Chuck Yeager was a test pilot of the US Air Force and the first man to break the sound barrier, on October 14th, 1947.
Source: Rolex Encyclopedia
General Yeager was born on the 13th of February 1923 in Myra, West Virginia, in 1923. In 1939 he applied for the Citizens Military Training Camp in Fort Benjamin Harrison and starting the 12th of September 1941 he was part of the Army Corps. In July 1942 he started his pilot training of the flying sergeant program and in March 1943 he received his pilot wings and became a flight officer in Luke Field, Arizona.
He was an ace of World War II, shot down 13 enemy aircraft, including a Me-262 and 5 in a single mission. Also flew in 127 missions in the Vietnam War.
On the 14th of October 1947 General Yeager was the first pilot to break through the sound barrier, flying the Bell X-1 with a speed of Mach 1.07 (670 mph). In the following two years flew another 33 times with the X-1, achieving a topspeed of Mach 1.45 (957 mph) at a height of 70.000 feet.
In December 1953 Yeager flew with the Bell X-1A at a speed of Mach 2.44 (1.650 mph), a record that still stands for an airplane with straight wings.
Chuck Yeager made a brief appearance in the movie The Right Stuff, in 1983.
The Bell X-1
Used reaction motor E6000-C4 (Thiokol XLR-11) with four chambers and liquid fuel, developed 6,000 lb (13.227,73 kg) of standard thrust. Other data:
- Maximum speed: 967 mph (1,556 km/h).
- Maximum altitude: 80,000 feet (24,384 m).
- Length: 31.00 ft (9.45 m).
- Width: 28.02 ft (8.54 m).
Chuck Yeager’s Air Combat
In 1991, was created the game for PC Chuck Yeager’s Air Combat. It’s an air combat simulator, where you can pilot aircraft from WW2, Korea, and Vietnam wars. I played this game before I have internet at my house.
