General Chuck Yeager, USAF - Academy of Achievement. First Man to Break the Sound Barrier. It’s your duty to fly the airplane.

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If you get killed in it, you don’t know anything about it anyway. Duty is paramount. It’s that simple if you’re a military guy.

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You don’t say ‘I’m not going to do that — that’s dangerous.' If it’s your duty to do it, that’s the way it is. Chuck Yeager is unquestionably the most famous test pilot of all time. He won a permanent place in the history of aviation as the first pilot ever to fly faster than the speed of sound, but that is only one of the remarkable feats this pilot performed in service to his country. Charles Elwood Yeager was born in 1. Myra, West Virginia and grew up in the nearby village of Hamlin. Immediately upon graduation from high school he enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps to serve in World War II.

Captain Chuck Yeager with the X- 1 supersonic research aircraft in 1. Shot down over enemy territory only one day after his first kill in 1. Yeager evaded capture, and with the aid of the French resistance, made his way across the Pyrenees to neutral Spain.

Although army policy prohibited his return to combat flight, Yeager personally appealed to General Dwight D. Eisenhower and was allowed to fly combat missions again.

In all, he flew 6. World War II. On one occasion he shot down a German jet from a prop plane. By war’s end he had downed 1. October 1. 4, 1. 94.

The Bell X- 1 became the first airplane to fly faster than the speed of sound. Piloted by Air Force Captain Charles E. Chuck” Yeager, the X- 1 reached a speed of 1,1. Mach 1. 0. 6, at an altitude of 1. Yeager named the airplane “Glamorous Glennis” in tribute to his wife. After the war, Yeager continued to serve the newly constituted United States Air Force as a flight instructor and test pilot. In 1. 94. 7, he was assigned to test the rocket- powered X- 1 fighter plane.

At the time, no one knew if a fixed- wing aircraft could fly faster than sound, or if a human pilot could survive the experience. Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier on October 1. In 1. 95. 2, he set a new air speed record of 1. He flew test flights in Korea, and commanded a fighter squadron in Europe. Left side view of Bell X- 1 “Glamorous Glennis” in flight over Muroc Air Force Base, flown by Charles Elwood “Chuck” Yeager and photographed by Robert A. Hoover from Lockheed FP- 8. The Bell X- 1 was initially called the XS- 1 for “experimental – supersonic.” The designation was later simplified to X- 1.

The X- 1 program was the first of a series of “X” experimental manned and unmanned projects that continues to this day. After the onset of the space race in 1. Yeager commanded the Air Force Aerospace Research Pilots School to train pilots for the space program. In this capacity, Yeager supervised development of the space simulator and the introduction of advanced computers to Air Force pilots. Although Yeager himself was passed over for service in space, nearly half of the astronauts who served in the Gemini, Mercury and Apollo programs were graduates of Yeager’s school. December 1. 7, 1. Washington, D. C.: President Harry Truman awards the Collier Air Trophy, commonly rated aviation’s highest honor, to the three men who will share the honor for the part they played in the first human faster- than- sound flight. Watch The Nice Guys Download Full more.

Left to right are John Stack of Hampton, Virginia, research scientist on the staff of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics; President Truman; Captain Charles E. Yeager, Air Force test pilot who made the first flight; and Lawrence D. Bell, the president of Bell Aircraft Corporation of Buffalo. Bettman)In 1. 96.

Yeager was flying the experimental Lockheed Starfighter at over twice the speed of sound when the engine shut off and he was forced to abandon the spinning aircraft. Yeager’s compression suit was set on fire by the burning debris from the ejector seat, which became entangled in his parachute. He survived the fall, but required extensive skin grafts for his burns. Air Force Captain Charles Yeager, 2. The Air Force space school was closed in 1. NASA took over the training of astronauts.

During the Vietnam War, Yeager — now a full colonel — commanded the 4. Philippines, flying 1. Jackie Cochran and Colonel Chuck Yeager, the first woman and man to break the sound barrier, walk away from an aircraft after a flight, Edwards Air Force Base, California. Their friendship lasted until her death in 1. In 1. 96. 8, Yeager was promoted to brigadier general. He is one of a very few who have risen from enlisted man to general in the Air Force. In 1. 97. 0, General Yeager served as U.

S. Defense Representative to Pakistan and supervised Pakistan’s air defense in its war with India. He retired from the Air Force in 1.

Awards Council member General Chuck Yeager presents the American Academy of Achievement’s Golden Plate Award to Olympic gold medal gymnast Mary Lou Retton at the 1. Banquet of the Golden Plate in Denver, CO. In 1. 97. 6, Chuck Yeager was awarded the Congressional Silver Medal, presented to him by President Gerald Ford. President Ronald Reagan later honored him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. These are the highest honors the nation bestows for outstanding service or achievement. General Yeager’s other decorations include the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star with V device, the Air Force Commendation medal, the Silver Star with oak leaf cluster, the Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross with two clusters, and the Air Medal with ten clusters. His civilian awards include the Harmon International Trophy (1.

Collier and Mackay Trophies (1. Watch Severance Download. He was the first and the youngest military pilot to be inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame (1. General Yeager honoring the 5. Edwards Air Force Base. Yeager broke the sound barrier in 1. Bell X- 1, similar to the aircraft behind him, nicknamed “Glamourous Glennis.”A bestselling nonfiction book, The Right Stuff (1.

Tom Wolfe, and the popular film of the same title (1. Yeager’s name a household word among Americans too young to remember Yeager’s exploits of the 1. Yeager’s autobiography enjoyed phenomenal success, and he remains much in demand on the lecture circuit and as a corporate spokesman. Chuck Yeager made his last flight as a military consultant on October 1. X- 1. He observed the occasion by once again breaking the sound barrier, this time in an F- 1.

Inducted in 1. 97.