Yogi the Supersonic Bear
We all know what bears do in the woods... but did you know what they did in The Hustler?
21 March 1962: Yogi, the black bear, became the first to eject at supersonic speeds when the USAF tested the B-58 Hustler escape capsule. Ejected at 35,000 feet at 870 mph. Ejection was successful, Yogi's chute deployed, and he touched down unharmed 7 minutes, and 49 seconds later.
21 March 1962: Yogi, the black bear, became the first to eject at supersonic speeds when the USAF tested the B-58 Hustler escape capsule. Ejected at 35,000 feet at 870 mph. Ejection was successful, Yogi's chute deployed, and he touched down unharmed 7 minutes, and 49 seconds later.
The Stanley escape capsule had proved extremely effective against the high wind blast, the extreme cold and the low air pressure. In a secondary test 2 weeks later, another bear named Big John was ejected at 45,000 and at a speed over 1,000 mph!
Once again the capsule ejection was a success, and the bear reached the ground thourougly displeased, but unharmed.
Sometimes I find myself wondering... who was the one who had to open the capsule to let the big angry bear out?
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As a budding TV journalist in the late 1960s, I happened to be among the first to the scene where one of those capsules hit the ground when the parachute failed to open. Not a pretty picture of the inside of that capsule.
The real story here, is the poor ground techs that had to unstrap Ol’ Yogi and Big John from the ejection capsules… Not a job I’d want… Just sayin’
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