RIP Chuck Yeager

[McNutt]

Dead at 97

What a life! If you haven't seen The Right Stuff, do it now.
Now!

[Daehawk]

The Right Stuff is a great movie. This guy was a real cowboy in the air and a character. I actually thought he died years ago.

RIP. Always admired him.

[hitbyambulance]

again?

[UsulofDoom]

He was a awesome aviator that was not appreciated since he did not have a college degree.

[hepcat]

Wow, I honestly thought he had passed away s years ago. RIP to a true American hero.

[Paingod]

He was a awesome aviator that was not appreciated since he did not have a college degree.

NPR did a story on him for my drive to work - including his expertise on the planes to a degree that engineers really appreciated, as well as his combat flights (becoming a fighter ace, being shot down and escaping and then convincing them to let him fly again). Humble dude who always said he was just doing his job, not trying to be a hero.

[Lassr]

97-A great Life. RIP.

[Max Peck]

He was a awesome aviator that was not appreciated since he did not have a college degree.

I dont believe that's really true. IIRC, he may have been passed over by NASA because they only wanted people with degrees for the astronaut corps, but that is a far cry from saying that Yeager was not otherwise appreciated for his prowess.

[dbt1949]

I actually met him once. He called me "What?"

[Daehawk]

97. It took death a long time to catch up to him.

[Unagi]

Wait a few days for the sonic boom....

RIP.

One of the aviator gods, for sure.

[Isgrimnur]

I read his autobiography as a kid. He was shot down, escaped, and convinced command to let him keep flying in Europe.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

He also coded his very own video game!

[Daehawk]

I read his autobiography as a kid. He was shot down, escaped, and convinced command to let him keep flying in Europe.

Then he shot down 5 in one day becoming ace in a day. the next day he went out and shot down 4 more.

[LordMortis]

I read his autobiography as a kid. He was shot down, escaped, and convinced command to let him keep flying in Europe.

I read it is an adult. It's a fantastic read. I can see YEAGER AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY by General Chuck Yeager and Leo Janos by glancing to the left of where I'm sitting now.

What a life.

[McNutt]

He also coded his very own video game!

And ate an entire koala in one sitting.

[Rumpy]

He also coded his very own video game!

As a kid, I had Chuck Yeager's Flight Training by EA. It was a pretty cool flight sim at the time. When crashing, you'd have him comment via a bit of text, and I always loved seeing 'Looks like you bought the farm!" or something to the effect.

[NickAragua]

He also coded his very own video game!

"So there I was in my Mig-29 when I was jumped by five P-51 Mustangs at twelve o'clock high and five P-51 Mustangs at twelve o'clock high and five P-51 Mustangs at twelve o'clock high." was a scenario you could create in it, as I recall. I wasn't very good at it when I played it (didn't help that it was at a friend's house), so I always played with invulnerability and unlimited ammo.

Fly well. Hope the next life doesn't have as many nazis in it.

[Daehawk]

[Jeff V]

He also coded his very own video game!

And ate an entire koala in one sitting.

Coding works up quite the appetite. Not like flying. After flying, he ate half an iguana.

I had no idea he was still alive. I was explaining to my wife how he used to fly experimental planes back in the day where such things were deadly as often as not.