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Charlotte E. Yeager, known as Shirley, is one of the main characters from the Strike Witches anime and light novels.
Shirley is a mechanical enthusiast from the United States of Liberion. She is a thrill seeking speedster and her goal is to break the sound barrier. Before the war, she raced motorbikes and set a land speed record. When she joined the 501st she modified her Striker unit to help her with her goal of breaking the sound barrier. In addition to her obsession with speed she's also obsessed with cleanliness: even going so far as to have her personal bath shipped when she was transferred into the 501st.
In the AWA fics, Shirley is a student of the AWA Academy and is part of Class 6.
In the XP4 fics, Shirley is part of the Heroes Coalitions as a Solo Hero. She is also a student at the Vanguard Academy.
Appearance
Shirley is pretty tall with a big breast, she has a long orange hair and has blue eyes. She wears a red uniform jacket over a white polo-shirt, black skirt and brown shoes.
Personality
Magnanimous in character, tall and buxom in appearance, Charlotte ("Shirley" to her friends) is a thrill-seeker who is fascinated by speed and her dream is break the sound barrier. Concerned with cleanliness, Charlotte had her personal bath transported all the way to the Strike Witches' Britannia base when she was transferred from the Liberion Army 363rd Fighter Wing. She is strong, confident and sociable. She's the kind of person who thinks about how to use her strong points in battle. She's an individualist, very freedom loving. Someone who cares about getting time over to do the things she wants to do. But she still gets along very well with everyone else, and she always plays her part well when it really matters.
She is good for making barbecue. She is carefree and capable to become friends with just about anyone. Charlotte is full of self-confidence and willingness to take risks, but has a rather carefree attitude to life - if you watch them, they did not come up with the idea that the unit is at war. She appreciates the finer things in life, such as the comfort of a bath. Also, she drives like crazy and while not as destructive as most in the one scene she's shown driving, she drifts on mountainside dirt roads and leaps across chasms in a military supply truck.
Charlotte likes to travel. Her dream was to became a singer, but after view the Witches flying in the sky, her dream becomes to break the sound barrier. She is also proud, but friendly. Her favourite glasses was a one pair that she used to break the speed record on land, before she enlisted. Charlotte rarely was scary, actually she is very reckless. She's strong, passionate, and outgoing, but she's only outspoken when dealing with certain people. She doesn't back down from any challenge even going so far as to charge a Neuroi in an unarmed plane. Shirley spends her spare time in the machine shop and making further modifications to her Striker. It is open and friendly, makes friends quickly and easily becomes the soul of any company. Yeager has an honest and straightforward nature. At times, it may seem rough, but natural good nature makes it a popular favorite.
She is a good friend of Pilot Officer Lucchini, whoever is almost always cuddled up in Shirley's bosom (which Shirley allows). They hold a very close relationship, often pulling on pranks and makes adventures together. Because of the age difference, she refers to her as his beloved younger sister, supports and takes care of her. Shirley has a orange plane named Glamorous Shirley. She actuates like an older sister to Sergeant Miyafuji and Flight Sergeant Bishop, and also has a rivarly with Flight Lieutenant Barkhorn. They really don't like each other, and they are not exactly shy about showing it either. Shirley is also friend of Pilot Officer Gerard, who admired her a lot.
Abilities
Like her namesake, Charlotte becomes the first person to break the sound barrier, making her the fastest Witch ever, which may be due to her magic ability Speed Boost (Chō-kasoku, lit. "Super Acceleration") allowing her to perform a task rapidly when she focuses, such as running or flying. Is used unconsciously, even when Shirley breaks the land speed record. Shirley is a very fast Witch, thanks to her inherent magic. It is likely that her magic is of a similar magic Linage as Francie Gerard's magic ability. Her magical ability allows her to enhance her Striker Unit's performance and increase her airspeed exponentially, giving her the responsibility to pursue and destroy high-speed Neurois. For their ability to pull in the direction it is desired to shield each itself is spread around the periphery, it is possible to speed movement thereby.
Other than that, she's got the abilities to match any mechanic. Also of the maintenance and the adjustments (to be most fast) of her Strike Unit, also good for restore planes and vehicles. When Swordfish Mk.I torpedo bomber of Britannia Naval Air Corps, which has been deployed in the first 501 search and rescue squadron has been expelled and disposal, it is "seized" in the name of liaison aircraft one aircraft that was damaged them, personal belongings I have a. Also, she is able to assemble easily if radar about.
In battle, her favourite tactic is looks at the battlefield from a distance. And then, when the enemy shows her a weakness, she comes flying in and takes it out using her special speed. Her abilities as a test pilot are also high and, as she can clearly express in numbers things like a unit's special qualities and its output balance, she is also trusted by the engineering staff. With her abilities, she set a variety of altitude and speed records on prototype and experimental craft.
Equipment
Her Striker Unit is a North Liberion P-51D Mustang. Designed and manufactured in Liberion, the engine wasn't very good. She has tunned and changed the assigning barriers for a high speed. She also changes the original motor for a type 60 Merlin. After these changes, she got an unexpectedly good result. She nicknames her Striker Unit 'Merlin' (due the engine) and is connected with strong attachment with it. Before joining the Witches she worked on motorcycles and airplanes, consequentially her Striker Unit is heavily modified.
She's using a Browning automatic rifle M1918 but there are a lot of things about it she doesn't like. Because it can still only hold 40 bullets, Shirley is using a new, larger type of magazines. On the other hand, it's really durable, so Shirley don't take much care of it.
Trivia
- Possibly in reference to model and photographer Bunny Yeager, Charlotte's familiar is the rabbit, although it's said it is a hare. However, although is confirmed that it is a White Rabbit, in the anime she gained a hare tail, instead a rabbit's. In the official art, her tail is a rabbit's.
- She is based on Chuck Yeager, a retired brigadier general in the United States Air Force and record-setting test pilot. Shirley shares many characteristics with her archetype: Yeager was the first pilot to travel faster than sound in 1947, Shirley does in 1945, and would later break further speed and altitude records in his life, like Shirley does; he was a mechanic, similar to Shirley's tinkering, both of them has reckless conduct and flew a plane he named the Glamorous Glennis (similar to Shirley's alias Glamorous Shirley).
- Charlotte holds a lot of similarities with Katharine O'Hare. Both of them are tall and buxom (and has the same height), are originating from Liberion, are related with Striker Units (Katharine has lost a lot of Strikers, and Shirley is a mechanic), are bright, sociable and optimist, they are considered beautiful, has a good relationship with the 'little girl' of the squadron (Ursula Hartmann and Francesca Lucchini, respectively) and are important characters en their respectively media.
- It is unknown her true middle name. It is supposed to be Elwyn, because her ace archetype's middle name was Elwood, the male form of Elwyn. Other sources said that her middle name is Eldwood.
- Her motorcycle in the S1 Ep 5 eyecatch is likely a 1924 Indian Big Chief with sidecar modification.
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