Gen. Charles "Chuck' Yeager, passed away. [17] He escaped to Spain on March 30, 1944, with the help of the Maquis (French Resistance) and returned to England on May 15, 1944. His Dutch-German family the surname was an anglicised version of Jger (hunter) had settled there in the 1800s. Xi Jinping is unveiling a new deputy - why it matters, Bakhmut attacks still being repelled, says Ukraine, Saving Private Ryan actor Tom Sizemore dies at 61, The children left behind in Cuba's mass exodus, Snow, Fire and Lights: Photos of the Week. ". The couple have four children. In his autobiography, Yeager wrote that he knew the lake bed was unsuitable for landings after recent rains, but Armstrong insisted on flying out anyway. Who was Chuck Yeager's first wife Glennis Dickhouse? 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. Chuck Yeager, Test Pilot Who Broke the Sound Barrier, Is Dead at 97 After they were bested, Ridley and Yeager decided to beat rival Crossfield's speed record in a series of test flights that they dubbed "Operation NACA Weep". There shouldve been a bump in the road, something to let you know that you had just punched a nice, clean hole through the sonic barrier. It was a matter of keeping them from falling apart, Yeager said. Downed pilots were not generally put back into combat, but his pleas to see action again were granted. [6], Yeager's participation in the test pilot training program for NASA included controversial behavior. Chuck Yeager, 'America's greatest pilot', dies aged 97 - Mail Online [52] For this feat, Yeager was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) in 1954. [33][34] Under the National Security Act of 1947, the USAAF became the United States Air Force (USAF) on September18. General Yeager's 14-minute sprint over the Mojave Desert on Oct. 14, 1947, is considered the most important airplane flight since Orville Wright swept over the sands of Kitty Hawk for 40 yards . 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. He started off as an aircraft mechanic and, despite becoming severely airsick during his first airplane ride, signed up for a program that allowed enlisted men to become pilots. He was 97. It's what happened moments later that cemented his legacy as a top test pilot. In December 1949, Muroc was renamed Edwards Air Force Base, and it became a center for advanced aviation research leading to the space program. 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. You do it because its duty. It's your job.". [94] He was inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1981. The Marshall University community is remembering Brig. He was 97. The previous year, he became the first pilot to break the sound barrier. [120] He married Glennis Dickhouse of Oroville, California, on Feb. 26, 1945. [9][b], Yeager enlisted as a private in the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) on September 12, 1941, and became an aircraft mechanic at George Air Force Base, Victorville, California. [82], In 2009, Yeager participated in the documentary The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club, a profile of his friend Pancho Barnes. 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. Gen. Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager, the first pilot to fly aircraft exceeding the speed of sound, has died at the age of 97. [25][26], In his 1986 memoirs, Yeager recalled with disgust that "atrocities were committed by both sides", and said he went on a mission with orders from the Eighth Air Force to "strafe anything that moved". I thought he was going to take me off the roof. Pilot Chuck Yeager Dies At 97, Had 'The Right Stuff' And Then Some From his family's words . Throughout his life, he flew more than 360 different types of aircraft over a 70-year period, and continued to fly for two decades after retirement as a consultant pilot for the United States Air Force. 2. [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). [118] Yeager's son Mickey (Michael) died unexpectedly in Oregon, on March 26, 2011. [36][c] Besides his wife who was riding with him, Yeager told only his friend and fellow project pilot Jack Ridley about the accident. Chuck Yeager (@GenChuckYeager) December 8, 2020 In 1947, Yeager flew the Bell X-1 rocket 700 mph at 43,000 feet, becoming the first person to break the sound barrier in level flight. This. He flew P-51 Mustang fighters in the European theater during World War II, and in March 1944, on his eighth mission, he was shot down over France by a German fighter plane and parachuted into woods with leg and head wounds. In 1962, he became the first commandant of the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School, which trained and produced astronauts for NASA and the Air Force. [60][61][62][f], In 1966, Yeager took command of the 405th Tactical Fighter Wing at Clark Air Base, the Philippines, whose squadrons were deployed on rotational temporary duty (TDY) in South Vietnam and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. [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. He was showered with awards, and the airport in Charleston, West Virginia, is named after him. Yeager became the first person to break the . This was Yeager's last attempt at setting test-flying records. In this Tuesday, Oct. 14, 1997, file photo, Chuck Yeager explains it was simply his duty to fly the plane, during a news conference at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., after flying in an F-15 jet . Wearing a model of his hero Chuck Yeager's Bell X1A airplane on his lapel, Luke Strange-Paylor, 9, of Millstone, Calhoun County, waits for Yeager's memorial service to begin Friday at the . Welcome to flightglobal.com. [47] The X-1 he flew that day was later put on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. The pair started dating shortly thereafter, and married in August 2003. 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. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. As an evader, he received his choice of assignments and, because his new wife was pregnant, chose Wright Field to be near his home in West Virginia. Chuck Yeager, WWII test pilot who broke the sound barrier, dies at 97 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 in Los Angeles. After his famous flight in the X-1, he continued testing newer, faster and more dangerous aircraft. hide caption. his death was announced on his official Twitter account. My beginnings back in West Virginia tell who I am to this day, Yeager wrote. 