___Col. Fred Ascani assisted Boyd in Yeager’s selection as the X-1 pilot and, over the next decade, he had a unique perspective from which to judge his abilities both as a test and fighter pilot. Yeager flew under his direction, as Ascani served as the first vice commander of the Air Force Flight Test Center here at Edwards in the early 50s and then as commander of the 50th Fighter Bomber Wing in Europe during the mid-50s. Throughout that period, he had many opportunities to fly with Yeager and observe his skill first-hand. Many years later, he observed:

___“Yeager flies an airplane as if he is welded to it–as if he is an integral part of it. His ‘feel’ for any strange airplane is instinctive, intuitive and as natural as if he had flown it for 100 or more hours . . . The fact that he was absolutely fearless in his pursuit of technical knowledge was an added plus. I never regretted my decision to concur in Col. Boyd’s selection of Yeager as the primary X-1 pilot . . . Many have theorized that several other test pilots could have achieved the same goals and, for some time, I thought the same. In retrospect, I candidly admit I am less sure of that opinion. One thought comes to my mind whenever I think of Yeager and that is: no one, earthbound or ethereal, will ever be a clone of Yeager. Never, ever.” next voice