Written by Naman Anil Kumar, a grade 7 student

He was a United States Air force officer – an ace test pilot who broke the sound barrier in 1947. This was none other than the great pilot Chuck Yeager

Who was he?

He was born Charles Elwood Yeager on February 13, 1923, in West Virginia, the United States. He served as a soldier of the US Army in World War II. He also served as an aircraft mechanic. But then later he joined a pilot training program and upon graduation was promoted to the rank of flight officer 

He flew many types of aircraft, including experimental rocket-powered aircraft for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). – a US aeronautical research agency.

Through the NACA program, he became the first human to officially break the sound barrier on October 14, 1947.

What is a sound barrier?

This is the sharp rise in, what’s called the aerodynamic drag (the force that is) which takes place when an aircraft approaches the speed of sound.

Breaking the barrier:

Yeager’s plane was nicknamed Glamorous Glennis and he broke the sound barrier using the plane Bell X-1 on October 14, 1947, at an altitude of 45,000 feet.

He went on to break many of his own records of speed and altitude. IN 2012, at the age of 89, he broke the barrier for the last time.

Badges and Awards

Yeager was honoured with many awards and badges. The most significant one is the U.S. Air Force Command Pilot Badge, an Air Force Distinguished service medal at the time of his retirement in the year 1975.

We lost this great fighter ace on December 7, 2020, at the age of 97.

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Header Image source: https://snl.no/Chuck_Yeager