【誰にともなしに、独り言レス―その3114】
その1402～1403
参考
Los Angeles Times（翌日）の記事―
Col. Charles (Chuck) Yeager, first man to fly faster than sound, fought a jet fighter through a 16-mile flat spin Tuesday before bailing out 6,000 ft. above the Mojave Desert.
The veteran Air Force pilot suffered burns on his face and neck, apparently from the ignition of pure oxygen in his mask, but otherwise was not injured seriously.
His rocket-boosted NF-104 Starfighter smashed to earth near the intersection of U.S. 6 and U.S. 466, one of the most heavily traveled points in a desert area otherwise free of traffic or habitation.
Yeager was picked up nearby by a USAF helicopter and flown the few miles to the hospital at Edwards Air Force Base where he was treated and held for observation.
The famed flier, now commander of the Aerospace Research Pilot School at the desert base, was flying the souped up Starfighter for the fifth time…
After his afterburner and jet engine flamed out in the thin air, Yeager continued his skyrocket climb on the 6,000-lb. thrust of a tail rocket in the Starfighter and hit a peak of about 90,000 ft. where he shifted to space controls.
The stub-winged ship swung into a flat spin turning in an almost horizontal attitude as it plunged dawn the far side of a high ballistic arc.
Riding far forward toward the nose of the Starfighter the pilot whirled on the outside of the circle, unable to control the spin, but determined to ride the ship down into heavier air where he could recover with an engine re-light.
Apparently the forces involved in the flat-spin prevented a re-light which could have given him power to break his whirling fall.
The renowned pilot’s most famous flight was made on Oct. 14, 1947, when he flew the X-1 rocket plane at a speed of 700 m.p.h. to become the first man to spear through the then feared wall of sound.
参考の注釈
記事では無頓着に a jet fighter と呼んでるが、原型の a standard F-104 は jet fighter であっても NF-104 （Non standard F-104 ）―His rocket-boosted NF-104 （an NF-104 A rocket-augmented aerospace trainer）は jet fighter ではなく、まさに skyrocket という表現が相応しい。
Yeager was picked up nearby by a USAF helicopter and flown the few miles to the hospital at Edwards Air Force Base where he was treated and held for observation.
この a USAF helicopter がボブ・スミスの H-21 で、墜落したイェーガーはヘリで救助されエドワーズの病院で手当を受けた旨（ごく普通に）客観的に報じられている。
ここに件の若造の生々しいインタビューでも書いてありゃ、わたしも考え直すところなんですけど。
