Chuck Yeager has died at age 97

[k0ua]

"The first time I ever saw a jet, I shot it down."

That was a really good idea! Those darn things were dangerous!

 

[ultrarunner]

When childhood neighbors retired and moved to Grass Valley CA I would stop by for a visit a couple of times every year.

One of the last times we had the hood up of the Jeep and an older fellow came walking down the road and stopped just long enough to say hello...

My friend said do you know who that is... I didn't and leaned it was Chuck Yeager...

He regularly walked to and from the Grass Valley airport and was heading home for supper...

You just never know who you will meet walking down the road.

The name of the road Is Greenhorn Road and I was at Greenhorn and Anchor lane for those familiar with the area.

 

[Frankenkubota]

Here's 20 Chuck Yeager quotes as reported by Newsweek...
I bolded my favorite....

"Everybody that I've ever seen that enjoyed their job was very good at it."

"I don't think about life everlasting. If something doesn't have scientific evidence to back it up, I don't believe it. I'm a straight shooter."

"The first time I ever saw a jet, I shot it down."

"At the moment of truth, there are either reasons or results."

"If you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it's an outstanding landing."

"Rules are made for people who aren't willing to make up their own."

"I was always afraid of dying. Always. It was my fear that made me learn everything I could about my airplane and my emergency equipment, and kept me
flying respectful of my machine and always alert in the cockpit."

"The secret of my success is that I always managed to live to fly another day."

"I have no regrets about my life. People ask, "If you had to do it all over again, would you do it differently?" No. That's speculation."

"Just before you break through the sound barrier, the cockpit shakes the most."

"The best pilots fly more than the others; that's why they're the best."

"All that I am ... I owe to the Air Force."

"There is no kind of ultimate goal to do something twice as good as anyone else can. It's just to do the job as best you can. If it turns out good, fine. If it doesn't, that's the way it goes."

"After about 30 minutes I puked all over my airplane. I said to my self, "Man, you made a big mistake."

"When I was picked to fly the X-1, it was my duty to fly it, and I did."

"Unfortunately, many people do not consider fun an important item on their daily agenda. For me, that was always a high priority in whatever I was doing."

"It wasn't that the X-1 would kill you, it was the systems in the X-1 that would kill you."

"If you want to grow old as a pilot, you've got to know when to push it, and when to back off."

"There's no such thing as a natural-born pilot."

"In 1966, NASA took over in space, and it has been a bureaucratic mess ever since."

In 1966 NASA took over in space and its been a bureaucratic mess ever since.

Good on ya chuck, maybe someone will pay attention! Actually, what space ex is doing with govt $ is probably the way it should be done except, I will bet NASA has cut ZERO positions!

So what we have now is a private sector company doing a pretty good job, in spite of the huge NASA admin staff pushing all that paper and still cashing all them federal paychecks every week!

And yet we ask the govt to do more, that's just lazy!

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Here's his account of shooting down that jet.

Yeager Destroys an ME 262 | General Chuck Yeager

Later on in life, he said it was on final, and not very sporting, but what the h***.

From what I've read, that's how most of them were shot down by our pilots. They apparently ran out of fuel pretty quickly. FWIW, they are still making them.

Me 262 Project - Wikipedia

 

[PILOON]

I actually met him back when I was a director of the Aircraft Electronic Assoc.
He was our guest speaker one year.
Recall it as a very interesting presentation.

 

[Hay Dude]

Here's his account of shooting down that jet.

Yeager Destroys an ME 262 | General Chuck Yeager

Later on in life, he said it was on final, and not very sporting, but what the h***.

ammunition spent 1083 rounds of .50 caliber :laughing:

BTW thats Brigadier General Chuck Yeager :thumbsup:

 

[Hay Dude]

From what I've read, that's how most of them were shot down by our pilots. They apparently ran out of fuel pretty quickly. FWIW, they are still making them.

Me 262 Project - Wikipedia

Such a beautiful jet.

 

[Molalla1]

Such a beautiful jet.

:thumbsup: . . . .