[93], In 1966, Yeager was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame. 'It was', he later wrote, 'the Indian way of giving Uncle Sam the finger'". The pilots and their families had quarters little better than shacks, the days were scorching and the nights frigid, and the landscape was barren. The Interstate 64/Interstate 77 bridge over the Kanawha River in Charleston is named in his honor. [123][124], Yeager lived in Grass Valley, Northern California and died in the afternoon of December 7, 2020 (National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day), at age 97, in a Los Angeles hospital.[125][126]. Gen. Charles "Chuck" Yeager, the World War II fighter pilot ace and quintessential test pilot who showed he had the "right stuff" when in. He was 97. IE 11 is not supported. You do it because it's duty. When he left home his father advised him never to gamble or buy a pick-up truck that was not built by General Motors. It's more than that, though. Chuck Yeager, the most famous test pilot of his generation who was the first to break the sound barrier, and, thanks to Tom Wolfe, came to personify the death-defying aviator who possessed the . His flight helmet even cracked the canopy, and a scratchy archive recording from the day preserves Yeager's voice as he wrestles back control of the aircraft: "Oh! Nonetheless, the exploit ranked alongside the Wright brothers first flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903 and Charles Lindberghs solo fight to Paris in 1927 as epic events in the history of aviation. Sixty-five years later to the minute, on Oct. 14, 2012, Yeager commemorated the feat, flying in the back seat of an F-15 Eagle as it broke the sound barrier at more than 30,000 feet (9,144 meters . He was 97. The history-making pilot helped "set our nations dreams soaring into the jet age and the space age," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said. Yeager was a laconic Appalachian whose education ended with a high-school diploma. I was just a lucky kid who caught the right ride, he said. To learn more about ChatGPT and how we can inspire students, we sat down with BestReviews book expert, Ciera Pasturel. Gen. Charles "Chuck" Yeager, the World War II fighter pilot ace and quintessential test pilot who showed he had the "right stuff" when in. He received his pilot wings and appointment as a flight officer in March 1943 while at a base in Arizona, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant after arriving in England for training. Celebrating the 100th birthday of General Chuck Yeager. retaliation. Yeager, who died on Monday at 97, was deputed to serve in Pakistan as head of the military assistance advisory group (MAAG) with the "modest task" of seeing that the residual trickle of American military aid was properly distributed to the Pakistanis and "to teach Pakistanis how to use American military equipment without killing themselves in the He was showered with awards, and the airport in Charleston, West Virginia, is named after him. A message posted to his Twitter account says, "Fr. In combat from February 1944, Yeager had accounted for an Me-109, over Berlin, by early March, when, on his eighth mission, he was shot down near Bordeaux. [119], Yeager appeared in a Texas advertisement for George H. W. Bush's 1988 presidential campaign. . He was 97. He retired on March 1, 1975. He had reached a speed of 700 miles an hour, breaking the sound barrier and dispelling the long-held fear that any plane flying at or beyond the speed of sound would be torn apart by shock waves. "Harmon Prizes go for 2 Air "Firsts"; Vertical-Flight Test Pilot and Airship Endurance Captain Are 1955 Winners, "The Wife Stuff: Feuds, Trials & Lawsuits, Bills, Bills, Bills, Chuck Yeager", "Republicans Hire Chuck Yeager For Political Ads", "Chuck Yeager is in love. 1 of 2. He is survived by his wife; two daughters, Susan Yeager and Sharon Yeager Flick; and a son, Don. The induction ceremony was on December 1, 2009, in Sacramento, California. It might sound funny, but Ive never owned an airplane in my life. When Yeager left Hamlin, he was already known as a daredevil. [17] He escaped to Spain on March 30, 1944, with the help of the Maquis (French Resistance) and returned to England on May 15, 1944. There he flew 127 missions. Its not, you know, you dont do it for the to get your damn picture on the front page of the newspaper, Yeager told NPR in 2011. Warner Bros./Getty Images [47] The X-1 he flew that day was later put on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. [42] The success of the mission was not announced to the public for nearly eight months, until June 10, 1948. It was a feat of considerable courage, as nobody was certain at the time whether an aircraft could survive the shockwaves of a sonic boom. Any airplane I name after you always brings me home. Chuck Yeager, the steely "Right Stuff" test pilot who took aviation to the doorstep of space by becoming the first