A friend of ours once said: A good pilot is one who knows her/his limitations and doesn’t exceed them.
General Yeager is a great pilot because he also knows this airplane’s limitations and doesn’t exceed them.
I. In testing aircraft, General Yeager was often thinking ahead – how can I bust my butt? How can I prevent it?
Some examples are:
- General Yeager on the flight before he broke MACH 1, turned the airplane at about .94. It simulated what would/could happen at .98 and thru MACH 1. He told Ridley the controls were unresponsive at that mock (not Mach) speed.
That’s when they dusted off the jack screws and motor to the horizontal stabilizer and Gen Yeager MANUALLY changed the angle of the horizontal stabilizer to get thru MACH 1 without busting his butt.
And 3 days later, Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier using that motor.
2: General Yeager was thinking how can I bust my butt…when he realized there was no redundancy in the system of ejecting the fuel. It was electric. So if the electrical systems went out, he would be landing a volatile bomb – and it and he would explode. So he rigged a manual ejection.
The very next flight, he needed it.
He was dropped from the B-29 and all the electrical systems went out. Yikes.
So he tried his rig.
To see if it was working and he was ejecting fuel, he would stall the airplane every 1000′ as he descended. As trained pilots would know, he would stall at a slower speed the lighter he was. This was happening so he knew his manual rig was working.
And he landed safely.
II. General Yeager also says that the best pilots are the most experienced. During World War II, while the others would go to London for a drinking night on the town for leave, General Yeager, as the maintenance officer, would stay at the base and be flying more than the other pilots. He had to check to see if the planes were being fixed properly so he flew each plane a lot.
I remember one maintenance guy – we sat next to him at dinner for the 357th Fighter Group reunion several years ago. Some “friends” of the group tried to hog General Yeager’s time. I knew he was there to see his buddies from the war, not these strangers. So I made sure he sat with some of his buddies to the dismay of these: not wannabees but, wish they had beens.
As he says: These people don’t know what it’s like to be shot at, to be in a real dogfight.
Several of these hotshots say: I wished I had lived then, I would have been a great fighter pilot.
General Yeager’s response is more realistic. Of the 30 in his group that went over to fight the Germans, 21 didn’t come back – shot down. One comes to mind, Fletcher Adams, who bailed out and turned himself over to the German military.
But this German military was two off-duty soldiers who wanted their free time so they turned him over to the police chief in the town. The police chief, along with his wife and a few friends, proceeded to beat the young pilot to death. Then marched/dragged him off to the woods and shot him.
Just before this mission, Fletcher Adams had had a letter and photo from his wife of just under a year. They adored each other. He had just become a new father. The photo was of their first child, their son.
You can learn more about Fletcher Adams at the 357th Fighter Group Museum in Ida, Louisiana where Fletcher grew up and where his son who never knew him and his wife still live.
So, back to the dinner, I arranged for General Yeager to sit with some of the maintenance guys from the 357th. They were ecstatic and thrilled. They didn’t realize through the noise of the “Friends” of the 357th, that General Yeager actually wanted to visit with them more than the “friends”, many of whom were there for free autographs or to make money off these guys.
Some may have been like me: just awed by what these guys did: risking their necks so we could enjoy the freedoms we have. But I remained in the background so Gen Yeager could visit.
However, unlike some of these “friends”, I really am in extreme awe and a state of gratitude.
I don’t have illusions I would have been a great fighter pilot. I would have been trying the: Ouch. Don’t shoot! Adolf, can I call you Ad? Or is it Addie? Can we talk?
And then sending in the real fighter pilots, the Chuck Yeagers, Obie O’Briens, who are and were so very brave and talented. BEFORE the Germans invaded Poland.
Chamberlain tried the talking and that’s how the Poles got sold out. I don’t remember how many million. Very sad.
So I REALLY appreciate these guys.
I asked the maintenance fellow to tell me a Chuck Yeager story. General Yeager appreciates this fellow who helped keep the planes flying safely. Gen Yeager always looked at these guys who were much older guys (3-6 years 
watching out for their charges, the pilots.
The maintenance fellow proceeded to tell me that Chuck Yeager was the “go to” guy. If they couldn’t figure out what was wrong with a plane, they took it to Chuck.
One time, there was a high pitch and slight shimmy. No one could figure it out. No one. They were all scratching their heads. So they went to the go-to guy.
Chuck Yeager located the problem immediately. Immediately.
Sixty years later, this fellow still remembered it with great admiration. Still.
Cool.
I like him.
He admires Chuck and treats him well so he is A-OK in my book.
c. GCYI