Yeager Weighs In, Part III A Party at Pancho's

Last Updated: Wednesday, 12 August 2015 04:31 Nick Spark Hits: 4492

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When Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier, the news was kept secret from the public. But it would've been next to impossible to conceal what happened from folks who lived in and around Edwards AFB. "We made a pretty good sonic boom that really rattled the base," remembers Yeager. The thunderclap that heralded the supersonic age may have panicked some local residents, but the X-1 team expected it. "Well, we knew there’d be a sonic boom," Yeager notes, "because Dr. von Karman predicted it. And because it was not the first sonic boom ever made, that man heard, because meteorites make have shock waves comin off of em, and they make a tremendous sonic boom, but this was the first one ever made by an airplane."

Owing to the top-secret nature of the sound barrier effort — the Russians would not duplicate the feat for well over a year and even then lacked critical engineering insights — Yeager's accomplishment would not be publicized for many months. A small amount of laughing and scratching took place just after Yeager landed the X-1 on the Rogers Dry Lake: he got out of the cockpit and stood on the wing of the craft as it was towed back to the hangar. After debriefing, it was time to really kick back and marvel at what Yeager, Jackie Ridley, Bob Hoover, Dick Frost, Bob Cardenas and everyone else associated with the effort had accomplished. "We went out out to Dick Frost’s house," Yeager recalls, "Had a couple a martinis, and then went out to Pancho's. I was riding a motorcycle and Hoover and Dick Frost were followin' me in a car. Pancho knew we had got above Mach 1 but she didn’t know how." According to the legend, Pancho served Yeager a free steak dinner, but that's not exactly what Yeager remembers, suggesting that "The Right Stuff" may have gotten it wrong. "It made an excellent story – the first guy to go Mach 1 got a free steak, first guy to go Mach 2 gets a free steak - that’s all portrayed in The Right Stuff, by a writer for a producer," Yeager notes. "Well if you believe everything you see in the damn movie or read, be my guest."

For his part, Bob Hoover remembers the events of that night clearly. He'd flown as chase pilot and back-up pilot for Yeager during the test flights, and had his own reason to celebrate — he'd taken a million dollar photo of the X-1 whipping past his own plane at supersonic speed. "He came right by me and I could see his closing rate was enormous," says Hoover. "So I knew he had it accomplished. And he went by me and I got a picture. It shows - this was the first time we had had the diamond shock wave, coming out from the airplane. And we had that on President Truman’s desk the next day. Well it was a pretty wonderful accomplishment." Hoover continues, "We all went to Pancho’s, started partying. And I said ‘Pard you’re gonna get a free stake at Pancho’s tonight.’ And we were all celebrating and having fun talking about it, only to find out within a short time - somebody came over and said this is highly classified, you’re not to say anything more, that’s it. Well gee the cat was already out of the bag by then. But it broke up our party - it would of gone all night I’m sure!"

The secrecy surrounding the feat seemed to bother Pancho more than it did Chuck Yeager. "After he made it, they kept it quiet," she recalled in an interview conducted in the 1970's. "And they made it top secret. They held it for six months – we couldn’t get any publicity on the news or anything. And then it came out, when it finally came out, you know, time had passed. Anyway, nobody did anything for Yeager." Realizing the enormity of what Yeager had accomplished, and being an expert at publicity, Pancho thought she'd take things into her own hands. "So I got incensed about this, [Yeager] being my close friend and everything. So I went and bought the biggest trophy, this high, you know, real fancy trophy. Had it made specially. And we took it down to the Picture Palace meeting, and we had a formal presentation with the Motion Picture Pilots." The trophy presentation, at which Yeager was given an honorary membership in the Motion Picture Stunt Pilots Association, was one of the first events at which the young pilot was celebrated. It certainly was not the last.

"So I got incensed about this, [Yeager] being my close friend and everything. So I went and bought the biggest trophy, this high, you know, real fancy trophy. Had it made specially. And we took it down to the Picture Palace meeting, and we had a formal presentation with the Motion Picture Pilots." The trophy presentation, at which Yeager was given an honorary membership in the Motion Picture Stunt Pilots Association, was one of the first events at which the young pilot was celebrated. It certainly was not the last.

One final little footnote: also in the audience at the Motion Picture Stunt Pilots event that evening was a former stundent from Pancho's flying school. "I had a student came to me," remembered Pancho, "And he said, 'Pancho, I haven’t got any money. And I haven’t got any education. And I can’t be a government student, but I want to learn to fly an airplane, can you figure anything for me?' And I said, 'Yup, I’ll give you a job.'" Pancho traded him work in her dairy and corrals for flying lessons. He ended up getting his commercial license, joined the British Royal Air Force ferrying planes to England, and later started TransInternational Airlines and one of the great builders of Las Vegas. The young student's name? Kirk Kerkorian.