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. Brigadier General Charles Elwood Yeager (/jer/ YAY-gr, February 13, 1923 December 7, 2020) was a United States Air Force officer, flying ace, and record-setting test pilot who in October 1947 became the first pilot in history confirmed to have exceeded the speed of sound in level flight. [73][74] Edward C. Ingraham, a U.S. diplomat who had served as political counselor to Ambassador Farland in Islamabad, recalled this incident in the Washington Monthly of October 1985: "After Yeager's Beechcraft was destroyed during an Indian air raid, he raged to his cowering colleagues that the Indian pilot had been specifically instructed by Indira Gandhi to blast his plane. Ridley rigged up a device, using the end of a broom handle as an extra lever, to allow Yeager to seal the hatch. On the evening of Sunday 12 October 1947, Yeager, a 24-year-old US air force test pilot based at Muroc army air field in California, dined with his wife, Glennis, at Panchos bar and restaurant in the Mojave desert. [92] Despite his lack of higher education, West Virginia's Marshall University named its highest academic scholarship the Society of Yeager Scholars in his honor. Mike Ives and Neil Vigdor contributed reporting. Pilot Chuck Yeager, 1st to break sound barrier, dead at 97 [59], Between December 1963 and January 1964, Yeager completed five flights in the NASA M2-F1 lifting body. In the early 1970s he was a US adviser to the Pakistan air force. 'A tremendous loss to our nation': Chuck Yeager dies at 97 Yeager, who died on Monday at 97, was deputed to serve in Pakistan as head of the military assistance advisory group (MAAG) with the "modest task" of seeing that the residual trickle of American military aid was properly distributed to the Pakistanis and "to teach Pakistanis how to use American military equipment without killing themselves in the The history-making pilot helped "set our nations dreams soaring into the jet age and the space age," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said. Chuck Yeager, a World War II fighter pilot, the first person to break the sound barrier and one of the subjects of Philip Kaufman 's The Right Stuff has died. December 8, 2020. But the guy who broke the sound barrier was the kid who swam the Mud River with a swiped watermelon or shot the head off a squirrel before going to school.. 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. January 15, 2021 11:45 AM. Chuck Yeager, the historic test pilot portrayed in the movie " The Right Stuff ," is dead at the age of 97, according to a tweet posted on his account late Monday. The couple prospered because of Yeager's best-selling autobiography, speaking engagements, and commercial ventures. Glennis Yeager died in 1990, predeceasing her husband by 30 years. [65][66][67] He arrived in Pakistan at a time when tensions with India were at a high level. He said, You dont concentrate on risks. He was 97. Chuck Yeager, first person to break sound barrier, dead at 97 I was just a lucky kid who caught the right ride, he said. [8], His cousin, Steve Yeager, was a professional baseball catcher. She was 82. He was 97 . [42] The success of the mission was not announced to the public for nearly eight months, until June 10, 1948. The secret to my success was that somehow I always managed to live to fly another day.. (AP) - Retired Air Force Brig. Yeager ended his tour credited with shooting down 13 planes, including five victories in one mission. A message posted to his Twitter account says, "Fr. An incredible life well lived, America's greatest Pilot, & a legacy of . 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. 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. One of Yeager's jobs during this time was to assist Pakistani technicians in installing AIM-9 Sidewinders on PAF's Shenyang F-6 fighters. In 2011, Yeager told NPR that the lack of publicity never much mattered to him. About. If youre willing to bleed, Uncle Sam will give you all the planes you want.. ", 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". I owe to the Air Force". Yeager grew up in the mountains of West Virginia, an average student who never attended college. [7], His first experience with the military was as a teen at the Citizens Military Training Camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, Indiana, during the summers of 1939 and 1940. 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. He finished the war with 11.5 official victories, including one of the first air-to-air victories over a jet fighter, a German Messerschmitt Me 262 that he shot down as it was on final approach for landing. Chuck Yeager, 1st pilot to break the sound barrier, is dead at 97 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. I was just a lucky kid who caught the right ride, he said. 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, has died at the age of 97. An accident during a December 1963 test flight in one of the school's NF-104s resulted in serious injuries. 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. Escaping via resistance networks to Spain, he was back in England by May, and resumed flying. [35] Two nights before the scheduled date for the flight, Yeager broke two ribs when he fell from a horse. [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. He got back to England, and normally, they would ship people home after that. Cancelled in 1946, the M-52 would have been supersonic. Always.. 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. When Yeager left Hamlin, he was already known as a daredevil. He spent four years from 1962 as commandant of the USAFs aerospace research pilot school. Yeager flew for what was then his monthly USAF pay of $283. [93], In 1966, Yeager was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame. Chuck Yeager, Test Pilot Who Broke Sound Barrier, Dead at 97 Working with the Piper company he broke several flying records for light aircraft. I thought he was going to take me off the roof. After several turns, and an altitude loss of approximately 95,000 feet, Yeager ejected from the plane. Gen. Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager, the first pilot to fly aircraft exceeding the speed of sound, has died at the age of 97. He also flew directly under the Kanawha Bridge and West Virginia named it the Chuck E. Yeager Bridge. The society is the premier academic scholarship that . We've received your submission. He was also a consultant on several Yeager-themed video games. hide caption. Yeagers death is a tremendous loss to our nation, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement. And the X-1 buffeted like a bucking horse as it approached the speed of sound Mach 1 about 700 miles per hour at altitude. [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). In 1950, General Yeagers X-1 plane, which he christened Glamorous Glennis, honoring his wife, went on display at the SmithsonianInstitution in Washington. What really strikes me looking over all those years is how lucky I was, how lucky, for example, to have been born in 1923 and not 1963 so that I came of age just as aviation itself was entering the modern era, Yeager said in a December 1985 speech at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. He was once shot down over German-held France but escaped with the help of French partisans. retaliation. The airport that serves Charleston, West Virginia, is named after Chuck Yeager. 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. [23], Yeager demonstrated outstanding flying skills and combat leadership. Chuck Yeager, Pioneer of Supersonic Flight, Dies at Age 97 GRASS VALLEY, Calif. (AP) Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Charles "Chuck" Yeager, the World War II fighter pilot ace and quintessential test pilot who became the first person to fly faster than sound in 1947, has . His wife, Victoria, announced .