Chuck Yeager 100 -- February 13, 2023

listal.com

General Chuck Yeager, the first pilot to break the sound barrier on purpose, has died. During World War Two, he started as an enlisted mechanic in the US Army Air Force, and then became a flight officer (something like a warrant officer), He flew a P-51 Mustang in Europe and was credited with 11.5 victories. In 1944, he received a commission.

After the war, he became a test pilot and broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 rocket plane. He stayed in the US Air Force, commanding fighter squadrons and wings, and was the first commandant of the US Air Force Test Pilot School. 

Chuck Yeager was the best character in Tom Wolf's book The Right Stuff and in Phil Kaufman's movie adaption. Sam Shepard, seen in the photo with Yeager, played Yeager.