Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager Dead at 97

[Jason_Williams]

A hero of mine and to all Americans - Brig. General Chuck Yeager has passed away at the age of 97.

 

Died exactly 79 years after the attack on Pear Harbor that would bring young pilots like Yeager into the service.

 

- WWII fighter Ace over Europe

- First man to break the sound barrier.

- Accomplished Test Pilot

- Combat pilot in Vietnam 

 

Just an incredible life.

 

My dad was stationed at Norton AFB in San Bernardino, CA in the early 1970s while Yeager was also stationed there. 

 

R.I.P. 

 

 

Jason

 

[WWSandMan]

~~Salute!~~

General Yeager was a hero of mine. I grew up working for, wishing and hoping I could have the stuff it took to be someone like Chuck Yeager. In my eyes, he was the epitome of the 20th Century American warrior.  

 

I wish him the peaceful rest he has fought for, worked for and earned many times over. Thank you, General Yeager. 

 

[Karl_Marxxx]

RIP King

 

[AndyJWest]

Quote

Anyone who travels very much on airlines in the United States soon gets to know the voice of the airline pilot… coming over the intercom… with a particular drawl, a particular folksiness, a particular down-home calmness that is so exaggerated it begins to parody itself… the voice that tells you, as the airliner is caught in thunderheads and goes bolting up and down a thousand feet at a single gulp, to check your seat belts because 'uh, folks, it might get a little choppy'… Who doesn't know that voice! And who can forget it, - even after he is proved right and the emergency is over. That particular voice may sound vaguely Southern or Southwestern, but it is specifically Appalachian in origin. It originated in the mountains of West Virginia, in the coal country, in Lincoln County, so far up in the hollows that, as the saying went, 'they had to pipe in daylight.' In the late 1940s and early 1950s this up-hollow voice drifted down from on high, from over the high desert of California, down, down, down, from the upper reaches of the [Pilot] Brotherhood into all phases of American aviation. It was amazing. It was Pygmalion in reverse. Military pilots and then, soon, airline pilots, pilots from Maine and Massachusetts and the Dakotas and Oregon and everywhere else, began to talk in that poker-hollow West Virginia drawl, or as close to it as they could bend their native accents. It was the drawl of the most righteous of all the possessors of the right stuff: Chuck Yeager.

 

Tom Wolfe: The Right Stuff.

[Elem]

[Luftschiff]

A life truly lived.

[oc2209]

Godspeed unto the life beyond, good sir.

 

I salute you.

[MasterBaiter]

Blue skies General..

Edited December 8, 2020 by Winterz

[Freycinet]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/08/chuck-yeager-dead-pilot-first-to-break-sound-barrier-dies-death-aged-97

 

RIP!

[AndyJWest]

Yup, sad news - there is a thread already though:

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/67626-brig-gen-chuck-yeager-dead-at-97

[J2_Drookasi]

Total respect! Salute!

[TWC_Ace]

He was not only an american hero. He was a hero to every men who is in love with aviation. The gentleman, goodhearted, great sense of humour, fearless. True badass.

RIP.

 

Edited December 8, 2020 by =VARP=Tvrdi

[=69.GIAP=VLADI]

Godspeed and blue skies!

S!

=69.GIAP=VLADI

[Heliopause]

"S"!

 

[BlitzPig_EL]

[ShamrockOneFive]

What an accomplished life! To do all of that and to survive to 97... incredible. A life worth celebrating.

 

[dburne]

Sad news - great man for sure! He had a nice long life though!

[Rjel]

There was an excellent documentary originally aired on NBC in 1981 called THE ROCKET PILOTS that featured both Chuck Yeager and Scott Crossfield. Both commented on the dangers and fears of test flying. Yeager’s comment was that they didn’t consider it fear,  “we called it apprehension.”

Quite a man. RIP. 

[AndyJWest]

A long interview with Yeager:

 

 

 

[Chief_Mouser]

Great man. Chuck and 'Winkle' Brown were my two favourite pilots. RIP.

[Enceladus828]

Along with Sally Ride, Neil Armstrong, Joe Sutter, and Richard Feynman, Yeager was involved with the Rogers Commission, an inquiry into why the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986

[Canvas25]

CAVU. A remarkable man indeed.

[DBFlyguy]

This man was the definition of a life fully and well lived.  RIP Legend.

 

[ADorante]

His involvement in early flight simming made him a household name for me. RIP!

[Taxman]

RIP, .  

[SARFlytitus]

Godspeed and blue skies  General Yeager ! 

[RAY-EU]

RIP Legend of the skies .

[CAPSLOCK_ON]

Lived a legendary life. Godspeed, Airman! 

[Swing]

Goodbye Sky Héro 

[AKA_Relent]

R.I.P. Chuck, blue skies

 

[keeno]

R.I.P...........a true legend.

[kestrel79]

I followed him on Twitter. I was so blown away when he replied back to one of my questions. I was kind of star struck by it.

 

Hope they make a movie some day about him. I need to read his book. Any other good recommended reading on him? The Right Stuff I'll have to give a go too, only seen the movie.

[LoneStar_47]

Yeager An Autobiography by General Chuck Yeager and Leo Janos. An excellent book. I have not read it again recently. Going to read again.

[IckyATLAS]