Chuck Yeager: World War II Fighter Pilot

by Don Keith

"Bold, brash, and brimming with courage, Chuck Yeager burst onto the scene as a national hero in 1947, when he became the first to fly an airplane faster than the speed of sound. Yet even before his days as America's most famous test pilot, Yeager was a young fighter ace in the US Army Air Force, flying a P-51 Mustang over Nazi-occupied Europe. His exploits are the stuff of legend"--

269 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 6, 2022

About the author

Award-winning and best-selling author of more than 40 published works, Don Keith was born in 1947 and has lived in the South all his life. He attended the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa where he received his degree in broadcast and film communication with a minor in English and literature. While working as a broadcast journalist, he won awards from the Associated Press and United Press International for news writing and reporting. He was also the first winner of Troy State University's Hector Award for innovation in broadcast journalism. As an on-the-air broadcaster, Don won the Billboard Magazine "Radio Personality of the Year" in two formats, country and contemporary. Keith was a broadcast personality for over twenty years in Birmingham and Nashville, and also owned his own consultancy, co-owned a Mobile, Alabama, radio station (WZEW-FM), and hosted and produced several nationally syndicated radio shows.

His first novel, THE FOREVER SEASON, was published by St. Martin's Press in the fall of 1995 to commercial and critical success. It called heavily on Keith's own athletic and academic experiences. Reviewers praised its unique approach and powerful story. The novel won the Alabama Library Association's "Fiction of the Year" award in 1997, joining works likewise honored from Harper Lee and others, and was re-issued in the fall of 2002 by the University of Alabama Press as part of its prestigious Deep South Books series.

He has written both fiction and non-fiction, including several books on WWII history, biographies, and military thrillers. His co-written thriller, HUNTER KILLER, was the basis for the hit movie starring Gerard Butler and Gary Oldman.

Reviews

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always been a fan of Chuck Yeager; however, I was mostly unaware of his WW II days. I enjoyed the story, but there were lots of repetition in the telling which slightly detracted from the book.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enjoyable summarization of Chuck Yeager's life....from his boyhood in Hamlin, West Virginia, his first time ever seeing an airplane, his experiences in World War II, breaking the sound barrier, and his eventual death at 97.

[Biggus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, well read, good pacing, though maybe he should look up the difference between blitz, and blitzkrieg ;)

[Lisa Montgomery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chuck Yeager is from my home state, and we all admire how he changed the world. I have read several books about him, but each time I learn something new.

[Mr Roy Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a life, what a man. Not much more that can be said. I will now go back to my own life and realise how little I have contribuetd to the world.