An incredible life well lived, America's greatest Pilot, & a legacy of . Yeager would get back to base. He married Victoria DAngelo in 2003. The young Yeager was a hunter with superb eyesight a sportsman, and not much of a scholar, but he did read Jack London. He retired in 1976 as a brigadier-general his wife thought he should have made a full general. 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. They had four children: Donald, Michael, Sharon and Susan. Chuck Yeager, a former U.S. Air Force officer who became the first pilot to break the speed of sound, died Monday. Two of these victories were scored without firing a single shot: when he flew into firing position against a Messerschmitt Bf 109, the pilot of the aircraft panicked, breaking to port and colliding with his wingman. Bob van der Linden of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington says Yeager stood out. 03:07 Yeager never forgot his roots and West Virginia named bridges, schools and Charlestons airport after him. In 1986, President Reagan appointed Yeager to the Rogers Commission that investigated the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger. He was 97. [9][b], Yeager enlisted as a private in the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) on September 12, 1941, and became an aircraft mechanic at George Air Force Base, Victorville, California. Jason W. Edwards/Agence France-Presse, via U.S. Air Force and Getty Images. His father was an oil and gas driller and a farmer. [65][66][67] He arrived in Pakistan at a time when tensions with India were at a high level. -. He was depicted breaking the sound barrier in the opening scene. In his portrayal of the astronauts of NASAs Mercury program, Mr. Wolfe wrote about the post-World War II test pilot fraternity in Californias desert and its notion that a man should have the ability to go up in a hurtling piece of machinery and put his hide on the line and then have the moxie, the reflexes, the experience, the coolness to pull it back in the last yawning moment and then go up again the next day, and the next day, and every next day., That quality, understood but unspoken, Mr. Wolfe added, would entitle a pilot to be part of the very Brotherhood of the Right Stuff itself.. Legendary airman Chuck Yeager the first pilot in history confirmed to break the sound barrier died Monday, his wife announced. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager, a military test pilot who was the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound and live to tell about it, died Dec. 7. It is w/ profound sorrow, I must tell you that my life love General Chuck Yeager passed just before 9pm ET. He was 97. But he joined a flight program for enlisted men in July 1942, figuring it would get him out of kitchen detail and guard duty. Chuck Yeager, standing next to the "Glamorous Glennis," the Bell X-1 experimental plane with which he first broke the sound barrier. But you dont let that affect your job., The modest Yeager said in 1947 he could have gone even faster had the plane carried more fuel. Yeagers feat was kept top secret for about a year when the world thought the British had broken the sound barrier first. Yeager nicknamed the plane "Glamourous Glennis" after his wife. What really strikes me looking over all those years is how lucky I was, how lucky, for example, to have been born in 1923 and not 1963 so that I came of age just as aviation itself was entering the modern era, Yeager said in a December 1985 speech at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Yeager had unusually sharp vision (a visual acuity rated 20/10), which once enabled him to shoot a deer at 600yd (550m). His first wife, the former Glennis Dickhouse, with whom he had four children, died in 1990. After World War II, he became a test pilot beginning at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. [68][69] After hostilities broke out in 1971, he decided to stay in West Pakistan and continued overseeing the PAF's operations. He was 97. [78] Also in popular culture, Yeager has been referenced several times as being part of the shared Star Trek universe, including having a fictional type of starship named after him and appearing in archival footage within the opening title sequence for the series Star Trek: Enterprise (20012005). He is survived by his wife; two daughters, Susan Yeager and Sharon Yeager Flick; and a son, Don. He passed away on December 7, Pearl Harbor Day, with not enough fanfare. But he was hidden by members of the French underground, made it to neutral Spain by climbing the snowy Pyrenees, carrying a severely wounded flier with him, and returned to his base in England. Yeager retired from the Air Force in 1975 and moved to a ranch in Cedar Ridge in Northern California where he continued working as a consultant to the Air Force and Northrop Corp. and became well known to younger generations as a television pitchman for automotive parts and heat pumps. 1 of 2. He left Muroc in 1954 and in that decade and the 1960s, he held commands in Germany, France, Spain and the US. The airport that serves Charleston, West Virginia, is named after Chuck Yeager. No risk is too great to prevent the necessary job from getting done, Bridenstine said. 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. He retired from the Air Force in 1975 after logging more than 10,000 hours of flight time in roughly 360 different military aircraft models. Sixteen months later he was a non-commissioned officer with the 363rd Fighter Squadron based at Leiston, Suffolk three concrete runways surrounded by a sea of mud flying a North American P-51 Mustang. 