An American hero dies.

CHUCK YEAGER, THE FIRST PERSON EVER TO FLY FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF SOUND, HAS DIED
by Kevin Ryan

Charles Yeager, one of America’s greatest and most accomplished aviators, has died.

Yeager’s career began in World War II over Europe, where, as a P-51 pilot, he shot down 11 enemy aircraft, one of the few double aces in American history.

After the war, Yeager became a test pilot of many types of aircraft, including the experimental rocket-powered Bell-X1. On October 14, 1947, he flew the Bell X-1 Glamorous Glennis past Mach 1 and an altitude of 45,000 feet, the first person ever to successfully break the sound barrier. He went on to break several other speed and altitude records.

Yeager later commanded fighter squadrons and wings in in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. In recognition of the outstanding performance ratings of those units, he was promoted to brigadier general in 1969, retiring on March 1, 1975.

His exploits breaking the sound barrier were immortalized in the novel and movie The Right Stuff. The story contrasts America’s first astronauts, the “Mercury Seven,” with test pilots such as Chuck Yeager, who was considered by many contemporaries as the best of them all, but who was never selected as an astronaut.

Yeager was 97 years old.

A hero we all will remember. RIP

I dad was an aviator trainer in the Air force to teach pilots how to fly in WWII. Like me my dad was flat footed and back then not allowed to fly in combat. So he stayed on base to train pilots. Chuck Yeager RIP.

He was the man!