(Gordon) wrote:

My last post made it sound like he is an ass or that I hold some resentment
against him. I most certainly don't - I've looked up to him all of my life,
right up there with John, Gordo, Scott, Buzz and Neil. I don't blame him for
getting short with his fans, now that he has spent the last several decades
shaking hands, signing items, smiling for a ba-zillion flashes and never having
a single private moment in public. I'd be an erascible *******, personally. I
certainly wouldn't bother to worry about what youngsters care or do - but he
does. I know him to be more than just an old jerk - he spends quite a lot of
time traveling to events and spreading his experiences to new flyers who I know
can benefit from his efforts. If you catch him at the right moment, you'll
see a glimpse of him as he is with his real friends, his comrades. Definitely
a guy you would want on your side in any sort of scrap. Plus, I think if you
could motorize a ****can, add a plumb-bob and a piece of string for a NAVAID,
he'd be able to fly it to Calcutta and back. No sweat.

Once actually in the War, no one had to tell me about
keeping my distance from my fellow P-51 pilots. It took
a lot of self- discipline, but I'd occasionally turn down
invitations for a weekend of hell-raising in London by
lying and saying, "No thanks I've got something to do."

In reality, I was dying to go off and explore the pleasures
of blacked-out London town. My only altenative, moreover,
was to bum around the base for two days by myself. But
when I considered the pitfalls of being buddies with a bunch
of guys who were being shot at by the Luftwaffe day after
day, it was no contest. I'd rather be a loner.

-Yeager