Chuck Yeager, pilot who breaks the sound barrier, dies at 97
On testing the X-1 in October 1947, Yeager broke the sound barrier, although the feat was not announced to the public until 1948.
“Had an incredible life well, America’s greatest pilot,” she tweeted.
His legacy also captured later generations, featured in the book and the 1983 film “The Right Stuff”.
“Night is a sad day for America,” John Nicoletti, Yeager’s friend and ground crew chief, told CNN Monday night. “When they broke the sound barrier, we are all allowed to break the barriers now.”
Nicoletti said that Yeager had gone through some physical challenges in recent years and had to face complications and other issues as he got younger.
Yeager lived in Northern California but died in a Los Angeles hospital, Nicoletti said.
“Yeager was never a bizarre one,” Nicoletti recalled to his friend. “He was an incredibly courageous person.”
In time of war
In 1943, Yezer was appointed as a reserve flight officer before becoming a pilot in the eight Air Force Combat Command deployed in England.
During World War II, he flew 64 missions and killed 13 German aircraft, according to his biography on Britannica.
“Many did not make it through World War II. Most did not make it through the early days of the trial,” friend Nicoletti explained. “Chuck’s chances of survival were as narrow as the odds of America gaining its independence.”
According to their website, Yeager was shot in France in March of 1944, but was able to remove the capture with the help of the French underground, his website said.
He returned to the US in 1945 and married his wife Glance, for whom he had named many of his fighters.
Climb to break the barrier
After the war, Yeager became a flight instructor and a test pilot, working as an assistant maintenance officer in the Fighter Section of the Flight Test Division at Wright Field in Ohio.
According to its website, Yeager’s exceptional skills were quickly recognized, and he was asked to perform in service tests for airshows as well as new aircraft.
In 1946, Colonel Albert Boyd was the head of the flight test division and selected Yager as a student in the new test pilot school at Wright Field.
When he had only a high school education, Yeager attributed his success in the program to his flying abilities.
Colonel Boyd chose the first Yager to fly the rocket-powered Bell X-1. “He chose Yeager because he considered him the best ‘spontaneous’ pilot he had ever seen and demonstrated an extraordinary ability to remain calm and focused in stressful situations,” Yeager’s website reported.
After months of flights with the X-1, Yeager dismounted the sound barrier with his aircraft, which he called a glamorous glanny on October 14, 1947 as Rogers Dry Lake, Southern California.
The X-1 Mach reached 1.06 or 700 mph, making Yeager the first man to travel faster than the speed of sound, earning him the title of “Fastest Man Alive”.
Setting more records
Yeager spent the following year testing the aircraft and pushing the limits, setting a speed record for straight wing aircraft dated December 2.44 of 1953.
Yezer was named President Dwight D. in 1953. The Harmon International Trophy was awarded by Eisenhower for breaking records.
He then returned to operational flying in 1954, commanding the 417th Fighter Bomber Squadron and working at the Hahn Air Base in Germany and then the Tall-Rosieres Air Base in France.
According to its website, in 1957, Yeager returned to California and commanded the 1st Fighter Day Squadron at George AFB.
According to their website, he became commandant of the rank of colonel in 1962 at the Aerospace Research Pilot School. He “presided over the development of the first institution of its kind, designed for pilot testing by the US Army.”
The website said that thirty-seven graduates of that program were selected for the American space program, with 26 astronauts flying in Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle programs.
During the 1960s, his position in the Air Force led him to the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and Korea.
According to the website, Yaeger retired from the Air Force in 1975 with the rank of Brigadier General, flying 10,131.6 hours in 361 different types and models of military aircraft.
After retiring
After his official service ended, Yezer remained a valuable advisor to the government and aerospace industry, his website said.
Yager, one of the many involved in the 1983 film “The Right Stuff,” was adapted from Tom Wolf’s nonfiction novel of the first 15 years of America’s space program.
In 1997, at the age of 74, Yeager celebrated the 50th anniversary of his milestone flight in the X-1 by flying in an F-15 Eagle.
“General Yezer represents the best of us. To me, Chuck Yeager will always be the voice of freedom,” his friend Nicoletti told CNN.
“Wannabe troublemaker. Pop culture fanatic. Zombie nerd. Lifelong bacon advocate. Alcohol enthusiast. Tv junkie.”
