2 Aviation Legends to Speak at Open House

Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager, the first pilot to break the sound barrier, will join astronaut Maj. Gen. Joe Engle for a storytelling session on the exploits that made them famous as part of the Edwards Air Force Base Air Show and Open House Oct. 21.

The pair of aviation legends will join TV personality David Hartman in two talks, from 10 to 11 a.m. and from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., in Hangar 1414 on the base.

Yeager broke the sound barrier in October 1947 in a Bell X-1 and flew more than 60 combat missions during World War II. Engle initially made his mark pushing the barriers of hypersonic flight in the 1960s in the X-15. In 1981, he commanded the space shuttle Columbia on a perilous two-day journey in which he became the only astronaut to manually fly a winged spacecraft for the duration of a mission.

The event will also showcase a number of taxpayer-funded, state-of-the-art airplanes, as well as stunt shows featuring Russian MiG 17 jets, the AT-6 Texan “War Dog,” and A-10 Thunderbolt IIs.

The event takes place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the base, off the Antelope Valley Freeway at the western edge of the Mojave Desert. For more information, call (661) 277-6397 or visit https://www.edwards.af.mil.