This. On October 12, 1944, he became the first pilot in his group to make "ace in a day," downing five enemy aircraft in a single mission. In his portrayal of the astronauts of NASAs Mercury program, Mr. Wolfe wrote about the post-World War II test pilot fraternity in Californias desert and its notion that a man should have the ability to go up in a hurtling piece of machinery and put his hide on the line and then have the moxie, the reflexes, the experience, the coolness to pull it back in the last yawning moment and then go up again the next day, and the next day, and every next day., That quality, understood but unspoken, Mr. Wolfe added, would entitle a pilot to be part of the very Brotherhood of the Right Stuff itself.. Chuck Yeager, a folksy, hard-living daredevil who was the first aviator to break the sound barrier and became a symbol of bravery for generations of test pilots, astronauts and average Americans . General Yeager broke the sound barrier again in an F-15D on the 50th anniversary of his historic flight in 1997. In his memoir, General Yeager said he was annoyed when people asked him if he had the right stuff, since he felt it implied a talent he was born with. Supersonic pioneer Chuck Yeager passes away at 97 | News | Flight Global Aviation pioneer Charles 'Chuck' Yeager passed away on 7 December at the age of 97. The first time I ever saw a jet, he said, I shot it down. It was a Messerschmitt Me 262, and he was the first in the 363rd to do so. When youre fooling around with something you dont know much about, there has to be apprehension. In 1950, General Yeagers X-1 plane, which he christened Glamorous Glennis, honoring his wife, went on display at the SmithsonianInstitution in Washington. Tim Stelloh is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital. His decorations included the Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Bronze Star. 15 Squadron "Cobras" at Peshawar Airbase, the Squadron's OC Wing Commander Najeeb Khan escorted him to K2 in a pair of F-86Fs after Yeager requested a visit to the second highest mountain on Earth. [89] In December 1975, the U.S. Congress awarded Yeager a silver medal "equivalent to a noncombat Medal of Honor for contributing immeasurably to aerospace science by risking his life in piloting the X-1 research airplane faster than the speed of sound on October 14, 1947". Chuck Yeager (@GenChuckYeager) . Wells died Wednesday of illness related to COVID-19. He was also a consultant on several Yeager-themed video games. What's the least exercise we can get away with? The legend grew, culminating with secular canonisation in Tom Wolfes book The Right Stuff (1979), a romance on the birth of the US space programme, on Yeager himself, and even on Panchos (and its foul-mouthed female proprietor, Florence Pancho Barnes). Chuck Yeager, the most famous test pilot of his generation, who was the first to break the sound barrier and, thanks to Tom Wolfe, came to personify the death-defying aviator who possessed the elusive yet unmistakable right stuff, died on Monday in Los Angeles. Yeager shot down 13 German planes on 64 missions during World War II, including five on a single mission. [53][e], Yeager was foremost a fighter pilot and held several squadron and wing commands. In 1947 Yeager was the first person to break the sound barrier; and, in hitting Mach 1, he set the US on a path that was to lead to Neil Armstrongs 1969 moon landing. Chuck Yeager in 1948. In February 1968, Yeager was assigned command of the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, and led the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II wing in South Korea during the Pueblo crisis. [86] Later that month, he was the recipient of the Tony Jannus Award for his achievements. Published: Dec. 7, 2020 at 7:56 PM PST. He was 97. ". I thought he was going to take me off the roof. [83], On October 14, 1997, on the 50th anniversary of his historic flight past Mach 1, he flew a new Glamorous Glennis III, an F-15D Eagle, past Mach 1. Van der Linden says Yeager became a fighter ace, shooting down five enemy aircraft in a single mission and four others on a different day. Other pilots who have been suggested as unproven possibilities to have exceeded the sound barrier before Yeager were all flying in a steep dive for the supposed occurrence. He retired from the Air Force in 1975 after logging more than 10,000 hours of flight time in roughly 360 different military aircraft models. Sixteen months later he was a non-commissioned officer with the 363rd Fighter Squadron based at Leiston, Suffolk three concrete runways surrounded by a sea of mud flying a North American P-51 Mustang. He was the most righteous of all those with the right stuff, said Maj. Gen. Curtis Bedke, commander of the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards. Yeager had been cheap, sneered some, and thus expendable. [118] Yeager's son Mickey (Michael) died unexpectedly in Oregon, on March 26, 2011. 