RIP General and thanks for being The role model for so many in the flying community. Blue skies ahead.

RIP General.We lost a reue American Hero.

RIP. A true great American. The stories of Ww2 combat, test piloting in the 40’s in the so cal desert. And his post military life. What a man. His Twitter feed is gold if you have the chance to read his answers to people.

And he had amazing taste in watches.

Too many icons are leaving us. RIP Yeager!

RIP, Gen. Yeager. He was a quintessential man's man, for sure.

flashguy

Don't we all wish to live life to the fullest as General Yeager did. RIP.

RIP, General Yeager. What has not been said about you?? Blue skies Forever. ........................ drill sgt.

RIP a true West Virginia born hero. You will be sorely missed back home.

A true hero that others need to be measured to.
RIP!

He flew under the South Side bridge in Charleston, 1948
Stuff of legends, and it has been exaggerated for years.

The General set the record straight...


https://www.register-herald.co...97-6361ab40f6de.html

I lived semi local to General Yeager. Crossed paths with him at our local airport and airshows a time or two. Out of awe for the the man, and not wanting to be an irritation to him, I never approached him. I did wind up buying the tires from the Husky he flew when he replaced them with a smaller set. (Indirectly, from his wife).
He spoke at my fathers Rotary club shortly before "The Right Stuff" came out, my father who flew F-84's in Korea said it was a great talk, mostly about his combat experience in World War Two. I think he was most proud of his service there.
Dad really regretted (And I did too) that he didn't pull me out of school to see his presentation.
RIP General.

quote:

Originally posted by Modern Day Savage:

I briefly met him after a talk he gave at the National Air and Space museum, when he was signing copies of his book and shaking hands. Like so many others here, as a young man just starting to fly, Gen. Chuck Yeager was a hero for me as well. A true legend.

I also saw his presentation in the early 90's at the National Air and Space museum. Many in the audience were from NASA since their headquarters is just a few blocks away in D.C.

A few impressions from the evening have remained with me. After his presentation, he allowed time for questions from the audience. Whether the question came from an enthusiastic high school student or from an NASA aeronautical engineer, Gen. Yeager's responses were thorough and carefully tailored to the knowledge level he interpreted from the questioner. He was extremely humble (which I didn't anticipate) and respectful of his audience. Additionally, he remained after the presentation to sign his book for anyone interested. He stayed until the very long line of fans were enthusiastically greeted and received his autograph.

I left feeling even more admiration for the man and his accomplishments as an aviation pioneer.

Rest in peace, General Yeager.

quote:

Originally posted by Av8nShooter:

I also saw his presentation in the early 90's at the National Air and Space museum. Many in the audience were from NASA since their headquarters is just a few blocks away in D.C.

Obviously, you and I attended the same event then. Back then NASM was conducting regularly scheduled talks with notable figures in aviation and space exploration, and I caught a number of them, and each and every one of them was a real treat. I haven't lived in the area in a couple decades, but that was such a fantastic lecture series, if NASM isn't still doing them they really should consider it.

It doesn't surprise me at all that NASA personnel would be well represented at the NASM lecture series (I knew a NASA machinist who was an avid pilot and would literally leave work in the evenings and go straight to our airport to fly his plane for an hour or two in the evenings before heading home), but there were also several pilots in attendance, including a few notable ones who attended the talk given by General Yeager.

quote:

Additionally, he remained after the presentation to sign his book for anyone interested. He stayed until the very long line of fans were enthusiastically greeted and received his autograph.

So, I'll tell a little humorous story about that evening. I already had a copy of General Yeager's autobiography from years earlier, but I decided to buy a second copy that evening and have him sign it. I'm not generally star struck and don't go chasing autographs, but there are some individuals I truly respect and admire, and it's nice to have a simple memento to remember meeting them. I was a big baseball fan back then, and had a few players' autographs on my baseball mitt, and once I started flying and started meeting notable pilots, at the time it seemed to make sense to just keep my collection of autographs in one place, so I had a number of aviator autographs on my baseball mitt along with the players' autographs.

So, as you pointed out, after the NASM lecture, there was a loooong line to get to the table to reach General Yeager and shake his hand and grab an autograph. When I finally reached him I realized there just wasn't time but for the briefest exchange so I shook his hand, told him how much I admired and respected him, and plopped down my copy of his autobiography and my baseball glove. The General took one glance at my mitt and shot me a look that only a General can give to an enlisted man that said, essentially, son, you are a dumb ass, I'm a test pilot, I'm a fighter pilot, and I'm a General...not a baseball player. ...but, he quietly obliged me and signed both the book and the ball glove. I felt about 2 feet tall at that moment and quickly moved on for the guy behind me.

I still have the baseball glove with the signatures, but I made the mistake of continuing to play ball with it, and now with use and time several of the signatures are faded. Unfortunately, the General's autograph is virtually indistinguishable now...but I still do have his autographed copy of his book.

He came to our flying club about 15 years ago to give a talk. The club asked me to video tape his talk and I had to ask his permission. He was ok with it and the tape went to local schools to educate kids on flying. RIP.

Hey Ridley, you got any Beeman’s?