As I was reading today in Yeager, I got to a lot of discussion about being a fighter pilot. It appears that Chuck Yeager’s biggest asset to him in World War II was his 20/10 eyesight. He was very happy to become a leader in his squadron even though he wasn’t an ace or a commissioned officer. I can tell by Yeager’s nostalgic tone and keen memory of events that he had a heyday in World War II as a fighter pilot.

One thing that I’ll never understand is how pilots can go along, have their buddies killed, and still be happy about the war. If it were me, I would be missing my buddies like crazy, but Chuck can talk about his buddies nostalgically and then matter-of-factly end the story with “he augered in” or “he bought the farm.” Other people, I’ve seen come out of war and be mad at the whole world. Yeager on the other hand just seems to enjoy his victories that he had in the war and move on. Aside from fondness, his only other emotion is anger at the stupid people who get themselves killed. One guy from Yeager’s squadron “shouted over the radio, ‘Tell Ma I’m coming home.’ He did a victory roll over the field and augered into a tree.”

Chuck was attracted to Daddy Rabbit’s airplane, and after Rabbit’s last trip, Chuck had arranged that he would get Rabbits airplane and fly it as the Glamorous Glen III. Rabbit’s parting words to him were: “You won’t let anything happen to me on my last ride. You want my airplane too much.”