilots in trouble to a landing, as he did for Yeager when the X-1's canopy frosted up.

I think he's about ninety now.

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