Gen. Chuck Yeager: R.I.P.

America lost one of its great aviation pioneers and fighter pilots. General Chuck Yeager died this past week at age 97. He had a good run. A young man in WW II, he became a fighter pilot and became a fighter ace, downing 5 enemy planes. He was blessed with incredible vision, naturally: 20/10, or sharply improved over the sharp-eyed with 20/20 vision. He also downed at least 8 more planes during his service in Europe. He was 22 years old when the war ended in 1945. After the war, he stayed in the Army and shifted to the US Air Force when it was spun off from the Army in 1947. He then became a test pilot, risking life and limb as aviation entered the jet age(Germany was building and flying jets at the very end of WW II-too late to turn the tide). Planes were getting faster and faster, approaching the speed of sound. Scientists speculated that aircraft could not endure the stresses at that speed and could not predict the outcome if it was exceeded. Chuck Yeager became the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound in a plane that was not much more than a rocket motor with a couple of wings attached. After that event, his career was a milestone in aviation, and combined with his wartime flying, he entered legendary status. He was a military icon adopted by the civilian world as someone who had "the right stuff". The book of that name featured him as a living symbol of those blessed with those attributes that personified those who had it all. He retired to civilian life as a former Air Force general officer and lent his credibility to various organizations and institutions that contributed to the advancement of science and aviation.