Pilot Chuck Yeager 97 | American News

American pilot Chuck Yeager, who became the first person to break the sound barrier and later immortalized in The Right Stuff, has died at the age of 97.

“It simply came to our notice then [with] Deeply saddened, I have to tell you that General Chuck Yeager, the love of my life, passed away before 9pm ET, ”Victoria Yeager said in a tweet announcing her death on Monday night.

He added: “The incredible life lived well, the legacy of America’s greatest pilot, strength, adventure and patriotism will be remembered forever.”

Known for his outspokenness and bravery, World War II Ace, his exploits as a test pilot in the post-war years earned him lasting fame, leading to successful space travel in the 1960s.

Although the lack of college education meant that he was not selected for NASA’s Emerging Astronaut Program in 1960, he considered his competitors to be mere travelers who “threw the right switches off the ground.”

The adventures that prevented his death gained even greater fame due to his association with astronauts such as John Glenn in his book The Right Stuff by Tom Wolf. It was later made into the critically acclaimed film of the same name, starring Yeager Sam Shepherd.

In tribute to Jesus, NASA executive Jim Friedenstein called his death “the greatest loss” to the nation.

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly called Yager a “true legend with the right things.”

Born in West Virginia in 1923, Yeager joined the Air Force at the beginning of World War II and served on his way to becoming a fighter pilot.

After flying the Glamorous Kleinis P-51 Mustang as a tribute to his girlfriend (later wife) Kleinis Dickhouse, he received 12 “killed” German planes – including five in a single dog fight. During a voyage to Europe, he was shot dead before escaping from France to Spain to rejoin the war effort.

After the war he became a test pilot and assigned to the Murok Air Force Base in California as part of a covert XS-1 program aimed at striking the fastest Mac 1 in sound.

On October 14, 1947, a B-29 bomber confirmed his place in history when he carried his brightly colored Bell X-1 aircraft over 26,000 feet (7,925 m) over the Mojave Desert in California.

Neither Yeager nor the aeronautical engineers knew whether the aircraft – or the pilot – could handle unprecedented speeds without breaking. But Jogger carried the liquid oxygen and alcohol-powered X-1 Mac at 1.06 mph or 43,000 ft (13,000 m) at 700mph (1,126kmh).

He then quietly landed the craft named after Kleinis on a dry lake bed, 14 minutes after it had been cut loose on a plane, a significant step in space exploration.

Yeager said he noted a Mac read 0.965 on his speedometer before it jumped off the scale without a pump.

In his 1985 autobiography, he wrote, “I collapsed.” “After all the worries, breaking the sound barrier became a completely fast track.”

However, he almost did not make the plane, fell from the horse and broke two ribs two days ago when he tried to set the record. Despite the pain, he tied his body and upgraded a device with a broom handle so he could close the cockpit hatch with a tight gap without revealing his disability. These are the “right things” that fascinated Wolf.

Yeager was unhindered by having a job that took him to the brink of death in every job, such as landing his X-1A safely after hitting a Mac 2.4 like a 1953 plane and then losing control of the plane for 51 seconds.

“It is your duty to let the plane fly,” he told an interviewer. “If you’re killed in it, you know nothing about it, so why worry about it?”

After his test pilot hike, Yeager commanded combat forces and flew 127 combat operations during the Vietnam War.

In the early 1960s, he was in charge of astronaut-style training for Air Force soldiers, but that plan ended when the U.S. government decided not to militarize the space. However, the 26 people who coached Yeager went into orbit as NASA astronauts.

Yeager became Brigadier General in 1997, marking the 50th anniversary of his historic flight. He later announced that it was his last military flight.

Yeager started a social media campaign in 2016 at the age of 93, when he started posting questions from the public on Twitter, and responded a few times. When asked what he thinks of the moon, he replied: “It is.”

Yeager and Glennis, who died of cancer in 1990, had four children. He married Victoria Scott de Angelo in 2003.