Chuck Yeager, first pilot who broke the sound barrier, dies at the age of 97

United States Air Force Officer Charles Elwood “Chuck Yeager”, the first pilot in history confirmed to have exceeded the speed of sound in level flight (in 1947), passed away at the age of 97. His wife announced on Monday.

After the World War II, Yeager became a test pilot of many types of aircraft, including experimental rocket-powered aircraft. As the first human to officially break the sound barrier, on October 14, 1947, he flew the experimental Bell X-1 at Mach 1 at an altitude of 45,000 feet (13,700 m), for which he won both the Collier and Mackay trophies in 1948. He then went on to break several other speed and altitude records. (Wikipedia: Chuck Yeager)

On 14 October 2012, on the 65th anniversary of breaking the sound barrier, Yeager did it again at the age of 89, flying as co-pilot in a McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle piloted by Captain David Vincent out of Nellis Air Force Base.

Yeager made a cameo appearance in the movie The Right Stuff (1983). He played “Fred,” a bartender at “Pancho’s Place“, which was most appropriate, as Yeager said, “if all the hours were ever totaled, I reckon I spent more time at her place than in a cockpit over those years.” His own role in the movie was played by Sam Shepard.