Chuck Yeager was a great pilot, but lack of formal education was his downfall?

Question

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071011/sc_afp/usspaceaviationhistory_071011080106

Little known to Chuck at the time, he was selected for this flight because of all the potential pilots. he was the one deemed "expendable" by the Govt. He also had a very bad attitude about engineers(which he was not, and thus not selected to be an astronaut), and had a cowboy mentality not unlike someone living in the Whitehouse.

And that stuff he mentions about opening up Space? The Germans were doing that stuff a LONG time before he came into the picture...

He was a member of the Rogers Commission investigating the cause of Space Shuttle Challenger...he showed up for the press conference, and 6 months later signed off on stuff of which he did no work or knowledge of.

Answer 1

What's this all about. Have you got a hard on for Yeager, because you sure sound like someone who has an ax to grind ? Chuck Yeager was flying experimental aircraft for the US long before many of today's Americans were ever born.

He flew them and he crashed them. He was forced to bail out on a number of occasions, yet he came back for more.

In the truest sense Chuck Yeager was an unsung American hero. Gee, Chuck wasn't an engineer, well how about that. I don't recall too many engineers volunteering to do the job that Yeager did, and he without an engineering degree. Why that's down right sinful !

Answer 2

No amount of formal education can make you what he became.Most of it is instinct and the careful evolution of it.You ether have it or you don t.He has flown every aircraft type since the second world war two.Yes he was a Maverick,but that's what made him special.He would take risk,others were not able to do.He would push an aircraft to its limits in testing and in combat.
The first astronauts were just along for the ride.They had little or no control over the craft they were in.He wanted no part of any of that.His contributions to aviation out way anything any astronaut has done so far.Air speed ,control and design of modern aircraft all came from men like him. THE TEST PILOTS

Answer 3

well..(see me stand up my collar)..I met Chuck Yeager and shook his hand. The story goes like this. In the movie, The Right Stuff, the F104 that Yeagar lost control of (also real life), caused some bad burns to his face. When a friend (Kavorkian) of my college teacher went to Edwards to visit with his friend (McMurcry (sp?), Mc was the one who flew for the first time the 747 with the space shuttle on it's back), Mc ask K to come to the base hospital to visit a friend (Yeager) who had been hurt/burned. They became friends and K later took my school airplane teacher to Edwards and introduced him to Y. My teacher told us during school that Yeagar was going to do a flyby at a particular hour..Yeagar nearly blew out all the windows in the school (1976). He was flying a Nasa F-104 (he was nearing retirement and acting as a consultant by then?). When I later was with the Air National Guard in Fresno, I got to gas up his plane, another -104, I think the tail number was 801 or 804. In the movie, the old man at Pancho's Bar is Yeagar playing the part of an old miner. Read his book, "Yeagar", and "The Right Stuff", great reading, makes you proud to be an American. All the great pilots are mentioned. I think Crossfield was just recently killed this year while flying. he was in his 80's. I also saw Yeager's picture in a restaurant called the Frankwood Inn in Reedley, CA where he was arm in arm with Viktor Belenko (Balenko?), the Russian who stole the MIG 25. (B wrote a book called "MIG Pilot" The restaurant has since changed owners and the pic is gone. But, I think you can get in contact with the former owner and ask to see the pic. Call the Reedley College Aeronautics Dept and ask to be put in contact with the teachers who were there in '76, most still live in town.

Answer 4

The only addition to what TheDude said that I can add is that I thought he turned down NASA. He saw the first Mercury Capsule and saw that it was not an aircraft and said NO. He was and is still the greatest test pilot there ever was. He was the first man to cross the sound barrier, which at the time was considered impossible. You give General Yeager something impossible to do and he would accomplish it.

Answer 5

I see no part of his career in aviation as a downfall. He was the first to fly faster than sound and retired a General. Not too bad for someone without much education, I'd say.

By the way, when "The Dude" gives an answer, he gives an ANSWER. I can't top that.

Answer 6

Downfall? What the hell do you mean downfall?

He was one of the greatest combat pilots of all time AND he retired a general officer.

What downfall? Where did his lack of formal education fail him? Because he didn't become some pencil pushing prick at the pentagon? Not everyone considers that an 'uplift'.

And all soldiers are expendable. No exceptions.