person to break the sound barrier more than 70 years ago, died on Monday at. (AP Photo/Douglas C . Chuck Yeager's history, legacy still live in Kern County and beyond. Gen. Charles "Chuck" Yeager, the World War II fighter pilot ace and quintessential test pilot who showed he had the "right stuff" when in 1947 he became the first person. His life was famously portrayed in Tom Wolfes 1979 book The Right Stuff which was later adapted into an Oscar-winning movie chronicling the postwar research in high-speed aircraft that led to NASAs Project Mercury. Yeagers feat was kept top secret for about a year when the world thought the British had broken the sound barrier first. "He could give extremely detailed reports that the engineers found extremely useful. American pilot who was the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound. Gen. Charles "Chuck' Yeager, passed away. Glennis Dickhouse was pilot Chuck Yeager's wife of 45 years. Chuck Yeager was America's most decorated pilot, Chuck Yeager - who was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1973 - kept flying in his later years, 'Trump or bust' - grassroots Republicans are still loyal. After all the anticipation to achieve this moment, it really was a letdown, General Yeager wrote in his best-selling memoir Yeager (1985, with Leo Janos). He enjoyed spins and dives and loved staging mock dogfights with his fellow trainees. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Woman kicked off flight for refusing to wear face mask, Canadian teacher with size-Z prosthetic breasts placed on paid leave, What's next for Buster Murdaugh after dad's murder conviction, life sentence, Sick trolls leak gruesome Maggie Murdaugh autopsy photo after it was accidentally shown on livestream, Madonna watches new boyfriend Joshua Poppers fight in New York City, Saving Private Ryan actor Tom Sizemore dead at 61 after brain aneurysm, How Ariana Madix discovered Tom Sandoval was cheating on her with Raquel Leviss, Max Scherzer's first look at the new pitch clock, Chris Rock Jokes About Watching Emancipation to See Will Smith Getting Whipped In Advance of Netflix Special: Report, Kellyanne Conway and George Conway to divorce. After high school, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps where he didn't have the education credentials for flight training. He returned to combat during the Vietnam War, flying several missions a month in twin-engine B-57 Canberras making bombing and strafing runs over South Vietnam. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nations highest civilian award, from President Ronald Reagan in 1985. He started off as an aircraft mechanic and, despite becoming severely airsick during his first airplane ride, signed up for a program that allowed enlisted men to become pilots. He was 97. General Yeagerpreparing to board an F-15D Eagle in 2012. Chuck Yeager, the historic test pilot portrayed in the movie " The Right Stuff ," is dead at the age of 97, according to a tweet posted on his account late Monday. Contact Us. his death was announced on his official Twitter account. But the guy who broke the sound barrier was the kid who swam the Mud River with a swiped watermelon or shot the head off a squirrel before going to school.. I recovered the X-1A from inverted spin into a normal spin, popped it out of that and came on back and landed. Yeager was raised in Hamlin, West Virginia. He started off as an aircraft mechanic and, despite becoming severely airsick during his first airplane ride, signed up for a program that allowed enlisted men to become pilots. He commanded a fighter wing during the Vietnam War while holding the rank of colonel and flew 127 missions, mainly piloting Martin B-57 light bombers in attacking enemy troops and their supplies along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Plane Said to Fly Faster Than Speed of Sound", "Mach match: Did an XP-86 beat Yeager to the punch? Chuck Yeager, the American test pilot who became the first person to break the sound barrier and was later immortalised in Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff, has died aged 97. He was 97. News of the then-astounding accomplishment was kept from the public until June 1948 but that didnt matter to Yeager. Yeager married 45-year-old Victoria Scott DAngelo in 2003. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Feb. 13, 2023. The Marshall University community is remembering Brig. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. [27][28] During the mission briefing, he whispered to Major Donald H. Bochkay, "If we are going to do things like this, we sure as hell better make sure we are on the winning side". One of Yeager's jobs during this time was to assist Pakistani technicians in installing AIM-9 Sidewinders on PAF's Shenyang F-6 fighters. Another son, Michael, died in 2011. "All through my career, I credit luck a lot with survival because of the kind of work we were doing.". 