RIP General Yeager

[bored383]

Godspeed

[Rusty Brass]

I feel a bit bad but I didn't realize he was still alive. 97 is a long haul.
I read his autobiography when I was pretty young, probably wasn't even a teenager yet. Think my grandpa who worked at Lockheed gave it to me. Made a hell of an impression. I still even remember the pilots' rhyme about the T39 trainer. Weird the things that stick.
God speed, General.

[ford]

About a year ago I was at a Houston Texans game and they announced at half time he was in attendance... I had the same thought, Chuck is still alive?!

There he was on the sideline of the field... The stadium went nuts, biggest cheers of the game and a standing ovation.

God's speed Chuck.

[Rusty Brass]

...and funny the things you still get wrong. Oh well, I still know it'll tumble and roll and dig a big hole.

[flyweightnate]

I remember that rhyme too! From reading his book probably 20 years ago...

[Deus Machina]

Damn. One of the coolest guys around.
Met him once at an air show when I was young. Got me to fly a Cessna briefly. He was hanging around the displays and demonstrations and grinning at all the kids enjoying it.

[BretG]

One quote from him has stuck with me through the years, in referencing air combat, "Remember, it's the man, not the machine"

[Falcon16]

Jeez 2020 is just being a bastard. Still can't believe he's gone. Godspeed General Yeager. May you fly fast with the angels.

[Tracker]

i read Yeager's autobiography when i was in jr high or high school i cant remember, it made me want to become a pilot, and was one of the contributing factors to me joining the AF (which was 20 years ago on Saturday)

in 97 they had a USAF 50th anniversary airshow at nellis, yeager was there in "glamourous glennis III", so was bud anderson in "old crow", we found the hanger they were in and tried to say hi, but they had left already. and that was as close as i ever got to meeting the guy

my mom wrote him a letter when i was in high school, hoping for some words of encouragement, (i wasnt doing great, i barely graduated) she got back a signed 8x10 that said "keep up the good work". mom was like.. "thanks?"

anyways, as the world turns, and life passes, i became a crew cheif on 16's, as a result, we tend to have a pretty tight relationship with the pilots, and sometimes you get to crew jets for VIP's

yeager flew out of edwards every once in awhile, and i know many people that have crewed jets for him, and for the one or two nice stories that exist, there are dozens where they say he was a complete asshole to maintenance and he acted like the was the center of the universe anytime he was out there..

I was crushed to hear Yeager was one of "those pilots" even though he started out as enlisted.

i guess im sharing this as a warning where the moral of the story is.. "never meet your heros"

he accomplished amazing things in his lifetime, and he got to live a lot more of it than most, he got to be a retied general for 45 years.. thats an accomplishment in and of itself.

remember Yeager for the things he did, and try not to conflate that with your perception of the person he was

[Axel]

Heh. I, too, have heard a couple anecdotes of him not being a very nice person but I guess this isn't the place. We're all equal in the end, eh?

[flyweightnate]

This is one of the more significant losses of 2020, to me.

Interesting to hear about his personality - like Neil Armstrong, I suppose. The timid and polite rarely sign up for crazy ideas.

[Tracker]

yeah, i was getting into that discussion with a buddy of mine, sometimes to be a legend, you have to be an asshole

not saying i condone the behavior, but having served, i can definitely understand the attitude to excel that the environment required as well. and it wasnt always about being the "nice guy"

there were still the last remnants of the "good ol boys club" from the 80's when i was in, and he was in during the 40's to 75, thats a lot of hierarchy in the boys clubs...

[gabe]

yeager flew out of edwards every once in awhile, and i know many people that have crewed jets for him, and for the one or two nice stories that exist, there are dozens where they say he was a complete asshole to maintenance and he acted like the was the center of the universe anytime he was out there..

I was crushed to hear Yeager was one of "those pilots" even though he started out as enlisted.

i guess im sharing this as a warning where the moral of the story is.. "never meet your heros"

he accomplished amazing things in his lifetime, and he got to live a lot more of it than most, he got to be a retied general for 45 years.. thats an accomplishment in and of itself.

remember Yeager for the things he did, and try not to conflate that with your perception of the person he was

I didn't want to post it anywhere because for all Chuck was he did some great things for aviation. BUT he was definitely a "type A" personality. My brother crewed F-16's in South Carolina and met Chuck when he was doing a demo flight and confirmed that he was very much rude to ground crew and especially to the women working in the ground crew.

RIP Yeager, he definitely left an impression on the flying world.

[Axel]

He has got some great tweets:

Nov 6, 1944: I shot down our group's (357th Fighter Group) 1st Me 262. It was on final. Unsportsmanlike but what the hell

[bored383]

"tweets"

. . .

[Axel]

Thanks, editor

[bored383]

your welcome!!!!!! *deliberate*