Chuck Yeager Charles Elwood " Chuck " Yeager ( ; born February 13 , 1923 ) is a retired brigadier general in the United States Air Force and noted test pilot . In 1947 , he became the first pilot to ( officially ) travel faster than sound . Yeager ' s career began in World War II as a private in the United States Army Air Forces . 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 USAAF equivalent to warrant officer ) and became a North American P - 51 Mustang fighter pilot . After the war , Yeager became a test pilot of many types of aircraft including experimental rocket - powered aircraft . As the first human to break the sound barrier on October 14 , 1947 , he flew the experimental Bell X - 1 at Mach 1 at an altitude of 45 , 000 ft ( 13 , 700 m ) . Although Scott Crossfield was the first to fly faster than Mach 2 in 1953 , Yeager shortly thereafter set a new record of Mach 2 . 44 . Yeager later commanded fighter squadrons and wings in Germany and in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War , and in recognition of the outstanding performance ratings of those units he then was promoted to brigadier general . Yeager ' s flying career spans more than 60 years and has taken him to every corner of the globe , including the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War . Yeager ' s popularity soared in the 1980s , when he was prominently featured in Tom Wolfe ' s book " The Right Stuff " and in its 1983 movie adaptation , in which he was portrayed by Sam Shepard . Early life . Yeager was born to farming parents Susie Mae and Albert Hal Yeager in Myra , West Virginia , and graduated from high school in Hamlin , West Virginia . He had two brothers , Roy and Hal , Jr . , and two sisters , Doris Ann ( killed by Roy with a shotgun while still an infant ) and Pansy Lee . 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 . On February 26 , 1945 , Yeager married Glennis Dickhouse , and the couple had four children . Glennis Yeager died in 1990 . The name " Yeager " ( ) is an Anglicized form of the German name " Jäger " or " Jaeger " ( German : " hunter " ) , and so is common among immigrants of that community . He is the uncle of former baseball catcher Steve Yeager . Career . World War II . 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 . At enlistment , Yeager was not eligible for flight training because of his age and educational background , but the entry of the U . S . into World War II less than two months later , prompted the USAAF to alter its recruiting standards . Blessed with unusually sharp vision ( with a visual acuity rated 20 / 10 , which once enabled him to shoot a deer at ) , Yeager displayed natural talent as a pilot and was accepted for flight training . He received his wings and a promotion to Flight Officer at Luke Field , Arizona , where he graduated from class 43C on March 10 , 1943 . Assigned to the 357th Fighter Group at Tonopah , Nevada , he initially trained as a fighter pilot , flying Bell P - 39 Airacobra s ( earning a seven - day grounding order for pruning a tree belonging to a local farmer during a training flight ) , and went overseas with the group on November 23 , 1943 . Stationed in the United Kingdom at RAF Leiston , Yeager flew P - 51 Mustang s in combat with the 363rd Fighter Squadron . He named his aircraft " Glamorous Glennis " after his girlfriend , Glennis Faye Dickhouse , who became his wife in February 1945 . Yeager had gained one victory before he was shot down over France on his eighth mission , on March 5 , 1944 . He escaped to Spain on March 30 with the help of the " Maquis " ( French Resistance ) and returned to England on May 15 , 1944 . During his stay with the " Maquis " , Yeager assisted the guerrillas in duties that did not involve direct combat , although he did help to construct bombs for the group , a skill that he had learned from his father . He was awarded the Bronze Star for helping another airman , who had lost part of his leg during the escape attempt , to cross the Pyrenees . Despite a regulation that " evaders " ( escaped pilots ) could not fly over enemy territory again to avoid compromising resistance groups , Yeager was reinstated to flying combat . He had joined another evader , bomber pilot Captain Fred Glover , in speaking directly to the Supreme Allied Commander , General Dwight D . Eisenhower , on June 12 , 1944 . With Glover pleading their case , they argued that because the Allies had invaded France and the " Maquis " resistance movement was by then openly fighting the Nazis alongside Allied troops , if Yeager or Glover were shot down again , there was little or nothing about those who had previously helped them evade capture that could be revealed to the enemy . Eisenhower , after gaining permission