Interview with Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager, part 1

Mike Youngren of West Virginia Public Broadcasting interviews Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager. This interview aired Oct. 19, 2006, on the program "Outlook."

[@sharlottewoods2451]

My dad was a close friend of chuck Yeager they had a special lunch in a fancy restaurant the pictures are still in that place he was a great man and so was my dad. Love them both......

[@xxironballzxx]

his daughter was my teacher in high school and she was awesome too!

[@MORCOPOLO0817]

I went to school with one of his daughters. He lived across the street from me when I was a kid.

[@BeagJohn]

Chuck Yeager's the best pilot I've ever seen. Except when I shave.

[@marvelmax03191]

One of my favorite aviators of all time!

[@mrzeegrr]

THIS is a man West Virginia can be proud of.

[@galoon]

Yeager is pulling some taffy with us on Gabby Gabreski. Gabreski shot down 28 German planes in the air and destroyed three more on the ground. So his air-to-air score really is 28, compared to Yeager's 13 1/2. And Gabreski did that in the P-47--Yeager had the P-51; the better plane. Gabreski was more personable, too--always graciously signed autographs. Unlike a certain pilot here, he never used the F-word when a kid made this request. Humble heroes are more respected than one might think.

[@devildog3575]

So pretty much you watched a documentary on Gabby Gabreski. Yeager was true pilot

[@galoon]

@@devildog3575 Yeager was a true pilot--I'm not disputing that. My point is that he's out of line in belittling his fellow pilots.

[@t74guard78]

@@devildog3575 So was Gabreski a true pilot. Galoon was wrong, Yeager had 11.5 kills not 13.5. Gabreski also added 6.5 kills flying jets in Korea. His 34.5 kills made him the highest scoring living ace for half of century.

[@susanarnold2062]

That arrogance and swagger is part of a personality that made him push the envelope a true fighter pilot indeed

[@matthewmtt]

These guys were amazing.

[@jimmyhendrix87]

BEST BIOGRAPHY!! better then any novel!

[@LaidBack771]

Brave God Men. My Honour

[@avermillion]

This man is not a hero......he is a SUPER-hero!

[@hunterhalo2]

"And I survived, that's the main thing" haha

[@EdDeCosta]

Who puts a thumbs down on a Chuck Yeager video? Seek help.

[@Buelligan88]

For everyone who doesn't like Yeager because of his ego or attitude, he wouldn't be the man he is unless he was the man he was.

[@chriskaldunski8152]

LordMick Roach tell us about your accomplishments.

[@seanixt]

He sounds arrogant or pisses a lot of people because he's actually very smart. Grew up with nothing and had to teach himself... He certainly doesn't have patience for BS. (I'm sure most of us will find General Patton to be an arrogant bastard... But he's one of the greatest Generals the US ever.)

[@serfrazbugtti5599]

In 1965 this brave man fought for Pakistan against India ...

[@markli3889]

Goddam legend RIP Chuck

[@kirbycole4230]

It's how he was raised. In those states WV, TN, and North GA ect.. me and my family were raised differently. My Uncle is tough on me because that's how he shows his care and compassion for me and my family. People in the city would not understand how mountain folk were raised. We were raised differently with more tough parents because we were taught to be self-sufficient. He can say what he wants about others. He himself was shot down behind enemy lines and evaded capture for 4 months.

[@holywells]

Actually, "maxpower1870", you will notice that in my comment all of the references about the twin engine routines, etc., were made after the mention of Mr. Hoover's name. This, of course, would imply that the points were directed toward him. Thanks for your reply and your time. Good luck.

[@StanleyKu]

What an awesome guy. Harsh sense of humor!

[@johnholemanjr3738]

When the General discusses the past, I gain a better perspective on World History.

[@mastersniper13]

im doing a report on chuck yeager for school. fantastic man

[@MrCwaigo]

No body can touch him, He is the best pilot period!!!

[@cZULUs91]

@KevinFL agreed. i just finished his autobiography and it was a great story..

[@mossmusic8370]

@renotsttam I found that pretty sad that he digs at Gabby also... Never heard Gabby said anything bad about Yeager... He doesn't seem to like modern technology either..

