Chuck Yeager was born in 1923 in Myra, West Virginia, to a farming family and honed his skills as a marksman from an early age,
link helping to hunt
link small game for the family table. While his hunter's instincts would later stand
link him in good stead as a fighter pilot, Yeager did not think of himself – despite being often described as a "natural-born stick-and-rudder man" – as a natural-born pilot.