Originally Posted by klondike

I am not smart enough or knowledgeable enough or credible enough to come on here and formulate my own opinion on this accident- especially since I was never a test pilot and I was only 10 months old on the day of this accident.

That said, Frank Borman wrote his memoirs in a book called “Countdown.”

In that book he addressed this accident. He was very blunt and pulled no punches. I’m paraphrasing but, essentially, Borman’s take was that the flight was an unnecessary stunt(his word) that contributed nothing to research and/or development and was nothing more than an attempt to set another record. According to Borman, Yeager had not completed the full Aerospace Research Pilot School curriculum necessary to fly the NF-104 to its design envelope limits. In essence, his ego wrote a check that his body very nearly couldn’t cash. The feeling amongst the rank and file was that, because he was the C.O. Of ARPS, he could do whatever he wanted.
Borman’s final words on the subject were that Yeager’s actions destroyed a very valuable research tool.

To make matters worse, after the accident, top USAF brass figured (incorrectly, as it turned it) that if the airplane had nearly killed the “immortal Yeager”, it MUST be inherently dangerous and unsafe- so they grounded it for some time.
The post- Accident investigation showed that, among other mistakes, Yeager flew a completely incorrect zoom-climb profile.

The NF-104 was developed specifically for ARPS and without it, the school had no airborne platform for future USAF pilot/astronauts to develop space vehicle techniques.