I missed the Yeager documentary, but I've read his book and met him in person.
Yeager is an incredible pilot! He is (not was, but is) able to make a plane do exactly what he wants it to.
During some flight testing which was monitored by onboard equipment, Yeager was the only pilot able to fly sawtooth patterns repeatedly. In NATO gunnery competitions Yeager won first place. This was after half his gunns jammed.
Think about the skill involved. All the NATO countries had their best pilots and Yeager beat them all. With half the guns he was still able to put more bullets on target then the other countries best pilots.
To prove it was the pilot and not the plane, Yeager and his CO or Commanding Officer (it's been a while since I read the book, I forgot who) took up a captured MIG-15 and Sabre and fought. Yeager won. They switched planes. Again Yeager won. Yeager proved that the MIG-15 wasn't unbeatable in Korea.
Yeager attributes his life to skill, luck, and good engineers. Not bad for a barefoot kid from the hills.
By the way, when he was with the French Underground, he was living in a cat house and wiring demolitions for them since he had experience with explosives growing up on a farm.
When he escaped to Spain, his partner had a leg nearly shot off by a German patrol that almost caught them. Yeager carried the guy over the Pyrranees Mountains.
And he's still doing it. Last summer I was out at a local airfield just looking at the planes. There is an
http://www.aerodyn.org/History/Gifs/grumman-g64.jpg">Albatross that was stretched to add an additional row of seats that never seems to move. This time there were people milling about and I stopped to chat.
Seems that Yeager (annually?) flies the perimiter of Alaska. Might be (sketchy memory here) part of a tribute to Wiley Post and Will Rogers. Some of the flight was in military craft (which he wouldn't be flying if flight surgeons didn't check him out) some was in private craft such as this stretched Albatross. The owner was pulling lilly pads out of the landing gear as he was telling me how good Yeager did flying his plane.
Alaska pilots, especially old Alaska pilots, are a forthright bunch who will call a spade a spade. Routinely they are reminded that everytime you get in a plane, you are risking your life. They pull no punches. The plane owner was impressed how well the General flew his plane. I doubt that he gives undeserving compliments.
Now, if a guy can sit in a plane he's never flown before, especially a one of a kind plane and fly it to the owners satisfaction, I'd say he's got some good piloting skills.
Lastly, I don't get the Bong/Yeager war that some people have. Both are exceptional pilots.