11 displaced after fire breaks out at Union City, Rare Sighting: Bald eagles spotted in Alameda County, Uvalde group helps those affected in Santa Rosa stabbing, 4 Fun Things: Heres whats happening in the Bay, Draymond Green spent his first NBA check here, 2 Montana SB jerseys sold at record-breaking prices, Get rid of Black History Month, Draymond Green says, Purdy elbow surgery could happen next week, Jake Paul takes first boxing defeat by split decision. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager, a military test pilot who was the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound and live to tell about it, died Dec. 7. [33][34] Under the National Security Act of 1947, the USAAF became the United States Air Force (USAF) on September18. A movie of the same name followed in 1983, with Sam Shepard as Yeager. But he was hidden by members of the French underground, made it to neutral Spain by climbing the snowy Pyrenees, carrying a severely wounded flier with him, and returned to his base in England. The pilots and their families had quarters little better than shacks, the days were scorching and the nights frigid, and the landscape was barren. Mike Ives and Neil Vigdor contributed reporting. The X-1A began spinning viciously and spiraling to Earth, dropping 50,000 feet in about a minute. When Yeager left Hamlin, he was already known as a daredevil. In this file handout photo taken on 14 October, 2012, retired United States Air Force Brig. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? Yeager was the first confirmed to break the sound barrier, and the first by any measure to do it in level flight. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. He played "Fred", a bartender at "Pancho's Place", which was most appropriate, as Yeager said, "if all the hours were ever totaled, I reckon I spent more time at her place than in a cockpit over those years". [75] Yeager was incensed over the incident and demanded U.S. They had four children (Susan, Don, Mickey, and Sharon). Glennis was the namesake of his sound-barrier breaking Bell X-1 aircraft . Famed test pilot, retired Brig. They had four children: Donald, Michael, Sharon and Susan. Yeager, who was at the time just 24, managed to break the speed of sound at an altitude of 45,000ft (13,700m). Yeager was awarded the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star, the Air Medal and the Purple Heart. She is the namesake of his sound-barrier breaking Bell X-1 aircraft, "Glamorous Glennis". "Harmon Prizes go for 2 Air "Firsts"; Vertical-Flight Test Pilot and Airship Endurance Captain Are 1955 Winners, "The Wife Stuff: Feuds, Trials & Lawsuits, Bills, Bills, Bills, Chuck Yeager", "Republicans Hire Chuck Yeager For Political Ads", "Chuck Yeager is in love. [52], On November 20, 1953, the U.S. Navy program involving the D-558-II Skyrocket and its pilot, Scott Crossfield, became the first team to reach twice the speed of sound. [65][67][71] Yeager also flew around in his Beechcraft Queen Air, a small passenger aircraft that was assigned to him by the Pentagon, picking up shot-down Indian fighter pilots. The public was only told about the mission in June 1948. The secret to my success was that somehow I always managed to live to fly another day.. It's more than that, though. [23] In the meantime, Yeager shot down his second enemy aircraft, a German Junkers Ju 88 bomber, over the English Channel. Today, the plane Yeager first broke the sound barrier in, the X-1, hangs inside the air and space museum. Battling stormy weather as he took the plane aloft, he analyzed its strengths and weaknesses. In his memoir, General Yeager wrote that through all his years as a pilot, he had made sure to learn everything I could about my airplane and my emergency equipment., It may not have accorded with his image, but, as he told it: I was always afraid of dying. Chuck Yeager's history, legacy still live in Kern County and beyond. [123][124], Yeager lived in Grass Valley, Northern California and died in the afternoon of December 7, 2020 (National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day), at age 97, in a Los Angeles hospital.