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. The games include Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer, Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer 2.0, and Chuck Yeager's Air Combat. ", Centre for Aerospace and Security Studies, "The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club", "Famous pilot Yeager re-enacting right stuff 65 years later", "Chuck Yeager, Pioneer of Supersonic Flight, Dies at Age 97", "Chuck Yeager is honored by Tuskegee Airman", "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement", "The Daily Diary of President Gerald R. Ford: December 8, 1976", "Ground-Level Monuments Honor Heroes of the Air", "Harry S. Truman The President's Day, November 2, 1950". And duty enters into it. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. In this Tuesday, Oct. 14, 1997, file photo, Chuck Yeager explains it was simply his duty to fly the plane, during a news conference at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., after flying in an F-15 jet . Yeager had gained one victory before he was shot down over France in his first aircraft (P-51B-5-NA s/n 43-6763) on March 5, 1944, on his eighth mission. His feat put General Yeager in the headlines for a time, but he truly became a national celebrity only after the publication of Mr. Wolfes book The Right Stuff in 1979, about the early days of the space program, and the release of the movie based on it four years later, in which General Yeager was played by Sam Shepard. Read about our approach to external linking. Yeager was born February 13, 1923, in Myra, West Virginia,[2] to farming parents Albert Hal Yeager (18961963) and Susie Mae Yeager (ne Sizemore; 18981987). Chuck Yeager (@GenChuckYeager) . Summary: Retired Air Force Brig. He graduated from high school in June 1941. Sam Shepard received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Yeager in the 1983 film. But he joined a flight program for enlisted men in July 1942, figuring it would get him out of kitchen detail and guard duty. Yeager died Monday, his wife, Victoria Yeager, said on his Twitter account: "It is w/ profound sorrow, I must tell you that my life love General Chuck Yeager passed just before 9 pm ET. BY STEVEN MAYER smayer@bakersfield.com. Chuck Yeager, standing next to the "Glamorous Glennis," the Bell X-1 experimental plane with which he first broke the sound barrier. [65][66][67] He arrived in Pakistan at a time when tensions with India were at a high level. Yeager never sought the spotlight and was always a bit gruff. Yeager was born Feb. 23, 1923, in Myra, a tiny community on the Mud River deep in an Appalachian hollow about 40 miles southwest of Charleston. You do it because it's duty. But once the U.S. entered World War II a few months later, he got his chance. [120] He helped pave the way for the American space program by flying at Mach 1.05 roughly 805 mph at an altitude of 45,000 feet. Yeager grew up in the mountains of West Virginia, an average student who never attended college. An accident during a December 1963 test flight in one of the school's NF-104s resulted in serious injuries. This history making moment forever changed flight test as we know it in America. His exploits were told in Tom Wolfes book The Right Stuff, and the 1983 film it inspired. , Police arrest man linked to sexual assault of child, Mountain lion causes school to shelter in place, Martinez residents warned not to eat food grown in, Video: Benches clear in fight at high school hoops, SF police officers pose as prostitutes, bust 30 Johns, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. But Yeager was more than a pilot: In several test flights before breaking the sound barrier, he studied his machine, analyzing the way it handled as it went faster and faster. He possessed a natural coordination and aptitude for understanding an airplanes mechanical system along with coolness under pressure. In a tweet, Victoria Yeager wrote: "It is w/ profound sorrow, I must tell you that my. At enlistment, Yeager was not eligible for flight training because of his age and educational background, but the entry of the U.S. into World War II less than three months later prompted the USAAF to alter its recruiting standards. It was a dangerous quest one that had killed other pilots in other planes. Yeager never forgot his roots and West Virginia named bridges, schools and Charlestons airport after him. How much does Vegas believe in Dubs to repeat? rules against Chuck Yeager's daughter in dispute with stepmother", "Chuck Yeager, who made history for breaking the sound barrier, dies at 97", "Chuck Yeager, pilot who broke the sound barrier, dies at 97", Biography in the National Aviation Hall of Fame, General Chuck Yeager, USAF, Biography and Interview, "Chuck Yeager & the Sound Barrier" in Aerospaceweb.org, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chuck_Yeager&oldid=1142035779, United States Air Force personnel of the Vietnam War, People from Lincoln County, West