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Chuck Yeager passed away yesterday. He was probably the last WWII Badass that was widely known.
He was shot down over France and managed to escape to Spain with the help of the Maquis. The rules stated that he had to go home and couldn't fly again because if captured he could be tortured into revealing Maquis information, but Chuck and another pilot fought that and ended up in front of Eisenhower. Ike couldn't make the decision himself, but forwarded the request to Washington. General Marshall in turn allowed Ike discretion and he decided to let Chuck stay. Yeager had bad luck with kills but in one day was leading a flight of fighters when the lead two Germans collided (counted for Yeager) and he shot down three more to become an ace in a day. Stars and Stripes magazine put out the headline "Five Kills Vindicates Ike's Decision".
From his success in the war Chuck was offered his choice of Stateside bases and picked Patterson Field (now Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton) because it was close to his West Virginia hometown. It so happened that base was the home of the test pilots, and Chuck was selected to become the X-1 test pilot and broke the speed of sound. He eventually became a Brigadier General and served in several locations around the world.
In Pakistan his wife Glennis worked locally to provide condoms to Pakistani men - but all they had was white and that represents purity for them, so she came up with the idea of colored condoms and found out orange was the most popular color.
You can learn more about this awesome American hero from his book "Yeager" which includes his experiences with aircraft and all of the fighter pilot hell-raising as well.
He was shot down over France and managed to escape to Spain with the help of the Maquis. The rules stated that he had to go home and couldn't fly again because if captured he could be tortured into revealing Maquis information, but Chuck and another pilot fought that and ended up in front of Eisenhower. Ike couldn't make the decision himself, but forwarded the request to Washington. General Marshall in turn allowed Ike discretion and he decided to let Chuck stay. Yeager had bad luck with kills but in one day was leading a flight of fighters when the lead two Germans collided (counted for Yeager) and he shot down three more to become an ace in a day. Stars and Stripes magazine put out the headline "Five Kills Vindicates Ike's Decision".
From his success in the war Chuck was offered his choice of Stateside bases and picked Patterson Field (now Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton) because it was close to his West Virginia hometown. It so happened that base was the home of the test pilots, and Chuck was selected to become the X-1 test pilot and broke the speed of sound. He eventually became a Brigadier General and served in several locations around the world.
In Pakistan his wife Glennis worked locally to provide condoms to Pakistani men - but all they had was white and that represents purity for them, so she came up with the idea of colored condoms and found out orange was the most popular color.
You can learn more about this awesome American hero from his book "Yeager" which includes his experiences with aircraft and all of the fighter pilot hell-raising as well.
