22
FEBRUARY 2013
•
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
Epcot has its Venetian palaces and Vegas its Eiffel Tower,
but less widely known is the shopping-mall Sphinx in
Richmond, British Columbia, made of M&Ms. Then there’s
Songdo, the South Korean city being built from scratch,
which boasts a Central Park based on the one in New
York. The landmark business, it seems, has been bi en by
the sequel bug. However, the results of this trend—while
o en big—are rarely monumental.
—
LIZZIE CHAN
THE 7 GAZILLIONWONDERS OF THEWORLD
NUMBER OF LIFE-SIZE
“
WONDERS OF THE WORLD” AT
THE FORTHCOMING FALCONCITY
OF WONDERS IN DUBAI, U.A.E.:
7
NUMBER OF SCALED-DOWN
GLOBAL LANDMARKS REPLICATED
AT BEIJINGWORLD PARK IN CHINA:
100
+
POUNDS OF MILD CHEDDAR USED
BYWISCONSIN CHEESE SCULPTOR
TROY LANDWEHR TO CREATE A
SCALED-DOWNMOUNT RUSHMORE:
640
NUMBER OF VINTAGE AUTOS
THAT MAKE UP CARHENGE,
A LIFE-SIZE MODEL OF STONE-
HENGE, IN ALLIANCE, NEB.:
38
PIECES OF PAPER USED IN
RUSSIAN SCHOOLTEACHER
SERGEI TARASOV’S ORIGAMI
ST. BASIL’S CATHEDRAL:
60,000
HEIGHT, IN FEET, OF THE SUSPENSION
TOWERS ON THE GOLDEN GATE
BRIDGE MODEL BUILT BY KANSAS
FARMER LARRY RICHARDSON:
26
PRICE OF A FRIED SANDWICH
WITH PEANUT BUTTER, JAM,
BANANA AND BACON AT
GRACELAND RANDERS, A DANISH
REPLICAOF ELVIS’ HOME:
≈
$9.50
AMOUNT SPENT BY A CHINESE
REAL ESTATE MOGUL TO
RE-CREATE THE 17TH-CENTURY
CHÂTEAU DE MAISONS-
LAFFITTE IN SUBURBAN BEIJING:
$50MILLION
He may be pushing 90, but Chuck
Yeager still looks pretty sprightly
as he strides across the tarmac at
Nellis Air Force Base in his olive-
green flight suit. Before him, an
F-15 shimmers in the Nevada sun.
If all goes according to plan, Yeager
will go supersonic at 10:24 a.m.—the
exact time he became the first
person to break the sound barrier, 65
years ago today.
“
The most g-force I ever pulled
was 13,” Yeager informs his awed-
looking young co-pilot as they
approach the jet. “But please tell me
we won’t be doing anything like that
today. I’m 89, and that’s darn old.”
A crowd has
gathered near the hangar
to pay respect to the
good ol’ boy fromWest
Virginia who is now considered
aviation royalty. A mobile staircase
is rolled out, but Yeager waves it off.
Instead, he climbs a 10-foot ladder
to the cockpit. He and his co-pilot
strap in, taxi down the runway and
then roar over the horizon. Thirty-
nine minutes later, a sonic boom
rattles the earth.
Upon landing, Yeager is sur-
rounded by the crowd, a returning
hero. His face momentarily
hardens into a quit-yer-
fussin’ expression, then
reluctantly eases into
a grin. “Looking back, it was prob-
ably my greatest accomplishment,”
Yeager says when asked about the
first time he broke the sound barrier.
“
I knew that was the moment we
had opened up the universe. From
there, we could get into space.”
A few moments later, Yeager
turns and walks toward another
plane, a private jet that will take
him to another engagement: a
funeral for a friend, a pilot he knew
from way back. The hero’s gait is
a little stiffer now, but it remains
determined. There is still purpose in
his stride.
—
JOHN H. HOUVOURAS
LAS VEGAS
BOOM TIMES
AMERICA’S MOST FAMOUS PILOT
PREPARES TO REPEAT HISTORY
DISPATCHES
||
GLOBETROTTING
