Rest In Peace, General Yeager 😢

Just heard about him passing. Great man and did great things for aviation.  God speed General Yeager.  🙁

Great man, great patriot and one lucky guy! Survived when others did not.

Edited December 8, 20205 yr by SP2472

Hopefully he is finally reunited with his friend Jack Ridley.

Edited December 8, 20205 yr by DavidP

Just heard the news.  Was lucky enough to have met him.

Such sad news, although at his age I was kind of expecting it to be coming soon. 

Definitely one of the greatest pilots ever to fly and was an inspiration to many. When I was a young kid and was interested in becoming a pilot I read all his books and was so fascinated by his accomplishments. 

In my mind, for someone with interest in older military aviation, flight test and the space race, he lived in the golden years of aviation. First jet planes, first rocket powered planes, first one flying faster than Mach 1 and beyond. So many firsts back then that he had  been part of or somehow involved in. Frankly with all his close calls, being shot down and crashing the NF-104A, I’m surprised he even lived to tell about all of it.

RIP Gen Yeager

RIP General

I didn’t know the expression Flying West so I did a little search and I found that : 

Flying West

 I hope there's a place, way up in the sky,
Where pilots can go, when they have to die-
A place where a guy can go and buy a cold beer
For a friend and comrade, whose memory is dear;
A place where no doctor or lawyer can tread,
Nor management type would ere be caught dead;
Just a quaint little place, kinda dark and full of smoke,
Where they like to sing loud, and love a good joke;
The kind of place where a lady could go
And feel safe and protected, by the men she would know.

There must be a place where old pilots go,
When their paining is finished, and their airspeed gets low,
Where the whiskey is old, and the women are young,
And the songs about flying and dying are sung,
Where you'd see all the fellows who'd flown west before.
And they'd call out your name, as you came through the door;
Who would buy you a drink if your thirst should be bad,
And relate to the others, "He was quite a good lad!"

And then through the mist, you'd spot an old guy
You had not seen for years, though he taught you how to fly.
He'd nod his old head, and grin ear to ear,
And say, "Welcome, my son, I'm pleased that you're here.
"For this is the place where true flyers come,
"When the journey is over, and the war has been won
"They've come here to at last to be safe and alone
From the government clerk and the management clone,
"Politicians and lawyers, the Feds and the noise
Where the hours are happy, and these good ol'boys
"Can relax with a cool one, and a well-deserved rest;
"This is Heaven, my son -- you've passed your last test!"

Author: Capt. Michael J. Larkin 
Dedicated to: Capt. E. Hamilton Lee

 

Edited December 8, 20205 yr by Dominique_K

1 hour ago, cmpbellsjc said:

he lived in the golden years of aviation.

Indeed there is something timelessly golden about the years just after the end of WW2. General Yeager was one of those rare public figures I admired.  He was right about Edwards Air Force Base not being given it`s real historical importance.  KEDW is located in an quasi perfect flying area of or world where so many aviation achievements had to be kept quiet in a time where we were barely learning to live with a newer and more terrific danger.  I remember the nuclear attack drills in grade school. I remember the tests of the loud  sirens. I sincerely do believe that we`re here today because a few men (and women like Jackie Cochran)  dared to fly higher and faster.

Edited December 8, 20205 yr by CYXR

RIP Gen Yeager!!! Great man!

Very sad about this. Genuinely one of my heroes.

If anyone has never read his book 'Yeager', I'd strongly recommend doing so, it's an amazing tale, made all the more incredible for being true.

RIP.

God Speed....Lord Knows you're capable of it,You were The True American Maverick...Blazing new trails and punching holes in the Wild Blue Yonder.

 

15 minutes ago, Chock said:

If anyone has never read his book 'Yeager', I'd strongly recommend doing so, it's an amazing tale, made all the more incredible for being true.

Agree. Still have it on my bookshelf and will dust it off. Great read.

3 hours ago, Chock said:

If anyone has never read his book 'Yeager', I'd strongly recommend doing so, it's an amazing tale, made all the more incredible for being true.

I would also recommend the book.  I've read it maybe 3 or 4 times.

After reading the episode where he and General Branch loaded a New Mexico Fish and Game truck into a C-130 and flew to Edwards AFB and then drove on up into high Sierras to a lake that had golden trout.  They got some into the hatchery truck and flew it back to New Mexico and dumped the trout into a lake where General Branch was to have his retirement home.

Unfortunately General Branch died in a crash (I think) and never got to his retirement home.

Being an avid fly fisherman myself I wrote to General Yeager, identified myself as a retired Air Force Senior Master Sergeant, and asked him where the lake was.  He returned my letter and on the back had written 'Chama'.

There are several lakes in the Chama area and I never got to fish all of them.

The book certainly shows how Yeager really took care of his men, especially when they got into some sort of trouble.

Rest in peace old man.  You made your mark in aviation and then some.  You had 'the right stuff'.

Noel

 

 

Edited December 8, 20205 yr by birdguy

Click the video at the beginning of this article.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/07/us/chuck-yeager-death/index.html
 

Edited December 8, 20205 yr by Doering

9 hours ago, Dominique_K said:

I didn’t know the expression Flying West so I did a little search and I found that : 

The electric fan heater in my room must have blown a bit of dust in my eye.. I found that poem rather moving, thank you. 🍻

RIP Gen. Yeager