Chuck Yeager: Breaking the Sound Barrier

[Gary Noel]

Chuck Yeager, the first pilot to break the sound barrier, wrote in his autobiography that on October 14, 1947 at about 8 o'clock in the morning, he entered a B-29 mothership and at 7,000 feet climbed down a ladder into the attached Bell-X1 jet that he named Glamorous Glennis after his first wife. Due to two broken ribs after being thrown off a horse on the night of October 12, Yeager, unable to stretch his right hand due to excruciating pain, used his left hand to lock the door with a sawed-off broom handle. Once the mothership reached an altitude of 26,000 feet, it went into a shallow dive, pulled up and released the X-1 through the bomb bay. A few minutes after the drop, Yeager was flying over the city of Victorville, California when the citizens below heard a sonic boom.

A machmeter is a flight instrument showing the true airspeed to the speed of sound known as Mach 1. The machmeter on the X-1 had just surpassed Mach 1 tipping right off the scale. Charles Elwood Yeager had become the first pilot in history to break the sound barrier. Mission accomplished Yeager turned Glamorous Glennis around and landed safely at the same place he started, an eight mile runway known as Rogers Dry Lake.

Yeager's SLR prior to his history making flight not only foreshadowed the breaking of the sound barrier but also presaged the accident on October 12. The sound barrier SLR should be calculated for Victorville, California and the horse accident SLR for Edwards, California. According to Yeager’s birth certificate the aviator was born February 23, 1923 at 9:30 P.M in Lincoln County, West Virginia, probably Myra since that was the birthplace of both parents listed on his birth certificate which can be seen at Astrodatabank.com. Roden rating: AA.

Mercury represents communication; therefore, it represents sound, sound being the primary form of communication among homo sapiens. Thus, one would expect Mercury to be prominent in a lunar return foretelling the breaking of the sound barrier for the first time in history and Yeager's lunar return prior to his historic accomplishment features a double dose of Mercury. Not only is transiting Mercury prominent, a mere 24 minutes separating from the SLR Ascendant, Yeager's natal Mercury is also angular, only 1 degree and 8 minutes from the I.C. The breaking of the sound barrier is represented by angular Mercury squaring angular Mars.

In the March 1957 issue of American Astrology magazine Garth Allen wrote that he had studied sixty SLRs prior to a serious accident and found Mars or Saturn near one of the four angles more often than would be expected by chance alone. Angular Mars separating from Midheaven by just 7 degrees and 3 minutes in Yeager's SLR foreshadowed the horse accident which occurred at a dude ranch near Edwards Air Force Base.

[Jim Eshelman]

Hi, Gary. I see that a few months ago you uncovered Chuck Yeager's birth certificate and it unambiguously gave his birth date as February 24, 1923 - eleven days later than has always been reported. (Wikipedia still lists February 13). The time was 9:30 PM in Lincoln County, West Virginia. (As you mentioned, it was in Myra, WV as best we know.) - For this, the entire astrological world is grateful to you.

He became the first pilot to break the sound barrier October 14, 1947. You give the time as somewhat after 8:00 AM (since he boarded the plane about 8:00) and I find that he was flying over Rogers Dry Lake in the Mojave Desert, which is 34N55'19" 117W49'39". (Not far from Victorville 34N32 117W17.)

I'm sure no astrologer would have suggested he begin this journey with Saturn on MC paran Mercury rising - but it worked! (Jupiter was likely closer to the angles at the moment it succeeded.)

Yeager's SLR prior to his history making flight not only foreshadowed the breaking of the sound barrier but also presaged the accident on October 12. The sound barrier SLR should be calculated for Victorville, California and the horse accident SLR for Edwards, California...
Mercury represents communication; therefore, it represents sound, sound being the primary form of communication among homo sapiens. Thus, one would expect Mercury to be prominent in a lunar return foretelling the breaking of the sound barrier for the first time in history and Yeager's lunar return prior to his historic accomplishment features a double dose of Mercury. Not only is transiting Mercury prominent, a mere 24 minutes separating from the SLR Ascendant, Yeager's natal Mercury is also angular, only 1 degree and 8 minutes from the I.C. The breaking of the sound barrier is represented by angular Mercury squaring angular Mars.

Mundanely it's even closer. I'm using coordinates for Rogers Dry Lake (nearly the same as you used for Victorville) and get transiting Mercury 0°47' before (below) Asc and natal Mercury (corrected for precession) 0°31' past IC. They average 0°08' from the angles!

The chart suggests "very Martial rides" with a Mercury-Mars square the only foreground aspect in the SLR itself - and he had a couple of pretty martial rides that week! Mercury squares natal Mercury (1°18' in mundo) and Mars squares natal Mars (2°56' in mundo), but the closest foreground aspect (again, mundane) was the reality-warping transiting Pluto conjunct natal Neptune within 0°28'.

Wow! (As I was looking at all the doubled-up Mercury and the Mars, I was wondering where the "unprecedented, redefining our baseline" etc. stuff was... and in the SLR it was in this one aspect.)

A very minor thing by itself but worth noting for this historic occasion is that, when Yeager boarded the plane, transiting Moon was a quarter degree from opposite his Mars. He was in pain, he was primed with all his training, and - foremost - he was ready to do something incredibly courageous. (Everybody hoped he had his life insurance paid up!)

His September18 Ennead also had transiting Mercury closely rising (straddling Asc with Neptune, both square his Pluto on MC). His 10-Day Solar had a foreground exact Moon-Saturn-Pluto conjunction that is more pessimistic than the outcome, but also had his Sun rising. His Novienic Lunar Return (experimental) occurred 7:14:30 PM PST October 13 and had Jupiter exactly setting in mundane square to Mars near IC.

In the March 1957 issue of American Astrology magazine Garth Allen wrote that he had studied sixty SLRs prior to a serious accident and found Mars or Saturn near one of the four angles more often than would be expected by chance alone. Angular Mars separating from Midheaven by just 7 degrees and 3 minutes in Yeager's SLR foreshadowed the horse accident which occurred at a dude ranch near Edwards Air Force Base.

Thanks for the excellent - historic and important - example.

[SteveS]

Thanks Gary for Yeager’s AA bt. I note he was born with a direct Jup/Pl = Ur (0,59) midpoint, fitting for his great achievements in his aviation career as a test pilot. His Solar Arc Jupiter partile 90 r Uranus when he broke the sound barrier.