IMHO the greatest pilot to ever sit in a cockpit. The only reason he wasn’t an astronaut was because (unfairly in my opinion) he didn’t have a college education. he literally went from a boy swinging in trees in West Virginia to being the man who trained most of the early astronauts. I read both of his autobiographies. The man was a personal hero of mine. Now he doesn’t need an aircraft To fly. show those angels how to do it right Chuck, and Godspeed.
How do you fight in three wars and be a test pilot plus drive like a nut and god knows what else to get that adrenalin going and live to be 97! That guy did it right! Rest easy, Chuck.
Man! Talk about giving the Grim Reaper the big middle finger! He cheated death SO many times then had the nerve to live to be 97! Well done, sir, well done. You can now sleep among the clouds.
An anecdote from his life there’s a scene of it in the movie ”The right stuff“. where he takes an F104 starfighter up to 108,700 feet. Here's A great article about it with all the bells and whistle’s.
when he had to eject and at that time the F104 used rockets and ejected downwards. the rocket pack struck his face plate, and ignited the oxygen supply that he was breathing, badly burning his neck and right side of his face and his thumb and two fingers he used trying to put the fire out. what people don’t know is the aftermath to keep him from being horribly scarred for life they used a new technique of daily debreeding I E peeling off without sedative of the scar tissue that was developing. his cries of agony were so bad that his wife had to leave the building. Formula 1 race driver Niki Lauda benefited from the same technique after his terrible crash.
If ever there was a man who could pilot a Gunstar, it would’ve been Chuck.
My cousin flew with him during WWII in the 357th fighter group along with Bud Anderson.They flew P51 Mustangs. I have pictures of them together at reunions also. My cousin was Morris McKinney and he flew the P51 called “Round Trip Jr”. Just thought I’d throw this out there.
BTW there's a funny anecdote in Bud Anderson's book where he talks about Chuck Yeager's sense of humor. He thought it was funny to walk into their hut and chuck a handful of .50 cal rounds into their heating stove.
I couldn't care less about meeting celebrities and 'famous' people. HE though is a man I really wish I could've met. And I bet if you talked to him, he'd be the most down to Earth guy you could meet. Like a lot of us I was into aviation growing up and his name had a mythical aura. Absolute legend and hero. May he rest in peace. He sure earned it.
