Chuck Yeager

[DaveInSeattle]

Yep...



If've you never read his autobiography, check it out. Its a great read.

Some things I remember from it:

- was shot down on his 8th mission, and escaped into Spain and back to England
- because the policy was if a pilot made it back to England, they got sent home (due to worries about potentially exposing members of the Underground if they got shot down again), he had to go to Eisenhower and plead his case in person (as a 21 year old).
- became an ace (shot down 5 enemy planes) in one day.

He also plays the bartender at the Edwards Air Force base canteen in 'The Right Stuff'.

And, according to the book, every airline pilot does the 'Pilot Speak' because of his accent.

[Johnnie]

[Rex]

Top of the ol’ pyramid

[Pruitt]

Now that's a real man!

[mister d]

I assume twitter is just a mess of "I like pilots who don't get shot down lol no just kidding respect to a legend!!!"

[Nonlinear FC]

He was one of the first guys ever "studied" for a biography in school... Later read about him in the Tom Wolfe book that inspired the epic movie referenced above.

Chuck Yeager was a fucking bad ass. Worth going back and reading up on him, if you have the time.

[govmentchedda]

[brian]

His wife's Twitter feed is a litany of the most insane MAGA shit, BTW.

[mister d]

Milkshake Chuck.

[Rex]

Oh yeah I've assumed for the last couple of years that he was as MAGA as it gets.

You gotta learn to separate the art from the artist.

[L-Jam3]

Separate and apart from that, he was a 97 year-old retired military legend. Wouldn't support for the Republican leadership, even one as loathsome as Trump, be not only expected but understandable?

[mister d]

I'd probably stop at expected. Its not like the Dems are cutting spending or avoiding conflict, right?

[The Sybian]

Oh yeah I've assumed for the last couple of years that he was as MAGA as it gets.

You gotta learn to separate the art from the artist.

No way, need to cancel every accomplishment a person ever had, even if they just made one inappropriate joke 10 years ago, even if the joke was considered appropriate at the time.

[mister d]

If he was a racist in the 60s and MAGA at death I think you can safely say he was a shitty person who did cool things.

[Johnnie]

Well, fuck. The fact that I haven't heard of this until now annoys me. And the story at large pisses me off.

The biggest surprise is that there wasn't a movie about this staring Cuba Goofing and Billy Bob Thornton about his life.

Reading that snapped me back to the current Chief of Staff of the Air Force's message in light of the events stemming from the death of George Floyd:



And then it makes me go "Oh yea. Pilots are mostly white. Mostly Christian. And always get their way. Why am I surprised by this?"

I thought Yeager was above all of that, but apparently not.