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General Charles E . “ Chuck ” Yeager
Remembering a Legacy 1923-2020
AIR FORCE TEST CENTER HISTORY OFFICE
The fastest man alive . The guy with the right stuff . Mr . Supersonic . The first man to break the sound barrier .
A true American .
These are just some of the nicknames attributed to General Chuck Yeager , who was born and raised in Myra , WV , in 1923 and passed away on December 7 , 2020 , at the age of 97 . After graduating from Hamlin High School in 1941 , Yeager enlisted in the U . S . Army Air Forces and served as an aircraft mechanic before starting his flight training as the country entered World War II . In October 1944 , he shot down five enemy aircraft during a single mission and is credited with downing at least 12 German planes during the war . In total , he flew 64 combat missions .
After the war ended , Yeager became a test pilot at the Muroc Army Air Field , now known as Edwards Air
Force Base , in Edwards , CA , where he was selected to fly a rocket-powered Bell XS-1 for research on high-speed flight . Two days before he was scheduled to fly , he broke two ribs after falling off a horse . He did not want the flight to be canceled , so he had his ribs taped by a civilian doctor .
On October 14 , 1947 , Yeager secured his place in history by becoming the first man to break the sound barrier by flying 700 miles per hour — Mach 1.06 — at an altitude of 45,000 feet . In December 1953 , he set a second speed record by flying twoand-a-half times the speed of sound in a Bell X-1A .
A recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and an icon for generations of Americans and West Virginians , Yeager ’ s fame is immortalized across the Mountain State at Yeager Airport , Yeager Bridge on the West Virginia Turnpike and the Yeager Scholars program at Marshall University .
As we remember his legacy , Yeager ’ s story lives on , inspiring West Virginians to serve , to dream , to persevere , to overcome and to fly . •