Back in the day, we wanted to be fighter pilots, piloting jets past the speed of sound but alas, we paid attention to Sarah Anne Sanders (totally made up name btw, don't want to dime out the real girl we had a crush on, she's still single) in math class instead and our hopes to be brave dashing fighter pilots were sunk just like our attempt to go to homecoming with her. One man, however, was able to persevere (despite...hardship) and become all that we wished and then some. Chuck Yeager, fighter pilot, test pilot, badass. He checked all of those boxes.Born Charles Elwood Yeager, Chuck Yeager enlisted into the US Army in September of 1941, where he served as an aircraft mechanic. But as fate would have it, some assholes decided to be assholes and bomb us in December of 1941, jerks.A year after he enlisted and because of his visual acuity, Chuck Yeager would enter pilot training. He would soon ship overseas and fly his P-51 Mustang, Glamourous Glen in 8 missions, scoring one kill before he got shot down. Great job, CHUCK! But luckily Yeager escaped capture and made it back to England, where he was prohibited from flying, due to a regulation preventing downed pilots from flying over enemy territory.

Except, Yeager, being convincing as ever, pleaded his case before Dwight D. Eisenhower himself and was eventually reinstated to fly. During the coming months, Yeager would prove that Eisenhower's decision was not in vain. Chuck racked up ten and a half more kills including five in one day. Also, Chuck Yeager was one of the first pilots to drop a jet fighter in air to air combat (in a P-51 no less). The German Messerschmitt Me 262 met his unlucky fate while on final approach to land. Still counts though.Through the years Chuck has been a defining face for the Air Force and the aerospace industries. From his humble beginnings as a flight Officer to his retiring rank of Brigadier General, Chuck Yeager certainly did it all as evidenced by his multiple Silver Stars and multiple Distinguished Flying Crosses.Read more stories of American Grit:

JACK LUMMUS: HE COULD DO EVERYTHING

DON C. FAITH: WHEN IN DOUBT, ATTACK

JOHN W. MALONEY: AS TOLD BY A BROTHER