“Written of”??? Lack of proof reading…

Proofreading is like calligraphy. It no longer exists, having been replaced by “click ‘send’.” Nobody even reads over their forum posts or e-mails just one quick time before sending them. President Obama’s media advisor yesterday sent a Tweet in which he used the word “bigger” but spelled it “nigger.” Huge uproar, super-embarrassing. For god’s sake, a Tweet is 140 characters long, max, can’t you take the time to “proofread” it? Apparently not.

Here’s an obscure, thread-hijacking question:

I’m doing an article on the Northrop X-4 Bantam for Air & Space Smithsonian and am looking for quotable material by any test pilot who flew it. The only one I’ve found so far is a dubious one in Chuck Yeager’s autobiography. Does anybody know of another such quote is any of the books recommended above?

Errr… So what’s wrong with “Yeager”??????

The book is filled with errors, which perhaps are attributable to his adoring and nonpilot co-author, Leo Janos. The man is rude, arrogant and a nasty piece of work, and he has an ego the size of Texas.

Just as there are many Americans whose image of Douglas Bader is based entirely on Brickhill’s book and the movie, I’m sure there are plenty of Brits who know Yeager only through Tom Wolfe’s eyes.

Go to WIX and post “What’s Chuck Yeager like?” and wait for the replies.

heroically hauls her off the last inch of tarmac…

American pilots calling concrete “tarmac.”

Daughter of a neighbor of mine had Rudy Opitz as her sailplane instructor some years ago. Test pilot for the Me-163 rocketplane. Also was one of the assault-glider pilots in the attack on Fort Eben-Emael.

he cut the engine before touchdown…

I’m afraid not. Look again. The engine indeed stopped before touchdown, but because the tips hit the runway before the airplane did.

G’day Robert. Just looked at your profile and see that you haven’t made any friends yet.

I’ve been posting here for ages, and it never occurred to me to check if I had any “friends.” Ask me if I care.