[@OverlandOne]

This man is the greatest pilot that ever flew. Bill

[@Dog25Freak]

@GriffithAMPS In 2004 Congress passed a bill promoting him to "Major General" on the retired list

[@maxpower1870]

Sorry Holywells did not read your post correct. I think both Yeager and Hoover are legends, I would love to have even half there skill's

[@RonnyUniverse]

just a correction: Yeager was made a Major General by George W. Bush, so he is not a brigadier general any more

[@antonyvt]

yes right.

[@jaykay6387]

General Yeager can more than back up the stuff he says, but it doesn't mean he's always right, either, he's still just a man. I'm sure there is more to the "backstory" with Gabreski, they were both at Wright field around the same time and I'm sure they butted heads about things that civilians will never know about. If I were to take a wild guess, I would venture that Gabreski wasn't all that pleased that Yeager got to fly the X-1, not that that would make him unique. Yeager was a relatively junior test pilot on the pecking order when selected, and no doubt there were more than a few who were furious that he was selected for that slot.

[@20gilbert20]

I suppose it i human nature to always compare things, in order to find the "best." For myself, it is enough to have an appreciation of excellence. Period. The judging of "who's best" is always subjective anyway. Furthermore it is necessarily just an opinion, since quantifiers of excellence have so much variation. I completely respect the piloting skills of Gen. Yeager, and his keen eyesight which helped him be a remarkable shooter. I also respect many many others, including the astronauts. I can only hope that some of you will agree.

[@RudeRaptor]

Hahha Chuck !! Great Man , Great Pilot !!

[@dushunalston1761]

That's Gen. Yeager to you

[@Raywollesenfortes]

Flyboy par excellance!

[@DancingAllison]

Yes actually, it did help a little bit. I used a quote or something in the report.

[@kdraper2007]

in yeager's autobiography he relates a story involving Him, Neil Armstrong, A T-33, & A soggy lake bed Armstrong was sure was dry.

[@maxpower1870]

I think you are thinking of Bob Hoover doing the stoped engine aerobatics. But Chuck Yeager is the best stick and rudder man in the world

[@DEP717]

Chuck yeager is right about the shooting skills. They used to use clay pigeons and shotguns to train bomber gunners on that. Deflection shooting. It still builds reflexes and responsibility.

[@ervingoertzen7233]

Misprint , right time and right place . Don’t know how spell check got that

[@galoon]

Correction--Yeager's score was 11 1/2.

[@maxfrankow1238]

Still the man!

[@bigglesflysagain1749]

I approve of Gary Tarr's comments below !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@TheRealOriginalDiegoM]

@tori231994 the X-1 was dropped from a B-29...you don't "take an airplane or whaever that rocket thing was called" and take off....

[@kdraper2007]

Yes he did, he also shot down 5 german fighters in one mission, which was an unheard of feat at the time.

[@machalot]

I think you mean a power-law distribution. He's not talking about the middle 11%.

[@pml08usaf]

You mean he's large and powerful, right?

[@DancingAllison]

i'm doing a report on him right now!

[@66mustangdriver]

beenthere1run, how many kills do you have? This man is a hero, he did things that no one else had the balls to do. If Slick was alive we could ask him why he didn't break the barrier first, oh that's right he wanted 150,000 to do it. Get a life, the man has been there and done that.

[@kowhort]

America has always had good pilots. If not Yeager it would have been someone else and Yeager knew it. That's why he flew the X-1 with busted ribs. He knew someone else was in standing in line to do it so he risk the X-1 for his own ego and got away with it. He should have been grounded and he knows it. For a test pilot to keep an injury like that to himself and risk the whole mission suggests a really big ego. Had that flight failed the X-1 program most likely would have been shut down. And then there is the NF-104 crash.

[@ervingoertzen7233]

No doubt he was in the right place at the right I enjoyed. But. Taking a pilot like Gabby who did shoot down more aircraft, he really puts himself up higher. I don’t think a Gabby was shot down, but wasn’t Yeager shot down and have to make his way via the Underground French back to England?

[@bigglesflysagain1749]

..."hunted with Doolittle after the war"....hunted , in Doolittle's case, with Yeager probably, meant BIG "GAME" in Africa......the top 5 was what Doolittle said he was so happy to have "Bagged"....shame on him....