[125][126]. [121] Subsequent to the commencement of their relationship, a bitter dispute arose between Yeager, his children and D'Angelo. Yeager was born February 13, 1923, in Myra, West Virginia, to farming parents Albert Hal Yeager (1896-1963) and Susie Mae Yeager (ne Sizemore; 1898-1987). In the 2019 documentary series Chasing the Moon, the filmmakers made the claim that Yeager instructed staff and participants at the school that "Washington is trying to cram the nigger down our throats. [122] In August 2008, the California Court of Appeal ruled for Yeager, finding that his daughter Susan had breached her duty as trustee. [President] Kennedy is using this to make 'racial equality,' so do not speak to him, do not socialize with him, do not drink with him, do not invite him over to your house, and in six months he'll be gone. It is w/ profound sorrow, I must tell you that my life love General Chuck Yeager passed just before 9pm ET, Victoria Yeager wrote on her husbands verified Twitter account. [64], From 1971 to 1973, at the behest of Ambassador Joseph Farland, Yeager was assigned as the Air Attache in Pakistan to advise the Pakistan Air Force which was led by Abdur Rahim Khan (the first Pakistani to break the sound barrier). [23], Yeager demonstrated outstanding flying skills and combat leadership. Oct. 14, 1947, Yeager became the first test pilot to break the sound barrier as he flew the experimental Bell XS-1 (later X-1) rocket plane over Muroc Dry Lake in California. Chuck Yeager, the American test pilot who became the first person to break the sound barrier and was later immortalised in Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff, has died aged 97. Chuck Yeager at Edwards Air Force Base in California, on October 14, 1997. Sam Shepard received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Yeager in the 1983 film. He married Glennis Dickhouse of Oroville, California, on Feb. 26, 1945. He was worried that the injury would remove him from the mission and reported that he went to a civilian doctor in nearby Rosamond, who taped his ribs. Why Alex Murdaugh was spared the death penalty, 'Trump or bust' - grassroots Republicans are still loyal. Away from The Right Stuff, some critics charged that the vastly experienced Yeager had simply ignored advice about the complexities of the new jet. He enjoyed spins and dives and loved staging mock dogfights with his fellow trainees. He then went on to break several other speed and altitude records in the following years. 1 of 5 Legendary airman Chuck Yeager the first pilot in history confirmed to break the sound barrier died Monday, his wife announced. The game manuals featured quotes and anecdotes from Yeager and were well received by players. [78] Also in popular culture, Yeager has been referenced several times as being part of the shared Star Trek universe, including having a fictional type of starship named after him and appearing in archival footage within the opening title sequence for the series Star Trek: Enterprise (20012005). Yeager died Monday, his wife, Victoria Yeager, said on his Twitter account. "I loved airplanes as a kid. Any airplane I name after you always brings me home. Summary: Retired Air Force Brig. American World War II flying ace and test pilot, Yeager had not been in an airplane prior to January 1942, when his Engineering Officer invited him on a test flight after maintenance of an. -. He grew up in nearby Hamlin, a town of about 400, where his father drilled for natural gas in the coal fields. [117] Glennis Yeager died of ovarian cancer in 1990. [120] He was 97. Yeager had gained one victory before he was shot down over France in his first aircraft (P-51B-5-NA s/n 43-6763) on March 5, 1944, on his eighth mission. Plane Said to Fly Faster Than Speed of Sound", "Mach match: Did an XP-86 beat Yeager to the punch? [19], Despite a regulation prohibiting "evaders" (escaped pilots) from flying over enemy territory again, the purpose of which was to prevent resistance groups from being compromised by giving the enemy a second chance to possibly capture him, Yeager was reinstated to flying combat. [67][72] The Beechcraft was later destroyed during an air raid by the Indian Air Force at a PAF airbase. [6], Yeager's participation in the test pilot training program for NASA included controversial behavior. Ive flown 341 types of military planes in every country in the world and logged about 18,000 hours, he said in an interview in the January 2009 issue of Mens Journal. WASHINGTON - Chuck Yeager, a World War II fighter ace who was the first human to travel faster than sound and whose gutsy test pilot exploits were immortalised in the bestselling book "The. BRIDGEPORT, W.Va (WDTV) - Legendary pilot and West Virginia native Chuck Yeager died Monday night, his wife said on social media. The children contended that D'Angelo, at least 35 years Yeager's junior, had married him for his fortune. He'd been fighting amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) for some time and that