Virginia, Recipients of the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States), Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army), Survivors of aviation accidents or incidents, United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II, Pages using cite court with unknown parameters, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Official website different in Wikidata and Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Yeager, Chuck, Bob Cardenas, Bob Hoover, Jack Russell and James Young, This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 04:40. Born in 1924, she married Chuck when she was just 21. NASAs administrator, Jim Bridenstine, described General Yeagers death in a statement as a tremendous loss to our nation. The astronaut Scott Kelly, writing on Twitter, called him a true legend.. [53][e], Yeager was foremost a fighter pilot and held several squadron and wing commands. The locals in the nearby village of Yoxford, he recalled, resented having 7,000 Yanks descend on them, their pubs and their women, and were rude and nasty.. There shouldve been a bump in the road, something to let you know that you had just punched a nice, clean hole through the sonic barrier. The pain took his breath away. At the age of 89 he co-piloted a McDonnell Douglas F15 Eagle fighter out of Nellis air force base in southern Nevada. A message posted to his Twitter account says, "Fr @VictoriaYeage11 It is w/ profound sorrow, I must tell you that my life love General Chuck Yeager passed just before 9pm ET. Yeager also commanded Air Force fighter squadrons and wings, and the Aerospace Research Pilot School for military astronauts. [75] Yeager was incensed over the incident and demanded U.S. Yeager's wife, Victoria, paid tribute on Twitter. [22] Eisenhower, after gaining permission from the War Department to decide the requests, concurred with Yeager and Glover. From his family's words . He became familiar to a younger generation 36 years later when the actor Sam Shepard portrayed him in the movie, "The Right Stuff," based on the Tom Wolfe book. Yeager's death was announced on his official. The children contended that D'Angelo, at least 35 years Yeager's junior, had married him for his fortune. In an age of media-made heroes, he is the real deal, Edwards Air Force Base historian Jim Young said in August 2006 at the unveiling of a bronze statue of Yeager. Charles Elwood Yeager was born on Feb. 13, 1923, in Myra, W. Va., the second of five children of Albert and Susie Mae (Sizemore) Yeager. He also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985. An incredible life well lived, Americas greatest Pilot, & a legacy of strength, adventure, & patriotism will be remembered forever. Norm Healey was visiting from Canada and reading about Yeager's accomplishments. Yeager would get back to base. Chuck's devoted spouse died in 1990 after a long battle with cancer. You do it because its duty. It's your job.". Yeagers pioneering and innovative spirit advanced Americas abilities in the sky and set our nations dreams soaring into the jet age and the space age. After climbing to a near-record altitude, the plane's controls became ineffective, and it entered a flat spin. The X-1A began spinning viciously and spiraling to Earth, dropping 50,000 feet in about a minute. Such was the difficulty of this task that the answer to many of the inherent challenges was along the lines of "Yeager better have paid-up insurance". (AP) Retired Air Force Brig. It was a matter of keeping them from falling apart, Yeager said. Fr @VictoriaYeage11 It is w/ profound sorrow, I must tell you that my life love General Chuck Yeager passed just before 9pm ET. As popularized in The Right Stuff, Yeager broke the sound barrier on Oct. 14, 1947, at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Gen. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager died Dec. 7. Published: December 8, 2020. His high number of flight hours and maintenance experience qualified him to become a functional test pilot of repaired aircraft, which brought him under the command of Colonel Albert Boyd, head of the Aeronautical Systems Flight Test Division.[31]. He accomplished the feat in a Bell X-1, a wild, high-flying rocket-propelled orange airplane that he nicknamed "Glamorous Glennis," after his first wife who died in 1990. He was 97. His golden years were spent trout fishing in California, according to NPR and, of course, flying airplanes. General Chuck Yeager, first man to break the sound barrier, passed away on Monday night at 97. