Oroville Mercury Register
June 11, 1948
Husband Of Local Girl Exceeds Speed of
Sound in Rocket Plane
Capt. Yeager Pilot In What Is Called
Greatest Achievement Since Kitty Hawk
Washington-(U.P.)- The air force’s XS-1
rocket plane has flown “much faster than the speed of sound
many times,” Air Secretary W. Stuart Symington announced today.
The speed of sound is about 750 miles an hour at sea level.
Symington made the announcement at a press conference. Air
experts called the supersonic flight the greatest achievement in
flight history since the Kitty Hawk, N. C., flight of the Wright
brothers. Captain Yeager is the husband of Glennis Dickhouse,
formerly of Oroville. They were married several years ago.
His wife worked on the supervisorial staff of the Butte County superintendent
of schools prior to her marriage. She graduated from high
school here in 1943. Her father was an employee of Montgomery
Ward and Company here at that time. Her parents lived in Bangor
before moving to Oroville and now reside in San Diego. The
Yeager’s have two small children. Captain Charles E. Yeager,
25-year-old air force ace, became the first human in history to
fly faster than sound. Undoubtedly the plane was flying at
a high altitude. The speed of sound decreases with increased
height. For example the speed of sound at 40,000 feet is 660 miles
per hour. Symington said he could not reveal more about the flight
because of national security. He said any details might give
other nations the benefit of air force research. The XS-1
is a small, straight-winged plane with a needle nose and a stubby,
fat body. It is powered by a four cylinder rocket motor.
It is a research plane, not a warplane. (We now know it’s called
the Glamorous Glennis-Stu)
Muroc Air Base –(U.P.)- Military
secrecy Thursday silenced Capt. Charles E. Yeager regarding his
flying the air Force’s XS-1 rocket plane faster than sound.
Air Secretary W. Stuart Symington revealed in Washington that the
air force ace was the first human being to break the sonic barrier.
“As far as I’m concerned, I don’t even know there has been a flight,”
Capt. Yeager hedged when informed of Symington’s announcement.
“I’m not cleared to say anything under military regulations dealing
with national security,” Yeager explained. “Any announcement
would have to come out of Washington. A veteran of seven years
in the air force, Yeager spent 18 months in the European war theater
as a fighter pilot. (Muroc is now Edwards Air Force Base.)
Oroville Mercury Register March 8, 1961
‘UFO’ Is Identified By National GuardThe big bright green ball with a tail on it seen
by a Thermalito couple the night before last was the result of activities
by helmeted, brown-clad creatures of planet Earth. A
report received this morning revealed. The creatures were
members of Company B. Second Battle Group, 18th Infantry,,
California National Guard out on a field problem during their regular
Monday night meeting. The mysterious object was a parachute
flare- two of them in fact – fired from a rifle. One fell
directly behind the other making it appear as if one had fallen,
then risen, then fallen again. Sgt. Frank Walburn, administrator
of the local National Guard company, said that one of the flares
was carried away last year by the wind after a similar exercise
and ended up somewhere in Thermalito.
Oroville Mercury Register
March 8, 1961
Local People In Armed Forces
San Francisco – Dennis N. Stark, air control
man third class, USN, son of Mr. and Mrs. Neal O. Stark of Second
Street, Oroville, is serving aboard the attack aircraft carrier
USS Ranger, undergoing overhaul at the Hunter’s Point Naval Ship
yard here. Upon completion of her four month overhaul and
repair period the Ranger is scheduled to operate off the coast of
California in preparation for her next cruise with the Seventh Fleet
in the western Pacific.
Okinawa – Army Pfc. Steve H. Gilbert, son of
Mr. and Mrs. John C. Gilbert, 10th Street, Oroville,
recently participated with other personnel from the second Airborne
Battle Group, 503d Infantry, in Exercise Long Pass, a mobility training
exercise at the Clark Air Base-Stotsenberg training area in the
Philippines. The exercise involved nearly 6,000 U. S. Army
and Air Force personnel from the continental U. S., Hawaii, Okinawa
and the Philippines. Upon conclusion of the exercise, Gilbert
returned to Okinawa where he is a rifleman in the infantry’s Company
E. He entered the Army in September 1959, received basic training
at Fort Ord, and arrived overseas last June. Gilbert attended
Oroville Union High School.
Stu’s Notes: I’ve written quite a bit
about now General Chuck Yeager and how he trained here to be a fighter
pilot in WWII. I don’t believe things have come here from
outer space. I believe that what people have seen over the
years are tricks of many kinds on their eyes. Like the National
Guards Flares or things our Government is experimenting with that
we don’t know about until it is perfected and brought out in the
light of day. In the 50’s Oroville Area people actually saw
little green men. I remember reading about it in the Mercury,
so it must be true. My brother Larry was in the Oroville National
Guard but I think he was out by March 1961.