___For millions of people around the world, General Chuck Yeager is the man who best epitomizes the unique blend of qualities that writer Tom Wolfe captured in the title of his 1979 best seller, The Right Stuff. For Wolfe, Yeager stood at the apex of “the ziggurat pyramid of flying” and was “the most righteous of all the possessors of the right stuff.”
___While Wolfe’s book may have made Chuck Yeager a household name, his knowledge of the man came second hand. He had never witnessed any of his exploits—never seen Yeager in action. And, when he wrote, he was looking back on a career that had already, long since, taken on mythic proportions. While his book is, in many ways, a masterful account of a bygone era, his depiction of those who comprised the flying “fraternity” at Edwards in the early 50s is somewhat exaggerated. As General Yeager observed: “Tom got kind of emotional on the subject.”
___The most reliable testimony on what made Chuck Yeager a legend within that fraternity comes from the men who actually knew him—the professionals who flew and worked with him. The most meaningful insights come from his peers. next voice