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Chuck Yeager the first person to break the sound barrier in level flight.Summary
Chuck (Charles Elwood) Yeager, aviator, born 23 February 1923; died 7 December 2020. Career details were as follows:
- In 1947 Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier officially.
- Yeager's the Bell X-1 was dropped at 20000 feet by a B29.
- He then took the X-1 to 42000 feet.
- Yeager reached Mach 1.05 in level flight.
- In another record attempt Yeager took a Lockheed NF-104A rocket-boosted jet to 108,700ft, more than 20 miles high, and to the edge of space.
- Yeager lost control and bailed out at 14000 ft.
- During WW2 Yeager was credited with shooting down 13 planes, including five victories in one mission.
- The X-1 was similar to the planned British Miles M-52 jet.
- Based in the Philippines, he flew a Canberra bomber during the Vietnam war.
- He retired in 1976 as a brigadier-general
- His last supersonic flight, in 2012 commemorated the 65th anniversary of his breaking of the sound barrier.
References
- Chuck Yeager | Biography, Test Pilot, & Facts | Britannica
- Dec 2020 USA TODAY Chuck Yeager: How the test pilot to break the sound barrier did it (usatoday.com)
- Oct 2020 Science Daily Scientists find upper limit for the speed of sound -- ScienceDaily
- Feb 2021 National Geographic Bullet planes, fatal crashes – and the top secret British project to break the sound barrier first | National Geographic
