[Steely Tom]

Yeager was not selected by NASA because he did not have a college degree.

According to The Right Stuff, there were a lot of test pilots who had zero interest in NASA because they wanted to fly, not just be "spam in a can." Perhaps that was sour grapes, I don't know.

Neil Armstrong was chosen to be spacecraft commander for Apollo 11 in part because he demonstrated a remarkable talent for understanding man-in-the-loop servo systems; this understanding was both theoretical and practical. His master's thesis at USC was on closed-loop and man-in-the-loop systems, and he showed an almost incredible hands-on skill level when he de-spun the Gemini 8 capsule after its digital attitude control system pushed it up to nearly one revolution per second due to faulty software.

Neil Armstrong disabled the automatic system, took control by hand of the thrusters, brought the capsule to a stable configuration, and saved enough maneuvering fuel to effect a safe landing.

It's as though he had perfect pitch for servo control systems. That's why they put him at the controls of the LM for the first landing on the moon.

I don't think Chuck Yeager ever had much interest in that sort of thing. He just loved to fly airplanes, and was incredibly good at it, even though he didn't have a college education.

[tet68]

he showed an almost incredible hands-on skill level when he de-spun the Gemini 8 capsule after its digital attitude control system pushed it up to nearly one revolution per second due to faulty software.

I remember reading about that, the sun was flashing past
the cockpit window sixty times a minute.
Talk about disorienting!

[Ace's Dad]

Yeager was not selected by NASA because he did not have a college degree. According to "The Right Stuff," there were a lot of test pilots who had zero interest in NASA because they wanted to fly, not just be "spam in a can." Perhaps that was sour grapes, I don't know.

I'm glad you wrote that last observation. General Yeager also reportedly had an abrasive personality. As do many in aviation (including this writer).

Neil Armstrong, along with Bob Hoover, is regarded as one of the very best "engineering test pilots." He may have been the best pilot with the best education, ever. That's not just my opinion.

[Tenacious 1]

I recall the movie “The Right Stuff” being regarded as pretty accurate at the time. I don’t know for sure, but it did depict the test pilots and astronauts as pretty arrogant (highly confident) egocentric throttle jockeys.

I know a couple of fighter pilots today and believe that... not much has changed. I expect it takes a certain level of crazy mixed with some coordination, intellect and confidence to be good at it.

[rlmorel]

They were both good men. I have always admired both of them.

I was able to see Neil Armstrong speak at Oshkosh for the 25th Anniversary of the moon landings when I was there in 1994, and they had the following astronauts there:

• Wally Schirra
• Walter Cunningham
• Frank Borman
• Jim Lovell
• Bill Anders
• Jim McDivitt
• Gene Cernan
• Neil Armstrong
• Mike Collins
• Buzz Aldrin
• Pete Conrad
• Dick Gordon
• Stu Roosa
• Al Worden
• Charlie Duke

It was bloody awesome! They had it in the outdoor pavilion, on a warm summer night, and they just had no format and went round-table and told stories! (The ones about Frank Borman's "gas problem" in Gemini really hit my funny bone!)

But the part of that really made it wonderful was, as we listened in the growing darkness in that open-sided pavilion near the runway right after the sun went down, a huge roar rose up...as we all in unison turned to look, a Concorde took off in full afterburner, sharp cones of blue flame exiting the back of each engine!

En masse, the entire audience turned and looked back to the runway right in the middle of one of the astronauts on stage who was spinning a yarn.

I can't remember which astronaut it was, but I recall him saying "Go ahead! Turn around and look! All of us up here on the stage are looking too!"

These men, who had all flown in space, and had a gazillion hours flying all kinds of aircraft including the hottest kind, were at heart, just like us...aviation enthusiasts whose hearts still, even after all they had seen and done, beat just a little quicker at the sight of four meaty flame-thrusting, ear-splitting jet engines!

If you have ever seen the movie "Master and Commander" there is the following dialogue spoken by Russell Crowe (Captain Jack Aubrey) as he recounts the two times in his life he had spoken to Admiral Nelson:

---

CAPTAIN JACK AUBREY: "..The second time he told me a story about how someone offered him a boat cloak on a cold night.

And he said no, he didn't need it, that he was quite warm. His zeal for king and country kept him warm.

I know it sounds absurd, and were it from another man, you'd cry out "Oh, what pitiful stuff" and dismiss it as mere enthusiasm.

But with Nelson…you felt your heart glow..."

---

As the character in the movie said...it sounds corny, and "pitiful stuff" but...in a way, it did make my heart glow.

I felt that I had something very fundamental in common with those great men up on that stage, and sure, it was a degree of hero worship, but...I am not ashamed of it...:)

My buddy and I had the opportunity to try to converse with Gen. Yeager as we stood waiting for something, but...it was obvious he wasn't interested in chatting. A couple of brief attempts where he looked away with just a grunt, and we understood and left it at that. I thought at the time he was cold and rude, but over the years, I have come to understand that in his life as a celebrity (not something he deliberately sought out or liked) he simply didnt want to talk to people. He wasn't being a deliberate jerk. I accept he just wanted his privacy.

Now, speaking to Bob Hoover...that was a man who enjoyed shooting the breeze! We spent about 15 min with him, and was he ever an affable gentleman!