Chuck Yeager - A True Retirement Rebel

Chuck Yeager was a hero of mine, and sadly he is no longer with us having passed away in 2020 at the age of 97. Chuck was filled with what my friend Ernie Zelenski calls “swagger” and he had a ton of it.

He came out of the hills of West Virginia with only a high school education and became a fighter pilot, which is interesting considering he wasn’t a naturally gifted flier. In fact he was sick to his stomach the first time he went up in a airplane but he overcame this fear through his hard work, dedication, and passion for flying.

During the second world war he flew a P-51 Mustang and shot down five enemy planes on a single mission. He was also shot down by enemy forces over France but managed to survive the attack and get back to his base in England.

After the war he went on to become a daring test pilot and became the first pilot to break the sound barrier. As described in the book by the same name, Chuck Yeager had the “right stuff” something that is increasingly rare to find these days. We see a lot of actors play heroes on tv, but Chuck was the real deal; a true legend if there ever was one.

There are stories about Yeager buzzing his home town, flying so low that when one person took a picture they said you could see the treetops in the bottom of the picture. Legend has it that he flew under a Charlestown bridge at 450 mph on Oct 10th 1948 and I don’t doubt that he did!

I will never forget the story about when he broke the sound barrier, dispelling the long-held fear that any plane flying at or beyond the speed of sound would be torn apart by shock waves. Can you imagine doing what Chuck was thinking in the cockpit – the plane shaking like crazy all around you as you approach the speed of sound. Instead of slowing down you find the courage to speed up and suddenly the ride becomes as smooth as silk when you break through the sound barrier. How crazy and beautiful is that?

And even crazier is that the day before he was to make his attempt at breaking the sound barrier he broke two ribs crashing into a fence at night while racing with his wife on horseback. Even though he wasn’t up to full strength, Chuck wasn’t the kind of guy to let a couple of broken ribs keep him on the sidelines.

Chuck had the guts to prove the sound barrier could be broken even though some experts had their doubts at the time and thought it was physically impossible. The lesson here is that the real barrier was in people’s minds and what they thought was possible at the time.

I’ve written two articles on this subject “The Only Thing Holding You Back In Retirement Is You” and “Become A Retirement Rebel” and why retirees should refuse to be held back by their own perceived limitations. Chuck Yeager taught us that just because something (you fill in the blank) hasn’t been done yet it doesn’t mean that it can’t be done in the future. He taught us not to accept the story that we can only go so far, that we need to play safe and take it easy or we might get hurt.

Chuck Yeager lived an incredible life one filled with adventure and he lived it well right until the end. He flew for more than 60 years, including piloting an X-15 to near 1,000 mph (1,609 kph) at Edwards Air Force Base in October of 2002 at the ripe old age of 79.

I’m happy to say Chuck Yeager spent the last years of his life doing what he truly loved: flying airplanes, giving seminars to aviation groups and fly fishing for trout up in the mountains. He was a badass who will be remembered for having the courage to live large, and I will miss him!

About the author

Mike Drak is the Author of the best-selling book Victory Lap Retirement and soon to be released book, Retirement Heaven or Hell.  Along with being an Author, Mike is also an award winning blogger, retirement coach and public speaker and has made appearances on BNN, CBC Radio and iHeart radio. He is a thirty-eight year veteran of the financial services industry and lives with his wife Melina in Toronto, Canada. You can contact Mike through LinkedIn