RIP General Yeager

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Just saw it posted. Childhood hero of mine. I've read his autobiography probably 30-40 times over the years.

Found out later in life he wasn't all that pleasant of a person to be around, but I still hold him in pretty high regard.

 
In truth he may never have been a ball of fun to be around for most people. But he was a great pioneer and aviator and he made it to 97. So long Chuck, may you do Mach 4 to heaven before the devil knows you're dead!

I haven't read everything but as for Yeager being irascible, I'm guessing he had a chip for being passed over in favor of college boys, for starters...
 
I read that just a few minutes ago.

An ex-girl friend of mine told me a story about him about 10 years ago. We used to go to flying events, museum events, etc. around Seattle, so a normal thing in conversation. She told me that circa mid-90s, she was in a theater showing a premier IMax film at the air/space museum in DC. He was a few rows in front of her, VIP. She said he sat there and flew the whole thing - hands in front of him, imaging the manuevers. My take away on that - late in life and he still had that joy, enthusiasm, gusto. Want to keep that in mind as a life lesson.
 
I admired him from when I was young. Never met him, so I give no credence to the stories about his personality.

His combat experience made him a hero in my estimation. His test pilot experience, including the Bell X-1, was simply icing on the cake.
 
I saw him speak at EAA Oshkosh about 15 years ago. Very interesting guy. Told the story about shooting down a ME-262 jet over Germany In a P51D. Couldn’t catch the jet in level flight, but followed him to his base airfield and hit him when he slowed down. Continued down the runway of the German field at full throttle, Ground gunners opened up on him and hit buildings on other side of field.
 
RIP, one of the greats. Always wanted to see or better, meet him, but never did. I did get to see Bob Hoover, another great one who passed a while back.

This is the best quote I've read a while, sums up him and a few other subjects nicely:
“In an age of media-made heroes, he is the real deal,” Edwards Air Force Base historian Jim Young
 
I met Gen. Yeager in 1996 when I worked at Northwest Airlines. He was not a pleasant person at all, and actually downright nasty towards some of our staff at our flight training facility. I gave him a pass as I found out later that his first wife was suffering from cancer and only had a short time to live.

You had to admire his flying skills regardless of his personality. One of a kind.
 
I confess Yeager is my hero... In 1975 I was stationed at Norton AFB
and I proudly participated in his Pass and Review retirement ceremony...
Among the greats who honored him that day was none other than Jimmy
Doolittle...

Bob Hoover and a gaggle of P51s planned a fly over but couldn’t pull
it off for some reason...

Fast forward to 1996 at the Grass Valley fly-in and I noticed Yeager
just casually walking among the crowed... I excitedly blurted out "Gen
Yeager sir" but he blew me off and bolted before I could bring up
Norton and his retirement ceremony... I know he hates adoration for
just doing his job and is suspicious of people claiming to be at his
retirement but I think if he would have check my recollection of the event
and review my photos he would graciously afford me a signature in my
Yeager autobiography...

yeagerretirement-1-jpg.28817

yeagerretirement-3-jpg.28818

yeagerretirement-4a-jpg.28819
 
Quote from Yeager's book where he trimmed a tree with his P39 and was grounded...


"We use to buzz Pa Clifford's ranch all the time Tonapah Nevada, and if
he came out and waved a bed sheet, it meant yo' all come over tonight
for Ma's chow. Mack and I used to fly over and drop the Clifford boys
all kinds of ammo for their hunting, whole belts of thirty-ought-six,
since bullets were hard to come by in wartime. There was a dry lake
bed about a hundred yards from the house, and we would practice
dive-bombing over that lake bed, dropping practice bombs, while Pa
Clifford, down below, watched and laughed like hell. One day I heard
Pa mention that he'd like to get rid of a tree that stood near the
roadway to the house. The next day, I buzzed that tree in my P-39 and
carefully topped it with my left wingtip. I enjoyed that kind of
challenge, but when I landed there was hell to pay. The maintenance
officer demanded to know why my smashed wingtip looked as if it were
taking root-hunks of wood were rammed into it. "I hit a bird," I told
him. "Well," he replied, "that son of a ***** must've been sitting in
one helluva nest." I was grounded from flying P-39s for a week. But
there were several BT-13s available, and I flew them instead."

P39a.JPG
 
A close friend of mine met him on his 80th birthday. Yeager gave him a signed model of the X-1.

Here’s what my friend said about him today:

“Yeager definitely was a bit arrogant, but not to me, Kate or other military aviators there. There were some politicians and prominent people, he didn't give them the time of day. I kind of liked the guy, he was a bit ornery to big wigs that weren't cut from his same cloth. I think that's why we got one of his signed X-1s, he didn't want any of them to have one.”

I’ve heard similar tales from other guys who have met him. He was happy to drink whiskey and talk flying with his peers, but really didn’t like the hero worship that followed him.
 
I was on a RON with a fellow crew member who was one of the original eight jet pilots in the Air Force. We were enjoying an adult beverage and good conversation when Chuck came over and asked if he could join us. I enjoyed tales of P38s, P51s in both the pacific and European theatres and the P 59.
First liar didn't stand a chance and I had a great time taking in all the stories. One of the best nights of my life.
Smoky
 
My Sister in Law sits at his desk as the Commandant of the USAF Test Pilot School

 
A close friend of mine met him on his 80th birthday. Yeager gave him a signed model of the X-1.

Here’s what my friend said about him today:

“Yeager definitely was a bit arrogant, but not to me, Kate or other military aviators there. There were some politicians and prominent people, he didn't give them the time of day. I kind of liked the guy, he was a bit ornery to big wigs that weren't cut from his same cloth. I think that's why we got one of his signed X-1s, he didn't want any of them to have one.”

I’ve heard similar tales from other guys who have met him. He was happy to drink whiskey and talk flying with his peers, but really didn’t like the hero worship that followed him.
I like him more and more! The world needs more people like him.
 
In truth he may never have been a ball of fun to be around for most people. But he was a great pioneer and aviator and he made it to 97. So long Chuck, may you do Mach 4 to heaven before the devil knows you're dead!

I haven't read everything but as for Yeager being irascible, I'm guessing he had a chip for being passed over in favor of college boys, for starters...
He was quite active on Twitter. I got the feeling from reading his responses to people asking questions that he didn't have much patience for stupid people and/or stupid questions. If someone asked something where they could have found the answer in a book or in a previous tweet he would give very curt answers. Questions that were more thoughtful got longer more thought-out responses.

I think he more than earned the right not to have to suffer fools.
 
Read Yeager's book back in '86. Good read.

In the movie The Right Stuff, Jack Ridley is portrayed as a bit of goofy sidekick. In his book, Yeager goes to pains to point out what a brilliant aeronautical engineering mind Ridley had, and what an excellent pilot he was.
 
Another Yeager story ... I don't remember if this was in the book, or elsewhere. Around the time Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1, there was a British movie, completely fictitious, released about breaking the sound barrier. In the movie, several pilots die while trying to go supersonic. Finally, the young protagonist, going on a hunch, reverses his controls (whatever that means) in the trans-sonic region, and punches through the sound barrier successfully. I'm guessing the aircraft was a Gloster Meteor.

Anyway, as the story goes, for years afterwards Yeager was asked by members of the public and the media how he knew to "reverse his controls" so his aircraft wouldn't disintegrate. :unsure:

Apparently this annoyed him to no end.
 
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