is believed to be the cause of his death, although no official statement has been released. The X-1A came along six years later, and it flew at twice the speed of sound. According to sources, James "MF" Yeager passed away this morning, September 2, 2022. Yeager nicknamed the rocket plane, and all his other aircraft, Glamorous Glennis for his wife, who died in 1990. Chuck Yeager, the steely "Right Stuff" test pilot who took aviation to the doorstep of space by becoming the first person to break the sound barrier more than 70 years ago, died on Monday at. 03:07 Glennis died in 1990. That night, he said, his family ate the goose for dinner. On 14 October 1947, Yeager's plane - nicknamed Glamorous Glennis, in honour of his first wife - was dropped from the bomb bay of a B-29 aircraft above the Mojave Desert in the south-western US. But there were no news broadcasts that day, no newspaper headlines. It might sound funny, but Ive never owned an airplane in my life. Air Force Captain Charles Yeager, 25, in Los Angeles on Jan., 21, 1949. If youre willing to bleed, Uncle Sam will give you all the planes you want.. The induction ceremony was on December 1, 2009, in Sacramento, California. General Yeagerpreparing to board an F-15D Eagle in 2012. Then-Col. Charles "Chuck" Yeager in New York City, New York, Oct. 18, 1962. Chuck Yeager, standing next to the "Glamorous Glennis," the Bell X-1 experimental plane with which he first broke the sound barrier. December 8, 2020. Warner Bros./ Courtesy: Everett Collection. until her death on Dec. 22, 1990. [95] He was inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor 1990 inaugural class. Retired Air Force Brig. Dec 9, 2020. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, Air Materiel Command Flight Performance School, Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer 2.0, The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, Air Force Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon, South Korean Order of National Security Merit, Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation, "Chuck Yeager, Test Pilot Who Broke the Sound Barrier, Is Dead at 97", "Four-Year-Old Boy Kills Baby Sister with Gun", https://archive.org/details/yeagerautobiogra00yeag/page/6, "Jeana Yeager Was Not Just Along for the Ride", "Chuck Yeager downs five becomes an 'Ace in a Day', "Escape and Evasion Case File for Flight Officer Charles (Chuck) E. Yeager", "The Story of Chuck Yeager, the Pilot Who Broke the Sound Barrier", "Chuck Yeager: Booming And Zooming (Part 1)", "WWII flying ace Chuck Yeager in extraordinary attack on 'nasty' and 'arrogant' British people", "Getting schooled with the Air Force's elite test pilots", "New U.S. Yeager died Monday, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement, calling the death "a tremendous loss to our nation." "Gen. Yeager's pioneering and innovative spirit advanced. US Air Force / The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images file. Subsequently he represented ACDelco (a General Motors company), lectured, worked as an aviation consultant, and continued to fly supersonic, and other, aircraft. When Yeager left Hamlin, he was already known as a daredevil. In a tweet from Yeager's . There is anecdotal evidence that American pilot, Yeager received the DSM in the Army design, since the. "Yeager epitomized the pioneering spirit that has and always will propel the Test community Toward the UnexploredAd Inexplorata! His signal achievement came on Oct. 14, 1947, when he climbed out of a B-29 bomber as it ascended over the Mojave Desert in California and entered the cockpit of an orange, bullet-shaped, rocket-powered experimental plane attached to the bomb bay. He was also one of the first American pilots to fly a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15, after its pilot, No Kum-sok, defected to South Korea. About. My beginnings back in West Virginia tell who I am to this day, Yeager wrote. He had reached a speed of 700 miles an hour, breaking the sound barrier and dispelling the long-held fear that any plane flying at or beyond the speed of sound would be torn apart by shock waves. Yeager's wife, Victoria Yeager, announced his death on . Chuck Yeager, Test Pilot Who Broke the Sound Barrier, Is Dead at 97, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/07/us/chuck-yeager-dead.html. It's not just flying the airplane, it's interpreting how the airplane is flying and understanding that. [93], In 1966, Yeager was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame. [12] He received his pilot wings and a promotion to flight officer at Luke Field, Arizona, where he graduated from Class 43C on March 10, 1943. "I was at the right place at the right