Answer 7

Yeager's "downfall" wasn't that he didn't have formal education; it was that he didn't play the political games. He shared his opinion, spoke his mind, and stood up for what he deamed was right, regardless of the situation. Read his book "Yeager" and it shows on almost every page.

Answer 8

And if I ever meet him I will address him as General Yeager!!

Post as note here when you make PFC.

SSG US Army 73-82

Answer 9

Education-noooooo

Lack of political skill and how to smooze...YES

Answer 10

and so.....just look at his accoplishments even with a lack of formal education, couldnt happen now the phd's have the stick shoved so far up there behind that they cant even walk

im not saying stay out of school because education opens oppertunitys that wouldnt be there but there are other ways

• Albert Einstein: Nobel Prize-winning physicist; "Time" magazine's "Man of the Century" (20th century) (after dropping out of high school, he studied on his own and passed the entrance exam on his second try to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)

• John D. Rockefeller Sr.: Self-made billionaire American businessman-philanthropist; co-founder of "The Standard Oil Company;" history's first recorded billionaire (dropped out of high school two months before graduation; took business courses for ten weeks at Folsom Mercantile College [a chain business school])

• Henry Ford: Self-made multimillionaire American businessman; assembly-line auto manufacturing pioneer; founder of the "Ford Motor Company"

• Walt Disney: Oscar-winning American film/TV producer; animation and theme park pioneer; self-made multimillionaire founder and spokesperson of "The Walt Disney Studios/Company; "Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient; Congressional Gold Medal recipient; French Legion of Honor admittee/Medal recipient (received honorary high-school diploma from hometown high school at age 58)

• Abraham Lincoln: 16th President of the United States; (little formal education - Lincoln himself estimated approximately one year; home schooling/life experience; later earned a law degree through self study of books that he borrowed from friends)

• Carl Sandburg: Pulitzer Prize-winning American author (little formal education; later passed entrance exam to Lombard College and graduated)

• Diana, Princess of Wales

• George Burns: Oscar-winning actor/comedian (elementary school dropout)

• Dave Thomas: Self-made multimillionaire American businessman; founder-spokesperson of the "Wendy's" fast-food restaurant chain (equivalency diploma)

• Martin Van Buren: 8th President of the United States (little formal education; began studying law at age 14 while an apprentice at a law firm, later became a lawyer)

• Andrew Carnegie: Self-made multimillionaire American businessman and philanthropist (elementary school dropout)

• John Chancellor: American television journalist; evening news anchorman

• "Colonel" Harlan Sanders: Self-made multimillionaire American businessman; founder-spokesperson of the "Kentucky Fried Chicken/KFC" fast-food restaurant chain (elementary school dropout; later earned a correspondence course law degree)

• Samuel L. Clemens ("Mark Twain"): Best-selling American author and humorist (elementary school dropout)

• Christopher Columbus: Italian explorer (little formal education; home schooling/life experience; went to sea in his youth)

• Davy Crockett: Early American frontiersman; U.S. Congressman (Tennessee Representative); died at the battle of the Alamo (little formal education - less than six months; home schooling/life experience)

• Charles Dickens: Best-selling British author (elementary school dropout)

• Joe DiMaggio: National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee; Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient

• Sir Francis Drake: British explorer; knighted in the United Kingdom (little formal education; home schooling/life experience; went to sea in his youth)

• George Eastman: Self-made multimillionaire American inventor; founder of the "Kodak" roll film camera, corporation, and chemical company

• Thomas Edison: Self-made multimillionaire, most famous and productive inventor of all time; invented the filament electric light bulb, phonograph, and motion picture camera; electrical power usage pioneer; Congressional Gold Medal recipient; knighted (France: bestowed the rank of Chevalier, (had no formal education - home schooled)

• Benjamin Franklin: American politician - diplomat - author - printer - publisher-scientist - inventor; co-author and co-signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence; one of the founders of The United States of America; face is pictured on the U.S. one-hundred dollar bill (little formal education [less than two years]; home schooling/life experience)

• Clark Gable: Oscar-winning actor

• George Gershwin: Oscar-nominated and most celebrated American songwriter-and classical composer; Congressional Gold Medal recipient

• Amadeo Peter Giannini: American-born founder of "Bank of America"

• Cary Grant: Oscar-winning actor

• W.T.Grant: Self-made multimillionaire American businessman; founder of the "W.T. Grant Company" department store chain

• H.L. Hunt: Self-made billionaire American oil industrialist (elementary school dropout)

• John Huston: Oscar-winning American film director-actor (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Maltese Falcon, The African Queen, etc.)

