The South Side Bridge in Charleston has a story to tell. If you didn’t know, Charles “Chuck” Elwood Yeager is a West Virginia native and made history while serving as a pilot in the United States Air Force when he broke the sound barrier on October 14, 1947 with two broken ribs from a horseback riding accident two days prior.
But West Virginia residents knows him for flying under this bridge. There are many tall tales being spread about what really happened over the years but Yeager finally set the record straight with an interview on April 29, 2010 with the Charleston Daily Mail.
Yeager, on the spur of the moment, decided to visit his parents who lived in West Virginia after not seeing them for over a year. On the morning of October 10, 1948, Yeager’s father took him to what is now Yeager Airport, and he took off heading toward Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio. He started the flight marveling at our state capitol and thinking it was the most beautiful one in the world.
As he headed west along the Kanawha River, he saw the bridge and just decided to fly under it. At the time, there were boaters in the water for a town event but Yeager said he had clearance to fly under it safely.
Going 500 miles an hour in a Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star jet at low altitude, he went right under the bridge, leaving a wake trail in the water. He said he noticed guys jumping out of their boats so he “got the hell out of there.”
There was no photo taken because it was a last minute decision and the event was kept on the down low as the locals didn’t want Yeager to get into trouble with the Air Force. There were lots of locals out that day to witness the event but the story of what happened changed many times over the years depending on who was telling it. It was nice to hear the story from Chuck Yeager himself and set the record straight.
This story is not in the book but many more is. I highly recommend reading his autobiography and learning more about Yeager's life.