time. [65][66][67] He arrived in Pakistan at a time when tensions with India were at a high level. Ketia Daniel, founder of BHM Cleaning Co., is BestReviews cleaning expert. Later on, I realized that this mission had to end in a letdown because the real barrier wasnt in the sky but in our knowledge and experience of supersonic flight.. hide caption. NASAs administrator, Jim Bridenstine, described General Yeagers death in a statement as a tremendous loss to our nation. The astronaut Scott Kelly, writing on Twitter, called him a true legend.. Yeager was born Feb. 23, 1923, in Myra, a tiny community on the Mud River deep in an Appalachian hollow about 40 miles southwest of Charleston. Retired Air Force Brig. His career began in World War II as a private in the United States Army, assigned to the Army Air Forces in 1941. In December 1953, General Yeager flew the X-1A plane at nearly two and a half times the speed of sound after barely surviving a spin, setting a world speed record. Yeager never forgot his roots and West Virginia named bridges, schools and Charlestons airport after him. After the war, Yeager became a test pilot and flew many types of aircraft, including experimental rocket-powered aircraft for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Then the couple went horse-riding, but it was a moonless night and, racing against his wife, Yeager hit a gate, knocked himself out, and cracked two ribs. He married Victoria DAngelo in 2003. During his stay with the Maquis, Yeager assisted the guerrillas in duties that did not involve direct combat; he helped construct bombs for the group, a skill that he had learned from his father. To New Heights: 19611975", "The Ability of a STOL Fighter to Perform the Mission of Tactical Air Forces (1961)", "Ed Dwight Was Set to Be the First Black Astronaut. Legendary test pilot and World War II fighter ace Gen. Charles E. Yeager died Monday night, according to a tweet released by his wife Victoria. The trick is to enjoy the years remaining, he said in Yeager: An Autobiography., I havent yet done everything, but by the time Im finished, I wont have missed much, he wrote. His death, at a hospital, was announced on his official Twitter account and confirmed by John Nicoletti, a family friend. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Yeager told the project engineer Jack Ridley about the injury, which, crucially, prevented him from using his right hand to secure the X-1 hatch. Yeager married 45-year-old Victoria Scott DAngelo in 2003. On Oct. 14, 1947, Yeager, then a 24-year-old captain, pushed an orange, bullet-shaped Bell X-1 rocket plane past 660 mph to break the sound barrier, at the time a daunting aviation milestone. Thanks for contacting us. In 2011, Yeager told NPR that the lack of publicity never much mattered to him. In 1941, soon after graduating from high school and shortly before the United States entered World War II, he enlisted in the Army Air Forces, later to become the US Air Force. It was a dangerous quest one that had killed other pilots in other planes. They're suing", "C.A. President Harry S. Truman awarded him the Collier air trophy in December 1948 for his breaking the sound barrier. Vice President Mike Pence said he will escort Victoria Yeager, the widow of retired Air Force Brig. [84] The chase plane for the flight was an F-16 Fighting Falcon piloted by Bob Hoover, a longtime test, fighter, and aerobatic pilot who had been Yeager's wingman for the first supersonic flight. A message posted to his Twitter account says, "Fr. An accident during a December 1963 test flight in one of the school's NF-104s resulted in serious injuries. A tweet posted on the former U.S. Air Force pilot's . [27][28] Yeager said, "I'm certainly not proud of that particular strafing mission against civilians. 1953, when he flew an X-1A to a record of more than 1,600 mph. Yeager retired from the Air Force in 1975 and moved to a ranch in Cedar Ridge in Northern California where he continued working as a consultant to the Air Force and Northrop Corp. and became well known to younger generations as a television pitchman for automotive parts and heat pumps. I live just down the street from his mother, said Gene Brewer, retired publisher of the weekly Lincoln Journal. Yeager never forgot his roots and West Virginia named bridges, schools and Charlestons airport after him. 1953, when he flew an X-1A to a record of more than 1,600 mph. He later regretted that his lack of a college education prevented him from becoming an astronaut. There he flew 127 missions. Chuck Yeager, the first person to break the sound barrier and one of the U.S. Air Force's most decorated test pilots, died Monday. One of the world's most famous