• Elton John: Oscar-winning songwriter-singer; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee; knighted by the United Kingdom

• Andrew Jackson: 7th President of the United States (no formal education; home schooling/life experience)

• John Paul Jones: Scottish-born American Revolutionary War U.S. navy commander; famous quote: "I have not yet begun to fight." (little formal education; home schooling/life experience; went to sea in his youth)

• Henry J. Kaiser: Self-made multimillionaire American businessman; founder of "Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation," "Kaiser Steel," etc.

• Kirk Kerkorian: Self-made billionaire American businessman

• Ray Kroc: Self-made billionaire American businessman; founder of the "McDonald's" fast-food restaurant chain

• Jerry Lewis: Actor-comedian-singer-entertainer-humanitarian; knighted (France: Chevalier [or Chev.] Jerry Lewis)

• John Major: British Prime Minister 1990-1997

• William Shakespeare: British playwright; best-selling British author

• George Bernard Shaw: Nobel Prize-winning Irish-born British playwright; best-selling author

• Frank Sinatra: Oscar-winning actor-singer; Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient; Congressional Gold Medal recipient

• John Philip Sousa: American composer-conductor (elementary school dropout)

• Zachary Taylor: 12th President of the United States (little formal education; home schooling/life experience)


• George Washington: 1st President of the United States; former general; Chairman of the Constitutional Convention; U.S. nickname: "The Father of Our Country"; face is pictured on the U.S. one dollar bill and twenty-five cent coin (quarter) (no formal education; home schooling/life experience; went to sea in his youth)
• William Faulkner: Nobel Prize-winning and Pulitzer Prize-winning American author; screenwriter (dropped out of high school in second year; later attended University of Mississippi but did not graduate)

• Herman Melville: Best-selling American author and writer of Moby Dick, arguably the greatest novel of all time.

• Liza Minnelli: Oscar-winning actress-singer

• Robert Mitchum: Oscar-nominated actor
• Claude Monet: French painter (elementary school dropout)

• David H. Murdock: Self-made billionaire American businessman

• Florence Nightingale: History's most notable nurse; best-selling Italian-born British nursing book author (no formal education; home schooling/life experience)

• Thomas Paine: American Revolutionary War era political theorist; best-selling British-born American author; famous quote: "These are the times that try men's souls." (little formal education; home schooling/life experience)

• Millard Fillmore: 13th President of the United States (little formal education - six months; home schooling/life experience; studied law while serving as a legal clerk with a judge and law firm; later became a lawyer)

• Will Rogers: American author-humorist-lecturer-actor-entertainer; famous quote: "I never met a man I didn't like."

• Frederick Henry Royce: Self-made multimillionaire British businessman; co-founder-designer of the "Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Company"; knighted (United Kingdom: Sir Frederick Henry Royce) (elementary school dropout)

• Edmond Safra: Lebanese-born billionaire banker-philanthropist

• David Sarnoff: Russian-born American radio and television pioneer; given the title "Father of American Television" by the Television Broadcasters Association

• William Saroyan: Oscar-winning screenwriter; Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright

• Vidal Sassoon: Self-made multimillionaire British businessman; founder of "Vidal Sassoon" hairstyling salons, academies, and hair-care products

• Walt Whitman: Best-selling American poet (elementary school dropout)

• Orville & Wilbur Wright: Aviation pioneers; Congressional Gold Medal recipients

• Grover Cleveland: 22nd and 24th President of the United States; face is pictured on the one-thousand dollar bill, which is no longer printed; (dropped out of school to help family earn income; studied law while serving as a clerk at a law firm, later became a lawyer)

• Irving Berlin: Oscar-winning American songwriter-composer; film story writer; Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient; Congressional Gold Medal recipient

Ultimately, what distinguishes the aforementioned individuals from the rest of us is their passion for learning that transcends the structured environment of the classroom. Instead of limiting their education to formal schooling, they were curious about the world around them. With their fearless spirit of exploration and their desire to experiment, these individuals discovered their true passions and strengths, which they built upon to achieve success later in life.