Puma .... here's another reason I think you're pretty damned cool.
The Mercury 7 Astronauts in front of an F-106. All pilots. Nice photo!
Regards,
Sun
Reporter:
"We're talking to Gordon Cooper. He will be the next to orbit the Earth. Since you're the last of the original seven and the least well known...could you begin by telling us who was the best pilot you ever saw?
Cooper:(laughing)
"Who is the best pilot I ever saw?
Cooper:(thoughtful)
"Who is the best pilot I ever saw? I'll tell you. I've seen a lot of them, and most of them were pictures on a wall..."
Reporter interrupts:
"Excuse me, what'd you say?
Cooper: (somber)
"I said, "pictures on a wall," ....back at some place that...doesn't even exist anymore.
Some of them are...right here in this room.
And some of them are...they're still out there somewhere,doing what they always do.
Going up each day,in a hurtling piece of machinery...putting their hides out on the line...hanging it out over the edge...pushing back the outside of that envelope and hauling it back.
But there was...one pilot I once saw who I think truly did have the right..."
Reporter interrupts:
"How close did you ever come to not hauling it back?"
Cooper (grinning):
"Who is the best pilot I ever saw?
Well, you're looking at him."