posted 07-01-2006 05:48 AM               

I'm not sure how long it has been posted on the site (I remember it was there when I sent a photo to be signed about a year ago), but there is a blurb about inquiring first before sending items to be signed:

Some items may not be acceptable for signing, so please email a description of the item to be signed to yeagersiteinfo1@prodigy.net for approval prior to sending your item. Please do not send models or photographs taken from the Internet as they may be copyrighted

Once you have received approval, send your item and a payment of $50.00 or greater to the General Chuck Yeager Foundation for each item.

posted 07-01-2006 06:25 PM               

IF IT WERE NOT FOR COLLECTSPACE, I HONESTLY DOUBT I WOULD EVER HAVE SEEN MY MONEY AGAIN. Thank you, Robert Pearlman.

I am relieved to now be back where I started in early May. I have my kids' items and my money back. I'll be giving the items away and putting the money in my kids' bank accounts.

I want to publicly thank Chuck Yeager for not keeping my money.

It's been an ordeal and I've learned a lot.

Thanks Larry, Al, and all the others for speaking up. It was good to know I was not alone here. I had no idea so many others had had similar problems with Yeager's staff.

posted 07-11-2006 03:06 PM               

Incidentally, there is now an "advert" on the offical website advising:

posted 07-11-2006 10:10 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by machbusterman:
Any news on the conversation you had with the Yeager's yet Robert?

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As of this evening, after a string of e-mailed responses, I have learned the following:

1. That this experience has been "the final nail in the coffin for unknowns that have put Gen Yeager off from signing anything for people whom we don't know." I requested clarification of this statement, if it meant Gen. Yeager was no longer signing for his fans, but received no answer to this question.

2. That the "main reason [Sumowski] was returned his items unsigned" was that "he lied on your website". I pointed out that this was impossible, as the items were returned before this thread even began.

   I then volunteered to remove or edit Rob's post if they could show that he had lied. They had earlier mentioned having e-mails from him that contradicted what he posted above. I asked they share these e-mails with me, to which they replied: "We stand by our statement that Sumowski is lying in his blog and you are allowing slander (and no rebuttal) on your site."

   Besides a message board not being a blog and their always being free to register whenever they so desired, I also -- from the start -- offered to post a reply on their behalf. No reply ("rebuttal") was ever provided.

3. "We've been told you're all all the same person. We have no evidence other than your word of who you are." I guess the fact that Robert Sumowski and I share the same first name makes us the same people. Otherwise, this is perhaps the most ludicrous statement I received in the 7 years running this site.

4. "Please do NOT contact us again." Hence, my suspicion that my call has been canceled. That said, should I ever meet Gen. Yeager again, I might take the opportunity to share this story...

posted 07-11-2006 10:57 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Larry McGlynn:
In a world that could care less about aerospace exploration, the past explorers might do well to remember that we carry the torch for future generations. For without us, they would fade into obscurity.

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posted 07-12-2006 10:37 AM               

(I know Rob. Rob is a friend of mine. And you sir...)

Sorry on that last bit - I couldn't resist.

posted 07-12-2006 10:38 AM               

Besides a message board not being a blog and their always being free to register whenever they so desired, I also — from the start — offered to post a reply on their behalf. No reply ("rebuttal") was ever provided.

The Yeager ~ahem~ representative levels loose and wild accusations of lying and slander (she must've meant "libel" as slander is spoken defamation), yet she makes not the least effort to rebut charges laid out in a reasonable fashion by an honorable cSer.

I am most struck, however, by the Yeager representative's shaky hold on facts and, indeed, on reality itself.

And as for all of us here posting being the same person — Rob S/Rob P — I have only this to say:

posted 07-12-2006 11:59 AM               

It's a real shame that Gen Yeager's reputation will suffer at the hands of those he has surrounded himself with.

posted 07-12-2006 01:05 PM               

... maybe not.

posted 07-12-2006 02:36 PM               

A sad state of affairs never the less!

posted 07-12-2006 04:25 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by CAC:
To heck with Yeager's autograph...I want one from Sparatacus! Now that's a historical figure! Where do I get an original photo of him from 73 BC and where do I mail it? Thrace?

