On Chuck Yeager

Friend Gregory Johnson remember Chuck Yeager, the great test pilot, who died at 97 on Dec. 7th.

Have a memory etched in brain pan of walking in early morning fog at Kissimmee Airport in Florida amidst a whole runway full of WWll P-51 Mustang fighter planes parked nose to nose for the annual Gathering of Warbirds. I was looking for my cousin Dick's P-51, Donna Mite, nobody around and then hearing some muffled conversation behind one of the planes, I rounded the corner of a parked plane and there was Yeagers, his squadron mates from WWll, Bud Anderson and worlds best, mustachioed, aerobics pilot, Bob Hoover. They were huddled by the wing root of Yeagers P-51 Glamorous Glennis, named for his wife, having a pleasant conversation, looked my way, invited me over, told them I was Dick's cousin, that I was building an RV-6 and warmly invited me to join in with them. I just slipped into that familiar casual all things aviation conversation with them, these three well known fighter jocks with a lot of accumulated history and felt accepted as an equal in the fraternity of flyers going back to the Wright Brothers , Montgolfier, and all the others that dared to break the bounds of earth for an aerial view and perspective. Truly a memorable moment.

Chuck Yeager Wikipedia page