A hero of my boyhood - the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound - has died. Any of you ratters have ideas for a tribute bike based on the Bell X-1 rocket plane? In the 50's and 60's there certainly were a lot of aerospace-themed bikes.
RIP Chuck Yeager
- Thread starter AndyA
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Yeager was an awesome individual. Was actually thinking about what a Yeager bike might look like and then, somehow, a Gee Bee bike (I love the Z and Rs) driving today since I heard the news. The bike would just be painted to match the X1 with a larger diameter, tapered "over tube" protruding past the head tube and covering over the top tube back to the seat post in a shape similar to the X1 fuselage. The canopy design could be used to house a light. Maybe the fuselage could extend past the seat tube to incorporate a tail light in the rocket exhaust. I would probably also add victory markings to commemorate his WW2 victories. As for the Gee Bee, well I got carried away on that one and ended up with a complete scratch recumbent frame using a 36" rear wheel.
A real American hero. I just showed my teenaged son The Right Stuff, and then started reading the book myself, both are fantastic. What those guys did back then was as fearless and daring as anything humans have every done.
