Chuck Yeager (1923–2020)

Well written, well read. almost reads like an action novel. It piques my interest in the history of the US Air Force, NASA, and flying . Encouraging to the end--incredible life story. Inspiring Air Force hero, but, we're not all like that.

I've had this book for 14 years and it was only when I heard an old interview of Chuck Yeager that I was inspired to read his autobiography. And worth it. The first few chapters, relating his youth, are mildly entertaining in being filled with all the childish and adolescent pranks that he could remember. But when he learns to fly, that's when the story gets interesting: dog-fighting, the sound barrier, the age of jets, then the age of rockets; WW 2, Korean War, Pakistan vs. India, Russian show more MiGs. His life is filled with danger...and luck. One real trick of the authors was to interspersed book with the recollections of his wife, friends, comrades, superiors--along with some biographies of his close friends, adding texture to his life by showing who he loved and was loved by, and how they intermingled. The autobiography, is not "gripping" as such...but it does have some very gripping moments--and some nice insights into Russian aviation vs USA. It's an easy and entertaining read. show less

I read this side-by-side with Fighter Pilot: The Memoirs of Legendary Ace Robin Olds: two books about fighter pilots that went from before the jet age to become WW II aces, military airmen in Vietnam and help usher in the space age. Both had careers that skipped over direct involvement in Korea with Yeager making a Korean Conflict cameo as one of the first American pilots to fly a MiG-15, after its pilot, No Kum-sok, defected to South Korea. Of course, Yeager has a chief pioneering show more accomplishment for breaking the sound barrier and this goes into the technical and hysterical obstacles. I am a bit confused, by then, didn't we have rockets and ballistic object that went supersonic? Maybe not. Life out in the desert testing range in isolation and effective poverty is told with an engaging technique of "other voices" as used in American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History. Not only Yeager's wife, but pilots and others have contributed their recollections and points of view of the maverick and courageous airman. Both Yeager and Olds recall the incident of Jack Broughton and his career-ending strafing of a Soviet ship in Haiphong Harbor (the "Turkestan incident"). Yeager recalls toeing a line on military discipline in the court-martial but stating it came out in court complete proof the American flyers were first fired on from the ship. This incident, and others, were for both pilots a clear beginning of disenchantment with careers in the American military. As General Yeager, his hands on involvement in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was as interesting as starting the training of astronauts for the nascent NASA before being canceled by Nixon to feed the maw of Vietnam. show less

In a compendium of reminiscences, photographs, and experts' discussions, the surviving participants in the development and flying of the Bell X-1 rocket plane that broke the sound barrier in 1947 recount their experiences. It also includes a chapter on famous aviatrix and motion picture stunt pilot Pancho Barnes and her Happy Bottom Riding Club. Pancho offered a free steak to the first man to break the sound barrier (Mach One) and Yeager collected that steak on Oct. 14th 1947. Pancho's Club show more was the fraternity house for the test pilots, where they could share lessons learned in flying the new jets and to celebrate surviving for one more day. show less