from the War Department to decide the requests , concurred with Yeager and Glover . Yeager later credited his postwar success in the air force to this decision , saying that his test pilot career followed naturally from his having been a decorated combat pilot , along with having been an aircraft mechanic before attending pilot school . In part , because of his maintenance background , he also frequently served as a maintenance officer in his flying units . Yeager demonstrated outstanding flying skills and combat leadership . On 12 October 1944 , he became the first pilot in his group to make " ace in a day , " shooting down five enemy aircraft in a single mission . Two of his " ace in a day " kills were scored without firing a single shot : when he flew into firing position against a Messerschmitt Bf 109 , the pilot of the aircraft panicked , breaking to starboard and colliding with his wingman . Yeager later reported both pilots bailed out . 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 ) . Another victory , which was not officially counted for Yeager , came during the period before his combat status was reinstated . During a training flight in his P - 51 over the North Sea , he happened on a German Junkers Ju 88 heavy fighter attacking a downed Boeing B - 17 Flying Fortress crew . Yeager ' s quick thinking and reflexes saved the B - 17 crew , but because he was not yet cleared for flying combat again , his gun camera film and credit for the kill were given to his wingman , Eddie Simpson . ( Yeager later mistakenly recalled that the credit had given Simpson his fifth kill . ) In his 1986 memoirs , Yeager recalled with disgust that " atrocities were committed by both sides " and went on to recount going on a mission with orders from the Eighth Air Force to " strafe anything that moved . " During the mission briefing , he whispered to Major Donald H . Boschkay , " If we are going to do things like this , we sure as hell better make sure we are on the winning side . " Yeager further noted , " I ’ m certainly not proud of that particular strafing mission against civilians . But it is there , on the record and in my memory . " Yeager was commissioned a second lieutenant while at Leiston , and was promoted to captain before the end of his tour . He flew his 61st and final mission on January 15 , 1945 , and returned to the United States in early February . 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 . His high number of flight hours and maintenance experience qualified him to become a functional test pilot of repaired aircraft , which brought him under the command of Colonel Albert Boyd , head of the Aeronautical Systems Flight Test Division . Postwar . Yeager remained in the Air Force after the war , becoming a test pilot at Muroc Army Air Field ( now Edwards Air Force Base ) . After Bell Aircraft test pilot " Slick " Goodlin demanded $ 150 , 000 to break the sound " barrier , " the USAAF selected Yeager to fly the rocket - powered Bell XS - 1 in a NACA program to research high - speed flight . Such was the difficulty in this task that the answer to many of the inherent challenges were along the lines of " Yeager better have paid - up insurance . " Two nights before the scheduled date for the flight , Yeager broke two ribs falling from a horse . He was so afraid of being removed from the mission that he went to a veterinarian in a nearby town for treatment and told only his wife , as well as friend and fellow project pilot Jack Ridley about the accident . On the day of the flight , Yeager was in such pain that he could not seal the X - 1 ' s hatch by himself . Ridley rigged up a device , using the end of a broom handle as an extra lever , to allow Yeager to seal the hatch of the X - 1 . Yeager broke the sound barrier on October 14 , 1947 , flying the X - 1 at Mach 1 . 07 at an altitude of 45 , 000 ft ( 13 , 700 m ) . Yeager was awarded the MacKay and Collier Trophies in 1948 for his mach - transcending flight , and the Harmon International Trophy in 1954 . The X - 1 he flew that day was later put on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institution ' s National Air and Space Museum . Yeager went on to break many other speed and altitude records . He was also one of the first American pilots to fly a MiG - 15 , after its pilot defected to South Korea . Returning to Muroc , during the latter half of 1953 , Yeager was involved with the USAF team that was working on the X - 1A , an aircraft designed to surpass Mach 2 in level flight . That year , he flew a chase aircraft for the civilian pilot Jackie Cochran , a close friend , as she became the first woman to fly faster than sound . 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 . 