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There are plenty for sale online, but for some reason he's signed "Kirk Douglas" on each one...

posted 07-12-2006 06:38 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by mikepf:
I was always a bit displeased with his attitude towards the early astronauts, such as the comment about wiping the monkey "stuff" off the seats of the Mercury spacecraft.

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posted 07-12-2006 07:53 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by capoetc:
In fairness, there were many pilots at the time who spoke scornfully about a project in which the "pilot" was thought to be little more than a passenger on a mostly automated vehicle.

Unfortunately, the ultimate outcome of this episode will likely be a reduction in income for Gen Yeager's foundation.

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A couple of things.

First, I think everyone here can agree that Chuck Yeager is a great man. This dustup is not about the great Chuck Yeager who captured Tom Wolfe's imagination and then leapt to life in THE RIGHT STUFF, the nonfiction work without which Yeager would not be the icon he became in popular culture. I would assay that it's about the late-in-life victimization of that icon.

Second: Yeager's wartime service (and his service over the skies of Edwards) deserves our admiration and gratitude. Still, we can all concede with philosophical mien, that others gave more, with no Tom Wolfe on hand to memorialize their service for the ages.

Third, yes, Yeager's remarks about Project Mercury are legendary and typical, I suppose, of the time. Manly jet airplanes or the lowly meteor-shaped reentry craft? Hmmm. Which do real pilots choose?

I can assure you that Carpenter, for one, heard of Yeager's views only upon reading Wolfe in the early 1970s. It didn't bug him. Or hurt his feelings. He knew that Yeager was a jet age icon and that the space age created other icons.

Not better or more exemplary icons. Just space age ones.

Carpenter also knew in his patriotic heart that beating the Soviets meant rockets and blunt-end reentry vehicles and a selection process that selected some men and not others.

No hard feelings. Just reality.

Finally, the General Yeager Foundation. Who benefits from it now? I don't know.

posted 07-13-2006 10:25 AM               

Now if Mrs. Yeager had said something about me lying to her, well then, I would agree with it. I always like to tell people that I lie 50% of the time. You guys would just have to figure out which 50% is the truth and 50% is the lie. I just enjoy the unpredictability.

That being said, Rob Sumowski has got to be one of the most honest people I have ever met. I use him as an example of an honorable gentleman. I try to follow his example in my dealings in the space collecting hobby, so imagine my surprise when I see him being labeled as a liar. Yeager's people talk of slander by this site and yet they think nothing of slandering a truly honest man.

posted 07-13-2006 01:15 PM               

As KC indicates, this in no way denigrates what he did in history. His flying skills are legendary, and while he may NOT have been the first to break the sound barrier, he is the 1st to have done it with telemetry and possibly, in level flight. It was still an unknown.

While I despise the Right Stuff movie for it's test flight innacuracies, and they are legion, I have had some very interesting conversations with other folks assigned to the X-1 program. Let's just say no one had any faith in Bell Aircraft at the time, and "volunteers" were not exactly lining up to fly the X-1 then, and leave it at that. It did turn out to be an absolutely fine aircraft.

So allow him his icon status in the test flight arena, but let's not make him a God if that makes sense.

It is also essential that we keep in perspective, this is not Yeager himself sending these emails and causing this heartburn. There is a very real possiblity he has no idea.

Or if he has an idea, he's getting a quite convoluted portrayal and not accurate one.

To paraphrase a statement from the RS movie, "no, old Chuck, he done good".

posted 07-13-2006 04:45 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by albatron:
To paraphrase a statement from the RS movie, "no, old Chuck, he done good".

I do wish he'd take control over this aspect though.

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I've gotta agree with KC Stoever and Al. Though I'm disappointed with the experiences the Robs have had with Yeager's people, as well as the problems Yeager is having with his children over his gold-digging wife... I still can't seem to knock him off my hero list. He is still one of the best pilots this world has ever seen (well in my opinion at least).

I've never run into any problems with getting things from his store(though he made out a picture to Mary instead of Mark, it wasn't anything I couldn't fix with a Sharpie).

Reading this thread though, I will never send my own things in, but can't see myself stop buying things occasionally from his store.