https://abc7.com/amp/chuck-yeager-ri...nauts/8595765/
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Breaking the sound barrier is something I understand in the abstract but when I really try to think about how that's possible, my brain shuts down.
Also, I flew in and our of the Yeager airport in Charleston when I lived in WV in a semi-regular basis. #coolstory
He definitely fits the mold of "they don't make 'em like that anymore".
Fr @VictoriaYeage11 It is w/ profound sorrow, I must tell you that my life love General Chuck Yeager passed just before 9pm ET. An incredible life well lived, America’s greatest Pilot, & a legacy of strength, adventure, & patriotism will be remembered forever.
7:26 PM · Dec 7, 2020
Tom Wolfe's "The Right Stuff" is one of the best books of the 20th century, and you get a great look at Yeager and the other pilots, along with the whole of the early space program. Highly recommend the book if reading Yeager's obit intrigues you at all.
Just reading Wikipedia shows a truly amazing life story. Would love to see a full series done on his whole life if they stay close to the truth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Yeager
Just watched "The Right Stuff" the other week. Chuck Yeager was old enough to be my grandfather. That guy got every last drip out of life. Well done.
Wolfe’s book suggests Yeager should have been the first man in space or on the moon, but he never fit the “astronaut” that NASA was looking for. He had a bit of a problem with authority, which is all the more reason to like him.
I met General Yeager in approximately 2003. I had seen him a couple of years prior to that when I learned that he would be flying a P-51 Mustang fighter to Huntington's Tri-State Airport to give rides to Yeager Scholars at Marshall University. While I wasn't a Yeager Scholar, I didn't want to miss the opportunity to see Yeager and to see and hear a P-51 in flight. Anyway, I just watched what I could. I can recall that Yeager was somewhat gruff to the press, telling them he was just there for the students.
A few years after that I learned that Yeager was returning to Huntington, this time to meet Yeager Scholars at a reception at Marshall. We had an associate who had been a Yeager Scholar and she was attending the reception. I got my law firm to make a donation to the event and in turn received an invitation to attend the reception.
When I arrived at the event, held in the playhouse at Marshall, as I walked up the steps outside I noticed an older man with thinning hair, who was wearing a simple green jacket, walking directly ahead of me. I noticed he appeared to be slightly shorter than I was. I suddenly thought: That's Chuck Yeager!
Yeager was a hoot to talk with. I had brought my copy of his book Press On! Further Adventures in the Good Life." He autographed it: "To Randy Good Luck! Chuck Yeager."
Wanting Yeager to know I had read the book I related a story in the book about Yeager, his good friend Bud Anderson and their wives. Yeager and Anderson served together in WWII, with Chuck downing 12 German planes and Bud getting 16. In more recent years they had appeared at air shows flying P-51 Mustangs painted to resemble the ones they flew in the war. During the war, Chuck's P-51 had "Glamorous Glennis," the name of his wife, painted on its nose. Bud, who was single then, had "Old Crow," his favorite whiskey, painted on the nose. Anyway, Chuck had written that Bud's wife complained at air shows that people must think the references to "Old Crow" was a reference to her! When I mentioned that story to Chuck, he laughed and said: "She was an old crow. She was a *****!"
He told a lot of great stories at the reception, including one about recently having ridden a luge in Europe and seeing another luge have an accident where a rider was decapitated.
At the time of this meeting Chuck was age 80 and had recently re-married, Glennis having passed away. His new wife was in her 40s, perhaps an indication that Chuck still had the "right stuff."
My only regret of this meeting is that I did not get my photo made with Yeager. Years later I did order an autographed photo of Chuck from his web site.
An American hero and original. R.I.P.
What a great story, RB!
If you really want a much more detailed account of his life than "The Right Stuff", read "Yeager: An Autobiography".
Really amazing life this guy led.
Great story, Randy. It must have been a thrill.
Listening to NPR this am, they played an interview of Yeager. He said he attributed his ability to keen eyesight. He said he could see enemy fighters 50 miles away.
A life well led and of great service to his country. RIP sir.
He's also old enough to be my grandfather, in that he dated my grandmother.Quote:
Originally Posted by M2
Years later, he came into the little restaurant my grandmother owned with a girl in tow saying, "See, I told you I was married!" pointing at my grandmother. He then sat down and put my mother (then a small child) on his lap and said, "This is my daughter!"
Quote:
Originally Posted by marcshoe
...and they all had Fried Green Tomatoes?