aviators has died: Chuck Yeager best known as the first to break the sound barrier died at the age of 97. On Oct. 12, 1944, leading three fighter squadrons escorting bombers over Bremen, Germany, he downed five German planes, becoming an ace in a day. I owe to the Air Force". The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. [3] When he was five years old, his family moved to Hamlin, West Virginia. I don't know if I can get back to base or not. [98] On August 25, 2009, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver announced that Yeager would be one of 13 California Hall of Fame inductees in The California Museum's yearlong exhibit. You do it because it's duty. With the aircraft simultaneously rolling, pitching, and yawing out of control, Yeager dropped 51,000ft (16,000m) in less than a minute before regaining control at around 29,000ft (8,800m). His life was famously portrayed in Tom Wolfes 1979 book The Right Stuff which was later adapted into an Oscar-winning movie chronicling the postwar research in high-speed aircraft that led to NASAs Project Mercury. "He could give extremely detailed reports that the engineers found extremely useful. The documentary was screened at film festivals, aired on public television in the United States, and won an Emmy Award. [a] After serving as an aircraft mechanic, in September 1942, he entered enlisted pilot training and upon graduation was promoted to the rank of flight officer (the World War II Army Air Force version of the Army's warrant officer), later achieving most of his aerial victories as a P-51 Mustang fighter pilot on the Western Front, where he was credited with shooting down 11.5 enemy aircraft (the half credit is from a second pilot assisting him in a single shootdown). On October 19, 2006, the state of West Virginia also honored Yeager with a marker along Corridor G (part of U.S. Highway 119) in his home Lincoln County, and also renamed part of the highway the Yeager Highway. Yeager ended his tour credited with shooting down 13 planes, including five victories in one mission. ", Centre for Aerospace and Security Studies, "The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club", "Famous pilot Yeager re-enacting right stuff 65 years later", "Chuck Yeager, Pioneer of Supersonic Flight, Dies at Age 97", "Chuck Yeager is honored by Tuskegee Airman", "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement", "The Daily Diary of President Gerald R. Ford: December 8, 1976", "Ground-Level Monuments Honor Heroes of the Air", "Harry S. Truman The President's Day, November 2, 1950". Yeager's wife, Victoria, paid tribute on Twitter. You don't do it to get your damn picture on the front page of the newspaper. 1 of 2. Yeager was raised in Hamlin, West Virginia. [63], Yeager was promoted to brigadier general and was assigned in July 1969 as the vice-commander of the Seventeenth Air Force. It's not, you know, you don't do it for the to get your damn picture on the front page of the newspaper. Yeager was awarded the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star, the Air Medal and the Purple Heart. He returned to combat during the Vietnam War, flying several missions a month in twin-engine B-57 Canberras making bombing and strafing runs over South Vietnam. Yeagers pioneering and innovative spirit advanced Americas abilities in the sky and set our nations dreams soaring into the jet age and the space age. Yeager went into the history books after his flight in the Bell X-1 experimental rocket plane in 1947. Chuck Yeager, standing next to the "Glamorous Glennis," the Bell X-1 experimental plane with which he first broke the sound barrier. He enlisted in the Army Air Forces out of high school in September 1941, becoming an airplane mechanic. He accomplished the feat in a Bell X-1, a wild, high-flying rocket-propelled orange airplane that he nicknamed "Glamorous Glennis," after his first wife who died in 1990. Yeager had unusually sharp vision (a visual acuity rated 20/10), which once enabled him to shoot a deer at 600yd (550m). It wasnt a matter of not having airplanes that would fly at speeds like this. "Over Tehachapi. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Bob van der Linden of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington says Yeager stood out. "He got himself shot down and he escaped," van der Linden says. Charles Elwood Yeager was born on Feb. 13, 1923, in Myra, W. Va., the second of five children of Albert and Susie Mae (Sizemore) Yeager. Aviation Remembers Chuck Yeager. Chuck Yeager spent the last years of his life doing what he truly loved: flying airplanes, speaking to aviation groups and fishing for golden trout in California's Sierra Nevada mountains.