Add a Comment   Back to OJB's Blog Search Page

Chuck

Entry 2370, on 2024-10-31 at 20:34:16 (Rating 1, Comments)

I recently completed a book (as you may know, I don't have time to read, so I listened to it as an audio-book) called "Yeager", about pioneering American pilot, Chuck Yeager (1923-2020). He was arguably the most famous pilot in history, but if you don't know, he was a fighter pilot in World War II, the first person to exceed the speed of sound, a test pilot for many experimental aircraft, and in charge of a training school for pilots and astronauts.

Flying was his life, and he was often referred to as the GOAT (greatest of all time) of pilots. He says that what made him so good was his experience, because he just spent more time flying than anyone else, but there was more to it than that: he also had extremely good eyesight, meaning he could spot enemy pilots before they saw him, he had great courage in taking on some of the missions he was assigned, and he started his career as an aircraft engineer, meaning he had a good working knowledge of the technicalities of flight.

He was shot down in World War 2 but escaped to Spain and eventually re-joined the war, even though that was not usually allowed so that the resistance who helped him escape would not be in danger if he was later captured and interrogated. He also had numerous other accidents and near misses, yet still lived to the age of 97.

Reading this book made me wonder, why do some people become so successful? And how do they survive when so many others didn't? Well, a lot of it comes from luck.

Yeager himself admitted that he had been lucky on occasions, where other talented pilots "bought the farm" or at least "augered in". On at least one occasion he survived a serious crash and sustained quite bad burns which healed well because of new medical techniques, but that could easily have been fatal instead.

And another famous exploit was when he was one of the first pilots to destroy a new German jet, the Me 262, but that was because he just happened to find one flying low and slow preparing to land. Sure, it still took skill to perform that low level attack, but the success was mainly about being in the right place at the right time on that occasion.

So I'm sure that luck was a lot to do with it, and every successful person should admit to an element of that being involved in their lives, but to some extent people make their own luck. No matter how bad a situation he was in, Yeager remained calm and rationality used his skill and experience to prevent a crash, or at least minimise how serious it was. It might have looked like luck, but a lot of that was really skill and experience.

Yeager never had advanced formal qualifications, and often came across as a simple, unsophisticated person. The book is an autobiography, so it is written using is own honest style, although I think some of his opinions don't necessarily completely hold up to scrutiny. For example, his belief of the superiority of American over German aircraft was probably due to the lack of good German pilots and quality fuel near the end of the war, but these are just minor points.

Yeager was also a bit of a maverick, and often pushed the rules and got into conflict with some of his superior officers. But because everyone knew he was the best, he generally got away with it and eventually reached the rank of general, although he was as surprised as anyone about that in some ways. Of course, one of the conditions of him accepting that promotion was that he should still be able to fly, which most higher ranked officers were not allowed to do.

The book was very easy to "read", very authentic, and something a person who is interested in aircraft and flying should read. It was not the deepest or most sophisticated book ever, but was definitely entertaining and informative.

Comment 1 (7746) by Anonymous on 2024-11-01 at 09:11:49:

Ha ha, you didn't say if Chuck was "woke"!

Comment 2 (7747) by OJB on 2024-11-01 at 09:29:15:

Ah, you mock me because of my concentration on anti-woke rhetoric in recent times? Fair enough. I specifically wrote this post to get away from that sort of stuff. But to answer your question: no, Chuck was definitely not woke, which partly explains why he was so successful.

You can leave comments about this entry using this form.

Enter your name (optional):
Enter your email address (optional):
Enter the number shown here:
Enter the comment:

To add a comment: enter a name and email (optional), type the number shown, enter a comment, click Add.
Note that you can leave the name blank if you want to remain anonymous.
Enter your email address to receive notifications of replies and updates to this entry.
The comment should appear immediately because the authorisation system is currently inactive.