[@muggsbow4523]

Yeager didn't let the interviewer speak

[@kentl7228]

Unless he has a good unsaid reason, his comments about Gabreski were a little sad. I wonder what would he say about the likes of Eric Hartman etc, with their huge tallies of victim... Or his opinion of George Welch who very probably broke the sound barrier two weeks before Yeager did.

[@AviatorJohn70]

Never understood why he puts every other pilot down. I respect Chuck, but get over yourself already. I'll take Gabby or Neil Armstrong any day.

[@rexiiforsure9558]

I suppose the current generation of marshmallows wouldn’t be able to be effective with older equipment. Well maybe 70 or 80% would if the situation warranted... that’s what I and others believe

[@xm612]

Yeager has no right to disrespect "Gabby" Gabreski, who was officially credited by the USAAF with 28 aerial victories and 3 enemy aircraft destroyed on the ground, the ETO record.

[@joequinones5246]

When and how did he lie about Neil?

[@joequinones5246]

Nice to know you live in cyberspace for the sole purpose to damage someone who apparently slighted you. Be advised…not working. People all over the world respect Gen. Yeager. Your trolling sounds petty and irrelevant (Perhaps because it really is) and the overwhelmingly majority of people around our cyberworld can recognize it.

[@20gilbert20]

+Joe Quinones Thank you for being a thinking person.

[@EddieSchrapnel]

+Joe Quinones Be advised - People all over the world respect an ignorant blowhard. Yeager betrays both his ignorance and self-promoting egotism with a single comment. Gabby (28) more than doubled Yeager's (11½) aerial victories. Those are the USAF's official figures...not Gabreski's. If Hootnanny Yeager has a dispute, it's with the branch of the US Armed Forces with which he served. Yeah, he seems pretty pleased with himself, but only be belittling other's accomplishments. What an infant~! Somebody change his diaper -QUICK- before he takes credit for raising the Gold Standard with his own feces.

[@kowhort]

Yeah, well said! Yeager is a perfect human being with absolutely no flaws in his character except maybe the clannish nature of a West Virginian who formed his relationships along those lines. His record not withstanding it did surprise me to hear him diss Grabreski who had 28 A2A kills and 3 on the ground. Not exactly "half on the ground" as Yeager said. It should be noted that pilots flying ground attack strafing runs did not have an easy time of it and arguably that job is probably tougher than a fighter pilot. And all those men who flew those ground missions had few opportunities for A2A combat. I think it's disgraceful and arrogant for Yeager to disrespect the mission of those men who flew through flak and ground fire to deliver the goods.

[@WarblesOnALot]

@WVPublicBroadcasting Att. Mike Youngren. You want to see if a Hillbilly is able to make NASA take a backseat... Go search 'solar thermal ramjet' & grin y'self silly. It was only a 5th-order Design-priority, but I couldn't resist doing it. And, it does useful work, with the miniscule thrust ! Chuck was inspiring 2me as a kid. My 1st aeroplane hangs in Inverell T'sport Museum, I was 3rd owner, but it was 1st Legal Minimum Aircraft in 1976, 8Hp, 2-Axis, Single Surface Wings. Ciao.

[@christianmalmgren]

Reading your negative comments on Yeager is really apalling... I dunno how comfortable you guys sit on your porch because of men like him. Every man who's been in combat deserves the right to be cocky in my book. They've earned it. And amongst aces there are no second best. Sure enough Ira Bong scored 40, "pappy & "gabby" both 28 ( yeah i know... he scored another 6.5 in Korea.) Thing is... they all, without exeption just did what they did best.... Honor these men.

[@littletootpilot]

yes, he shot down me 262s with a p 51

[@antonyvt]

yeah he was jealous,of the nasa boys,when anders tryed to apply to the arps and chuck did not think he was good enough he rejected him,then anders was pick for nasa,he tryed to stop it.

[@holywells]

Yeah, Chuck is a fantastic pilot, but he is only one of the two best pilots that ever flew. His ol' partner Bob Hoover is the other one. Hoover has to be, hands down, the greatest airshow pilot that ever lived. His abilities in various types of aircraft are unmatched to this day. No one---I MEAN NO ONE--has ever duplicated his routine of doing aerobatics in a twin engine business aircraft with both engines shut down !!!! His videos are here on KZbin. Enjoy them.

