Brigadier General Charles Elwood Yeager 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.
59 Facts About Chuck Yeager
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Chuck Yeager's career began in World War II as a private in the United States Army, assigned to the Army Air Forces in 1941.
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Chuck Yeager then went on to break several other speed and altitude records in the following years.
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Chuck Yeager later commanded fighter squadrons and wings in Germany, as well as in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.
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Chuck Yeager is referred to by many as one of the greatest pilots of all time, and was ranked fifth on Flying list of the 51 Heroes of Aviation in 2013.
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Chuck Yeager attended Hamlin High School, where he played basketball and football, receiving his best grades in geometry and typing.
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On February 26,1945, Chuck Yeager married Glennis Dickhouse, and the couple had four children.
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Glennis Chuck Yeager died in 1990, predeceasing her husband by 30 years.
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Chuck Yeager's cousin, Steve Yeager, was a professional baseball catcher.
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Chuck Yeager enlisted as a private in the US Army Air Forces on September 12,1941, and became an aircraft mechanic at George Air Force Base, Victorville, California.
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At enlistment, Chuck Yeager was not eligible for flight training because of his age and educational background, but the entry of the US into World War II less than three months later prompted the USAAF to alter its recruiting standards.
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Chuck Yeager received his pilot wings and a promotion to flight officer at Luke Field, Arizona, where he graduated from Class 43C on March 10,1943.
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Chuck Yeager named his aircraft Glamorous Glen after his girlfriend, Glennis Faye Dickhouse, who became his wife in February 1945.
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Chuck Yeager had gained one victory before he was shot down over France in his first aircraft on March 5,1944, on his eighth mission.
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Chuck Yeager escaped to Spain on March 30,1944, with the help of the Maquis and returned to England on May 15,1944.
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Chuck Yeager had joined another evader, fellow P-51 pilot 1st Lt Fred Glover, in speaking directly to the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D Eisenhower, on June 12,1944.
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Chuck Yeager 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.
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Chuck Yeager expressed bitterness at his treatment in England during World War II, describing the British as "arrogant" and "nasty".
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Chuck Yeager was commissioned a second lieutenant while at Leiston, and was promoted to captain before the end of his tour.
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Chuck Yeager flew his 61st and final mission on January 15,1945, and returned to the United States in early February 1945.
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Chuck Yeager remained in the US Army Air Forces after the war, becoming a test pilot at Muroc Army Air Field, following graduation from Air Materiel Command Flight Performance School.
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Such was the difficulty of this task that the answer to many of the inherent challenges was along the lines of "Chuck Yeager better have paid-up insurance".
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Two nights before the scheduled date for the flight, Chuck Yeager broke two ribs when he fell from a horse.
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Chuck Yeager 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.
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Besides his wife who was riding with him, Chuck Yeager told only his friend and fellow project pilot Jack Ridley about the accident.
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Chuck Yeager was awarded the Mackay Trophy and the Collier Trophy in 1948 for his mach-transcending flight, and the Harmon International Trophy in 1954.
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Chuck Yeager went on to break many other speed and altitude records.
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Chuck Yeager was one of the first American pilots to fly a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15, after its pilot, No Kum-sok, defected to South Korea.
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Chuck Yeager was foremost a fighter pilot and held several squadron and wing commands.
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Now a full colonel in 1962, after completion of a year's studies and final thesis on STOL aircraft at the Air War College, Chuck Yeager became the first commandant of the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School, which produced astronauts for NASA and the USAF, after its redesignation from the USAF Flight Test Pilot School.
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Chuck Yeager reportedly did not believe that Ed Dwight, the first African American pilot admitted into the program, should be a part of it.
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Between December 1963 and January 1964, Chuck Yeager completed five flights in the NASA M2-F1 lifting body.
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In 1966, Chuck Yeager took command of the 405th Tactical Fighter Wing at Clark Air Base, the Philippines, whose squadrons were deployed on rotational temporary duty in South Vietnam and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
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In February 1968, Chuck 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.
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Chuck Yeager was promoted to brigadier general and was assigned in July 1969 as the vice-commander of the Seventeenth Air Force.
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From 1971 to 1973, at the behest of Ambassador Joseph Farland, Chuck Yeager was assigned as the Air Attache in Pakistan to advise the Pakistan Air Force which was led by Abdur Rahim Khan.
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Chuck Yeager arrived in Pakistan at a time when tensions with India were at a high level.
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Chuck Yeager had a keen interest in interacting with PAF personnel from various Pakistani Squadrons and helping them develop combat tactics.
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In one instance in 1972, while visiting the No 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 Chuck Yeager requested a visit to the second highest mountain on Earth.
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Chuck Yeager 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.
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Chuck Yeager was incensed over the incident and demanded US retaliation.
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On March 1,1975, following assignments in West Germany and Pakistan, Chuck Yeager retired from the Air Force at Norton Air Force Base, California.
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Chuck Yeager made a cameo appearance in the movie The Right Stuff.
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Also in popular culture, Chuck 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.
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For several years in the 1980s, Chuck Yeager was connected to General Motors, publicizing ACDelco, the company's automotive parts division.
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In 1988, Chuck Yeager was again invited to drive the pace car, this time at the wheel of an Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme.
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The game manuals featured quotes and anecdotes from Chuck Yeager and were well received by players.
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In 2009, Chuck Yeager participated in the documentary The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club, a profile of his friend Pancho Barnes.
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On October 14,2012, on the 65th anniversary of breaking the sound barrier, Chuck Yeager did it again at the age of 89, flying as co-pilot in a McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle piloted by Captain David Vincent out of Nellis Air Force Base.
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In 1973, Chuck Yeager was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame, arguably aviation's highest honor.
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In 1974, Chuck Yeager received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.
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Chuck Yeager was inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1981.
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Chuck Yeager was inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor 1990 inaugural class.
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Chuck Yeager flew directly under the Kanawha Bridge and West Virginia named it the Chuck E Yeager Bridge.
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Chuck Yeager was an honorary board member of the humanitarian organization Wings of Hope.
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The couple prospered because of Chuck Yeager's best-selling autobiography, speaking engagements, and commercial ventures.
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In 2000, Chuck Yeager met actress Victoria Scott D'Angelo on a hiking trail in Nevada County.
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The children contended that D'Angelo, at least 35 years Chuck Yeager's junior, had married him for his fortune.
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Chuck Yeager lived in Grass Valley, Northern California and died in the afternoon of December 7,2020, at age 97, in a Los Angeles hospital.