You do what you can for as long as you can, and when you finally can't, you do the next best thing. You back up but you don't give up.

I have no regrets about my life. People ask, "If you had to do it all over again, would you do it differently?" No. That's speculation.

It wasn't that the X-1 would kill you, it was the systems in the X-1 that would kill you.

Just before you break through the sound barrier, the cockpit shakes the most.

The first time I ever saw a jet, I shot it down.

I don't think about life everlasting. If something doesn't have scientific evidence to back it up, I don't believe it. I'm a straight shooter.

You don't concentrate on risks. You concentrate on results. No risk is too great to prevent the necessary job from getting done.