THE WAR YEARS
Once in England and assigned to the Eighth Air Force, the unit was equipped with North American’s P-51 Mustang, soon to be recognized as the best all-around fighter plane of World War II. Yeager’s first mount was a P-51B, which he named Glamurus Glen after his fiancee, Glennis Faye Dickhouse. Yeager entered combat in February 1944 and claimed one Me 109 before being shot down on his eighth combat mission on 5 March. With the help of the French underground, he evaded capture and rejoined his unit in England. Carrying his appeal to return to combat all the way up the chain to Supreme Allied Commander