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine called his death "a tremendous. Yeager enlisted in the Army Air Corps after graduating from high school in 1941. Yeager continued working on the X-1 and the X1A, in which he became the second man, after Scott Crossfield, to fly at twice the speed of sound, Mach 2.44, on 12 December 1953. Chuck Yeager, a former U.S. Air Force officer who became the first pilot to break the speed of sound, died Monday. Sure, I was apprehensive, he said in 1968. And was just such a superb pilot.". "It is w/ profound sorrow, I must tell you that my life love General Chuck Yeager passed just before 9pm ET. He was 97. Master Sgt. Today, the plane Yeager first broke the sound barrier in, the X-1, hangs inside the air and space museum. [49], Yeager went on to break many other speed and altitude records. In the early 1970s he was a US adviser to the Pakistan air force. He began his military time as an aircraft mechanic before attending flight school. Yeager married 45-year-old Victoria Scott DAngelo in 2003. Why Alex Murdaugh was spared the death penalty, 'Trump or bust' - grassroots Republicans are still loyal. Sixty-five years later to the minute, on Oct. 14, 2012, Yeager commemorated the feat, flying in the back seat of an F-15 Eagle as it broke the sound barrier at more than 30,000 feet above Californias Mojave Desert. US Air Force / The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images file. Dec 9, 2020. His career began in World War II as a private in the United States Army, assigned to the Army Air Forces in 1941. On October 19, 2006, the state of West Virginia also honored Yeager with a marker along Corridor G (part of U.S. Highway 119) in his home Lincoln County, and also renamed part of the highway the Yeager Highway. Glennis died in 1990. "I loved airplanes as a kid. Yeager was born Feb. 23, 1923, in Myra, a tiny community on the Mud River deep in an Appalachian hollow about 40 miles southwest of Charleston. [43][44] Yeager was awarded the Mackay Trophy and the Collier Trophy in 1948 for his mach-transcending flight,[45][46] and the Harmon International Trophy in 1954. And in this 1985 NPR interview, he said it was really no big deal: "Well, sure, because I'd spun airplanes all my life and that's exactly what I did. She was 82. On February 26, 1945, Yeager married Glennis Dickhouse, and the couple had four children. After the war, General Yeager was assigned to Muroc Army Air Base in California, where hotshot pilots were testing jet prototypes. This is apparently a unique award, as the law that created it states it is equivalent to a noncombat Medal of Honor. But the guy who broke the sound barrier was the kid who swam the Mud River with a swiped watermelon or shot the head off a squirrel before going to school.. His Dutch-German family the surname was an anglicised version of Jger (hunter) had settled there in the 1800s. The machmeter swung off the scale, a sonic boom rolled over the Mojave and, at Mach 1.05, 700mph, Yeager, in level flight, broke the sound barrier. [77] Sam Shepard portrayed Yeager in the film, which chronicles in part his famous 1947 record-breaking flight. Air Force Captain Charles Yeager, 25, in Los Angeles on Jan., 21, 1949. Yeager's most notable achievement was piloting the X-1 experimental rocket plane, in which he became the first human to fly faster than the speed of sound in 1947, shortly after the founding of the U.S. Air Force as a separate service. The public was only told about the mission in June 1948. In December 1949, Muroc was renamed Edwards Air Force Base, and it became a center for advanced aviation research leading to the space program. Yeager was a rare aviator, someone who understood planes in ways that other pilots just don't. This version corrects that Yeager flew an F-15, not an X-15, when he was 79. [65][67] Yeager recalled "the Pakistanis whipped the Indians asses in the sky the Pakistanis scored a three-to-one kill ratio, knocking out 102 Russian-made Indian jets and losing 34 airplanes of their own". He was 97. Legendary airman Chuck Yeager the first pilot in history confirmed to break the sound barrier died Monday, his wife announced. The British test pilot Geoffrey de Havilland had died 13 months earlier, when, close to the sound barrier, his DH108 jet disintegrated over the Thames. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, Air Materiel Command Flight Performance School, Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer 2.0, The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, Air Force Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon, South Korean Order of National Security Merit, Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation, "Chuck Yeager, Test Pilot Who Broke the Sound Barrier, Is Dead at 97", "Four-Year-Old Boy Kills Baby Sister with Gun", https://archive.org/details/yeagerautobiogra00yeag/page/6, "Jeana Yeager Was Not Just Along for the Ride", "Chuck Yeager downs five becomes an 'Ace in a Day', "Escape and Evasion Case File for Flight Officer Charles (Chuck) E. Yeager", "The Story of Chuck Yeager, the Pilot Who Broke the Sound Barrier", "Chuck Yeager: Booming And Zooming (Part 1)", "WWII flying ace Chuck Yeager in extraordinary attack on 'nasty' and 'arrogant' British people", "Getting schooled with the Air Force's elite test pilots", "New U.S. [7], His first experience with