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.. Glennis Dickhouse was pilot Chuck Yeager's wife of 45 years. It's more than that, though. My beginnings back in West Virginia tell who I am to this day, Yeager wrote. Yeager shot down 13 German planes on 64 missions during World War II, including five on a single mission. Living to a ripe old age is not an end in itself. The retired brigadier-general's wife, Victoria Yeager, confirmed the news of his death on . [3] When he was five years old, his family moved to Hamlin, West Virginia. 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 . On October 12, 1944, he became the first pilot in his group to make "ace in a day," downing five enemy aircraft in a single mission. An. 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. 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. He was also one of the first American pilots to fly a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15, after its pilot, No Kum-sok, defected to South Korea. News of the then-astounding accomplishment was kept from the public until June 1948 but that didnt matter to Yeager. You don't do it 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. Brigadier General Charles Elwood Yeager (/jer/ YAY-gr, February 13, 1923 December 7, 2020) was a United States Air Force officer, flying ace, and record-setting test pilot who in October 1947 became the first pilot in history confirmed to have exceeded the speed of sound in level flight. ", Yeager never considered himself to be courageous or a hero. Yeagers death is a tremendous loss to our nation, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement. . He was 97. He was worried that the injury would remove him from the mission and reported that he went to a civilian doctor in nearby Rosamond, who taped his ribs. In recognition of his achievements and the outstanding performance ratings of those units, he was promoted to brigadier general in 1969 and inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1973, retiring on March 1, 1975. In April 1962, Yeager made his only flight with Neil Armstrong. 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. "Over Tehachapi. Thanks for contacting us. Yeager broke the sound barrier when he tested the X-1 in October 1947, although. Chuck Yeager (@GenChuckYeager) . XBB.1.5 Now Predominant COVID-19 Variant In Oregon. 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. If there is such a thing as the right stuff in piloting, then it is experience. Anyone can read what you share. [50][51] Returning to Muroc, during the latter half of 1953, Yeager was involved with the USAF team that was working on the X-1A, an aircraft designed to surpass Mach 2 in level flight. The games include Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer, Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer 2.0, and Chuck Yeager's Air Combat. [98] On August 25, 2009, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver announced that Yeager would be one of 13 California Hall of Fame inductees in The California Museum's yearlong exhibit. Chuck Yeager, the first person to break the sound barrier and one of the U.S. Air Force's most decorated test pilots, died Monday. I was just a lucky kid who caught the right ride, he said. The X-1A began spinning viciously and spiraling to Earth, dropping 50,000 feet in about a minute. Chuck Yeager at Edwards Air Force Base in California, on October 14, 1997. 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. 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. In 1962, he became the first commandant of the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School, which trained and produced astronauts for NASA and the Air Force. 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. I live just down the street from his mother, said Gene Brewer, retired publisher of the weekly Lincoln Journal. The couple have four children. Yeager never sought the spotlight and was always a bit gruff. Chuck Yeager, who has died aged 97, stands alongside the Wright Brothers and Charles Lindbergh in the history of American aviation. [53][e], Yeager was foremost a fighter pilot and held several squadron and wing commands. It is w/ profound sorrow, I must tell you that my life love General Chuck Yeager passed just before 9pm ET, Victoria Yeager wrote on her husbands verified Twitter account. His wife,. hide caption. Yeager's death was announced on his official. That's what you're taught to do.". "And very few people do that, and he managed not only to escape. Another son, Michael, died in 2011. General Yeagerpreparing to board an F-15D Eagle in 2012. American pilot who was the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound. Flying F-15 planes, he broke the sound barrier again on the 50th and 55th anniversaries of his pioneering flight, and he was a passenger on an F-15 plane in another breaking of the sound barrier to commemorate the 65th anniversary. My accomplishments as a test pilot tell more about luck, happenstance and a persons destiny. He also had a keen interest in interacting with PAF personnel from various Pakistani Squadrons and helping them develop combat tactics. In addition to his flying skills, Yeager also had "better than perfect" vision: 20/10. Gen. