Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager (born February 13, 1923) is a retired Brigadier General in the United States Air Force and a noted test pilot. On 14 October 1947, flying the experimental aircraft Bell X-1 he became the first pilot (at age 24) to travel faster than speed of sound in level flight and ascent. His career began in World War II as a private in the U.S. Army Air Force. After serving as an aircraft mechanic, in September, 1942 he entered enlisted pilot training and upon graduation was promoted to Warrant Officer and became a P-51 Fighter Ace with the 357th Fighter Group based Lieston, England shooting down 11 German aircraft (5 of those kills came in one-mission) in WWII. After the war he became a test pilot of many kinds of aircraft and rocket planes. Although Scott Crossfield was the first man to fly faster than Mach 2 in 1953, Yeager shortly thereafter exceeded Mach 2.4. He later commanded fighter squadrons and wings in Germany and in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, and in recognition of the outstanding performance ratings of those units he then was promoted to Brigadier General. Yeager's flying career spans more than sixty years and has taken him to every corner of the globe, even into the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War. |
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