Yeager, An Autobiography.

London: Century, 1985). First Edition. Octavo, blue boards (hardcover), silver letters, 342 pp. Fine in a Near Fine dust jacket. From dust jacket: ‘The fastest man in the sky... a solid gold hero... the stuff of legend.’ Chuck Yeager has been described as all these things and more. A double-ace fighter pilot in the Second World War, the first man to break the sound barrier, the most daring and courageous test pilot, whose exploits inspired The Right Stuff, and the most colourful character ever to rise to the rank of US brigadier general. Chuck Yeager’s story is truly the stuff that dreams are made of. Fascinated by planes ever since he can remember, Yeager went straight from school to the US Air Force where, despite frequent brushes with the authorities for his hell-raising exploits, he quickly earned a reputation as one of the most skilled and fearless pilots. Within months of the USA entering the war, Yeager had scored no fewer than eleven Messerschmitts in one flight, and had a remarkable escape with the help of the French Resistance after he was shot down over occupied France. In 1947 Yeager, already famous, went on to become the first man to break the sound barrier in the super-secret Bell X-1 -- even though he had cracked ribs from a riding accident a few days before. He never looked back; his career as number one test pilot was an integral part of the supersonic era -- and littered with extraordinary narrow escapes, though his courage and feel for aeroplanes never let him down. It was a life where pilots either set new records or drilled a hole in the desert. And the tension of such endless strain could sometimes only be relieved with all-night drinking sessions at Pancho Barnes’ -- the Madame with the raunchiest bar room in the West and a great friend of Yeager’s. After he left Edwards Air Force Base in 1954 Chuck Yáger went on setting new standards of excellence, whether commanding a fighter squadron in Europe, flying tactical bombers in Southeast Asia, or supervising military defense in the Pakistan-India War. Yeager is the story of an extraordinary life, told to Leo Janos in the man’s own inimitable ‘ho-holds-barred’ style. Throughout, Yeager’s knowledge and love of planes shines through, as does his great love for Glennis, his wife. And it is through her eyes, as well as through the eyes of friends and colleagues that we come to know Yeager the man: literally a legend in his lifetime.