Chuck Yeager passes away at the age of 97

A genuine American hero! He had The Right Stuff!

RIP

A long life that was well lived.

One of the great early pioneers in flight. Sadly, often overlooked after the space program was underway.

RIP. Hero. Great American. We aren't replacing these types and it's unfortunate. It's just a bunch of shitbirds popping up now.

RIP. He was a true American hero. Those pilots - and many of them were test pilots - had to know they were pushing well beyond the limits. I’m amazed at how they handled themselves considering the dangers they faced on each flight.

+1 to all the comments

A good innings as we Brits say. RIP.

Outlived Sam Shepard who played him in the Right Stuff.

I love two stories in his book. The first was about him hunting enough elk to feed his entire organization in a celebratory dinner. He did it at altitude - in a P-39 with the cannon (which fired through the prop hub) in single shot mode!

The second was a flight he took with Neil Armstrong (yup, that one) with NA in the front seat. He had told NA that one particular part of the salt flats was too soft to support the aircraft. He was pooh-poohed and NA made the landing - whereupon, the landing gear broke through the crust, and the airplane refused to move despite the engines running at full power! "Nice day for a walk home, Neil."

Pioneer for sure. I believe he is the first pilot to have broken the sound barrier and thus paved the way for space flight.

If you read up on what he went through during his war stints and test pilot time periods..... amazing. One tough son of a bitch and a true hero:

nytimes.com

And if you never have watched The Right Stuff set aside 3.5 hours this winter:

imdb.com

He had more of "The Right Stuff" in his pinky toe than most of us will every have.

When people like this die and are not replaced, the country eventually dies. For a country that was founded on hard work; risk taking; and self-sufficiency, we sure have lost our way.

I fear the ski is right; young folks nowadays have no fucking clue. Their enabling helicopter parents have created a group of clueless entitled lazy brats.