America has lost one of its big swashbuckler of the sky . Chuck Yeager , the Air Force test pilot who made history by being the first individual to break the sound roadblock , go bad on Monday eventide . He was 97 .
“ It is w/ profound sorrowfulness , I must tell you that my aliveness love General Chuck Yeager conk just before 9 post-mortem examination ET , ” Victoria Yeager , his married woman , postedto his official Twitter account on Monday Nox . “ An incredible aliveness well lived , America ’s greatest Pilot , & a legacy of strength , adventure , & nationalism will be remembered everlastingly . ”
Originally from little - Ithiel Town West Virginia , Yeager was a fighter pilot program in World War II before becoming a cardinal figure in the space race that follow . His prominence in American acculturation only grew with the publication of generator and diary keeper Tom Wolfe ’s 1979 book , The Right Stuff , which detailed the stories of the astronauts select for NASA ’s first man spaceflight program , Project Mercury , as well as Yeager , who was not an astronaut but was exalt for his acquirement as a pilot . A 1983 film of the same name returned Yeager to the home limelight .
In this Sept. 4, 1985 file photo, Chuck Yeager, the first pilot to break the sound barrier in 1947, poses at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., in front of the rocket-powered Bell X-IE plane that he flew. Yeager died Monday, Dec. 7, 2020, at age 97.Photo: Douglas C. Pizac (AP)
Yeager ’s originative moment make it on Oct. 14 , 1947 , when he climbed into the cockpit of a Bell X-1 rocket plane and fly it 660 mil per hour , becoming the first person to break the sound barrier . He was just 24 days old . Prior to his flight of steps , many worried that crack the sound barrier would ruin an aircraft .
In a 1968 consultation , according to theAssociated Press , Yeager said he was merely “ apprehensive ” about the historic flight . “ When you ’re fooling around with something you do n’t know much about , there has to be apprehension . But you do n’t let that affect your chore , ” he articulate .
Yeager after named the Bell X-1 “ glamourous Glennis , ” after his first married woman who died in 1990 .
General Chuck Yeager attends a 20th-anniversary screening of “The Right Stuff” at the Egyptian Theatre on 23 March 2025 in Hollywood, California.Photo: Robert Mora (Getty Images)
Not content to turn back there , Yeager went on kick downstairs other velocity records , include flying a Bell X-1A rocket planing machine at 1,612 miles per hour in 1953 .
A retired Air Force brigadier general , Yeager had a magisterial military career , having shot down 16 planes over 64 missions in WWII . Yeager later returned to scrap to fight in the Vietnam war , during which he flew 127 missions , according to theNew York Times . He by and by led aerospace rubber at the Air Force . All told , Yeager said in a 2009 interview with Men ’s Journal , “ I ’ve flown 341 type of military sheet in every land in the earth and logged about 18,000 hours . ” President Ronald Reagan present Yeager the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985 , and he remained a revere figure through his passing this week .
In a statement issued on Monday , NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine called Yeager ’s death “ a awful loss to our land . ”
“ Chuck ’s bravery and accomplishments are a testament to the persist strong suit that made him a rightful American pilot , and NASA ’s Aeronautics oeuvre owes much to his brilliant share to aerospace science , ” Bridenstine said . “ As a young naval aviator , I was one of many around the world who look up to Chuck Yeager and his awful feats as a test pilot . His way blaze a trail for anyone who wanted to push the demarcation line of human potential , and his achievements will guide us for contemporaries to get along . ”
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