[@badweetabix]

A very good interview with a slightly younger Chuck Yeager from 15 years previous to this video is the one by American Academy of Achievement here - kzbin.info/www/bejne/gmiQf5Jrf8ipmqc

[@MajSolo]

@DiegoMenendez Ofcourse you could take off from the ground. F-15s have been doing that for several decades :D and flying faster than the X-1 :D aaah just meesing with u. But never take for granted all these aircraft HAVE to be launced from bombers. But if you are trying to break records I can see that you might like to skip the take off and the climb to altitude.

[@KBKriechbaum]

* cough * Marseille * cough * Rudel * cough cough * Galland .... Sorry.

[@person-ct7ti]

He might be pretty arrogant and rude but as someone who is half British half Indian (two countries who he has pissed off) I give him the due respect for what he has achieved. He's done some amazing things and is an amazing human being. I just wish that his views were different and that he did some things for better reasons (attempting to help PAKISTAN win a war is not something America should be proud of, and he played a big part in training the Pakistani pilots) also I don't appreciate his comments on the English, I have ancestors who were British war heroes in both wars and although we might have lost the wars without Americas help, I can't deny that his disrespectful comments were hurtful. But putting his views aside, he's one of the greatest pilots ever, a war hero who was a double ace including one me262 destroyed and one of the greatest pioneers in aviation history, the first man to break mach 1 and 2. I would say that he has earned the right to be a grumpy old man and to be rude to anyone he damn well chooses. My opinion on him Is very conflicted

[@MajSolo]

@allanmajestic he he he, record breaking, sliming down everything, you know the Russians sand blasted off all the paint on one of their record breaking Suu-27s names P... someething the X-1 seemed to have had paint on it ;) yeah, skip the take off and skip the ... oh sorry, yeah I said that USA didn't skip the paint. Anyways, recordbreaking experimental aircraft always do things differently :D

[@Bran247]

I never really liked him, he is full of himself. He really showed it by bad mouthing Gabby. Too bad he wasn't in that P-80 instead of Dick Bong.

[@16vr6]

Sorry Chucky Boy, you've fooled many in your time, but not me.

[@USAIRFORCE621]

The greatest officer the United States Air Force has ever had and known!

[@josielyn0]

Tori I don't think he is a digrasce to our family :-(

[@garymorton851]

Not bad for a Wv Hillbilly!

[@MrMatthewwylie]

I believe shot down 2 when he was above them hidden in cloud . No p51 could ever touch a 262 in a fair dogfight , sadly

[@LuisSoto-ho5fw]

A "fair fight" is not what makes successful fighter pilots. The object of the game is tantamount to sticking a knife in someone's back, preferably with the "victim" none the wiser.

[@mossmusic8370]

Awesome! If he hadn't been accepted into fighter training.... We would never have broke the sound barrier! LOL just kidding, but he was just awesome! RIP, gods speed and a good tailwind.

[@MORCOPOLO0817]

RIP? He is still alive.

[@davefox8948]

There are Old Pilots and Bold Pilots. But there are Few, Old, Bold Pilots. When they made Yeager, they broke the mold.

[@MegaLola48]

chuck was shot down unfourtanetly by a german

[@LuisSoto-ho5fw]

Pretty hard for him to get shot down by anything other than a German, given that the aircraft he was fighting were flown by Germans, over Germany...

[@walterlarue1307]

Yeager advanced aviation, he had the balls to get up and do it, he spent his time looking up..he wasnt like you flunkies that spend time looking down..Yeager saw that time and chance happed to them all.. You get it ? You loud mouth son of a bitches cant appreciate shit.. What the hell is good to you loud mouth flunkies ? you flunkies cant carry your own personal shit without lashing out at something good , you want everybody to kiss your ass...

[@raymoore8162]

This Guy sounds like Hes trying to make Mr. Yeager look bad!...Pos

[@Rotorhead99]

Fighter pilots by definition are arrogant and self promoting, thats how they get to be fighter pilots. It's not a job to think you are not the best, you must believe you are the best. I've known and flown with a few - I fly helicopters - but without exception they think they are number one and maybe they are. Be thankful they are batting for your side, otherwise you might have to step up and be counted yourself. I can fly a helicopter but I'm not sure I'd fight a P47 in combat. Yeager did and came out on top every time. When you can do that and make General, then I might take your opinion seriously, most of you can't even fly.