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager died Dec. 7. Yeager was born February 13, 1923, in Myra, West Virginia, to farming parents Albert Hal Yeager (1896-1963) and Susie Mae Yeager (ne Sizemore; 1898-1987). Chuck Yeager, a World War II fighter pilot, the first person to break the sound barrier and one of the subjects of Philip Kaufman 's The Right Stuff has died. In a tweet, Victoria Yeager wrote: "It is w/ profound sorrow, I must tell you that my life love General Chuck Yeager passed just before 9pm ET.". On Oct. 14, 1947, Yeager, then a 24-year-old captain, pushed an orange, bullet-shaped Bell X-1 rocket plane past 660 mph to break the sound barrier, at the time a daunting aviation milestone . 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. "[79], For several years in the 1980s, Yeager was connected to General Motors, publicizing ACDelco, the company's automotive parts division. [8], His cousin, Steve Yeager, was a professional baseball catcher. When Yeager left Hamlin, he was already known as a daredevil. A message posted to his Twitter account says, "Fr. Yeager's wife, Victoria, paid tribute on Twitter. She and the four children of his first marriage survive him. Video, 'Trump or bust' - grassroots Republicans are still loyal, "It is w/ profound sorrow, I must tell you that my life love General Chuck Yeager passed just before 9pm ET. Among the flights he made after breaking the sound barrier was one on Dec. 12. If youre willing to bleed, Uncle Sam will give you all the planes you want.. Missions featured several of Yeager's accomplishments and let players attempt to top his records. On Oct. 14, 1947, Yeager, then a 24-year-old captain, pushed an orange, bullet-shaped Bell X-1 rocket plane past 660 mph to break the sound barrier, at the time a daunting aviation milestone. The Air Force kept the feat a secret, an outgrowth of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, but in December 1947, Aviation Week magazine revealed that the sound barrier had been broken; the Air Force finally acknowledged it in June 1948. 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 . Chuck Yeager, a World War II fighter pilot, the first person to break the sound barrier and one of the subjects of Philip Kaufman 's The Right Stuff has died. He finished the war with 11.5 official victories, including one of the first air-to-air victories over a jet fighter, a German Messerschmitt Me 262 that he shot down as it was on final approach for landing. When youre fooling around with something you dont know much about, there has to be apprehension. [19], Despite a regulation prohibiting "evaders" (escaped pilots) from flying over enemy territory again, the purpose of which was to prevent resistance groups from being compromised by giving the enemy a second chance to possibly capture him, Yeager was reinstated to flying combat. 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". The previous year, he became the first pilot to break the sound barrier. Yeager married 45-year-old Victoria Scott D'Angelo in 2003. He was 97. [6], Yeager's participation in the test pilot training program for NASA included controversial behavior. Ive had a ball.. Ive flown 341 types of military planes in every country in the world and logged about 18,000 hours, he said in an interview in the January 2009 issue of Mens Journal. He also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985. 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. GRASS VALLEY, Calif. (AP) Retired Air Force Brig. After the war, General Yeager was assigned to Muroc Army Air Base in California, where hotshot pilots were testing jet prototypes. Yeager was not present in the aircraft. He was 97. Yeager also commanded Air Force fighter squadrons and wings, and the Aerospace Research Pilot School for military astronauts. But you dont let that affect your job., The modest Yeager said in 1947 he could have gone even faster had the plane carried more fuel. Gen. It was not until 10 June 1948 that the US finally announced its success, but Yeager was already soaring towards myth. President Gerald Ford presented the medal to Yeager in a ceremony at the White House on December 8, 1976. Gen. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager prepares to board an F-15D Eagle from the 65th Aggressor Squadron at . Throughout his life, Yeager set numerous other flight records. 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. Later on, I realized that this mission had to end in a letdown because the real barrier wasnt in the sky but in our knowledge and experience of supersonic flight.. He flew P-51 Mustang fighters in the European theater during World War II, and in March 1944, on his eighth mission, he was shot down over France by a German fighter plane and parachuted into woods with leg and head wounds. On later visits, he often buzzed the town. "Yeager epitomized the pioneering spirit that has and always will propel the Test community Toward the UnexploredAd Inexplorata! With the U.S. Air Force's 75th Birthday approaching next year, we look back at the legacy of the first person to break the sound barrier at a time when the Air Force was not even a month old. 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. Gen. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager died Dec. 7. [49], Yeager went on to break many other speed and altitude records. An accident during a December 1963 test flight in one of the school's NF-104s resulted in serious injuries. In 1950, General Yeagers X-1 plane, which he christened Glamorous Glennis, honoring his wife, went on display at the SmithsonianInstitution in Washington.