the military was as a teen at the Citizens Military Training Camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, Indiana, during the summers of 1939 and 1940. The family later moved to Hamlin, the county seat. 11 displaced after fire breaks out at Union City, Rare Sighting: Bald eagles spotted in Alameda County, Uvalde group helps those affected in Santa Rosa stabbing, 4 Fun Things: Heres whats happening in the Bay, Draymond Green spent his first NBA check here, 2 Montana SB jerseys sold at record-breaking prices, Get rid of Black History Month, Draymond Green says, Purdy elbow surgery could happen next week, Jake Paul takes first boxing defeat by split decision. Chuck (Charles Elwood) Yeager, aviator, born 23 February 1923; died 7 December 2020, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. That night, he said, his family ate the goose for dinner. "It is w/ profound sorrow, I. By. Anyone can read what you share. Tracie Cone, The Associated Press [81], During this time, Yeager also served as a technical adviser for three Electronic Arts flight simulator video games. Wearing a model of his hero Chuck Yeager's Bell X1A airplane on his lapel, Luke Strange-Paylor, 9, of Millstone, Calhoun County, waits for Yeager's memorial service to begin Friday at the . When youre fooling around with something you dont know much about, there has to be apprehension. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine called his death "a tremendous loss to our nation.". AP As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. When youre fooling around with something you dont know much about, there has to be apprehension. Yeager also commanded Air Force fighter squadrons and wings, and the Aerospace Research Pilot School for military astronauts. Jason W. Edwards/Agence France-Presse, via U.S. Air Force and Getty Images. Yeager himself even made a cameo as Fred, a bartender at Pancho's Palace. [70] During the war, he flew around the western front in a helicopter documenting wreckages of Indian warplanes of Soviet origin which included Sukhoi Su-7s and MiG-21s; they were transported to the United States after the war for analysis. Gen. Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager, the first pilot to fly aircraft exceeding the speed of sound, has died at the age of 97. He was guided to safety by the French Resistance over the Pyrenees mountains. What's the least exercise we can get away with? He was 97 . During the ejection, the seat straps released normally, but the seat base slammed into Yeager, with the still-hot rocket motor breaking his helmet's plastic faceplate and causing his emergency oxygen supply to catch fire. Yeager remained in the U.S. Army Air Forces after the war, becoming a test pilot at Muroc Army Air Field (now Edwards Air Force Base), following graduation from Air Materiel Command Flight Performance School (Class 46C). Gen. Charles "Chuck" Yeager, the World War II fighter pilot ace and quintessential test pilot who showed he had the "right stuff" when in 1947 he became the first person. For that same series, executive producer Rick Berman said that he envisaged the lead character, Captain Jonathan Archer, as being "halfway between Chuck Yeager and Han Solo. He also flew directly under the Kanawha Bridge and West Virginia named it the Chuck E. Yeager Bridge. His three-war active-duty flying career spanned more than 30 years and took him to many parts of the world, including the Korean War zone and the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War. The young Yeager was a hunter with superb eyesight a sportsman, and not much of a scholar, but he did read Jack London. Chuck Yeager's death was announced on Twitter on Monday night by his second wife Victoria Yeager was the son of farmers from West Virginia and he became one of the world's finest fighter. Yeager nicknamed the plane "Glamourous Glennis" after his wife. Working with the Piper company he broke several flying records for light aircraft. It's not, you know, you don't do it for the to get your damn picture on the front page of the newspaper. Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer was Electronic Art's top-selling game for 1987. They're suing", "C.A. Welcome to flightglobal.com. Mr. Wolfe wrote about a nonchalance affected by pilots in the face of an emergency in a voice specifically Appalachian in origin, one that was first heard in military circles but ultimately emanated from the cockpits of commercial airliners. President Harry S. Truman awarded him the Collier air trophy in December 1948 for his breaking the sound barrier. Ridley rigged up a device, using the end of a broom handle as an extra lever, to allow Yeager to seal the hatch. In 2011, Yeager told NPR that the lack of publicity never much mattered to him. Wells died Wednesday of illness related to COVID-19. Chuck Yeager, the first person to break the sound barrier and a subject of the book and film "The Right Stuff," has died.He was 97.