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 . " Not only did they beat Crossfield , but they did it in time to spoil a celebration planned for the 50th anniversary of flight in which Crossfield was to be called " the fastest man alive . " The Ridley / Yeager USAF team achieved Mach 2 . 44 on December 12 , 1953 . Shortly after reaching Mach 2 . 44 , Yeager experienced a loss of aerodynamic control of the X - 1A due to inertial coupling at approximately . With the aircraft simultaneously rolling , pitching , and yawing out of the sky , Yeager dropped in 51 seconds before regaining control of the aircraft at approximately . He was able to land the aircraft without further incident . Yeager was foremost a fighter pilot and held several squadron and wing commands . From May 1955 to July 1957 he commanded the F - 86H Sabre - equipped 417th Fighter - Bomber Squadron ( 50th Fighter - Bomber Wing ) at Hahn AB , Germany , and Toul - Rosieres Air Base , France ; and from 1957 to 1960 the F - 100D Super Sabre - equipped 1st Fighter Day Squadron ( later , while still under Yeager ' s command , re - designated the 306th Tactical Fighter Squadron ) at George Air Force Base , California , and Morón Air Base , Spain . Now a full Colonel in 1962 , after completion of a year ' s studies at the Air War College , 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 . Between December 1963 and January 1964 , Yeager completed five flights in the NASA M2 - F1 lifting body . An accident during a test flight in one of the school ' s NF - 104 s put an end to his record attempts . 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 . There he accrued another 414 hours of combat time in 127 missions , mostly in a Martin B - 57 Canberra light bomber . 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 . On June 22 , 1969 , Yeager was promoted to brigadier general , and was assigned in July as the vice - commander of the Seventeenth Air Force . From 1971 to 1973 , at the behest of Ambassador Joe Farland , Yeager was assigned to Pakistan to advise the Pakistan Air Force . During the Indo - Pakistan War , Yeager reputedly provided an assessment that the Pakistani Army would be in New Delhi within a week . Post - retirement career . On March 1 , 1975 , following assignments in Germany and Pakistan , Yeager retired from the Air Force at Norton Air Force Base , although he continued to occasionally fly for the USAF and NASA as a consulting test pilot at Edwards AFB . Yeager made a cameo appearance in the movie " The Right Stuff " ( 1983 ) . 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 . " His own role in the movie was played by Sam Shepard . For several years in the 1980s , Yeager was connected to General Motors , serving as the public face of AC Delco , the company ' s automotive parts division . In 1986 , Yeager was invited to drive the Chevrolet Corvette pace car for the 70th running of the Indianapolis 500 . In 1988 , Yeager was again invited to drive the pace car , this time at the wheel of an Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme . In 1986 , President Reagan appointed Yeager to the Rogers Commission that investigated the explosion of the Space Shuttle " Challenger " . In the late 1980s and early 1990s , Yeager set a number of light , general aircraft performance records for speed , range , and endurance . Most notable were flights conducted on behalf of Piper Aircraft . On one such flight , Yeager performed an emergency landing as a result of fuel exhaustion . On another , he piloted Piper ' s turboprop Cheyenne 400LS to a time - to - height record : FL350 ( 35 , 000 feet ) in 16 minutes , exceeding the climb performance of a Boeing 737 at gross weight . Yeager is fully retired from military test flying , after having maintained that status for three decades after his official retirement from the Air Force . 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 . The chase plane for the flight was an F - 16 Fighting Falcon piloted by Bob Hoover , a legendary air - show pilot who had been Yeager ' s wingman for the first supersonic flight . This was Yeager ' s last official flight with the U . S . Air Force . At the end of his speech to the crowd , Yeager concluded , " All that I am . . . I owe to the Air Force . " Later that month , he was the recipient of the " Tony Jannus Award " for his achievements . On October 14 , 2012 on the 65th anniversary of breaking the sound barrier , Yeager did it again in a McDonnell Douglas F - 15 Eagle , out of Nellis Air Force Base at the age of 89 . Awards and honors . 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 XS - 1 research airplane faster than the speed of sound on October 14 , 1947 . " President Gerald Ford presented the medal to Yeager in a ceremony at the White House on December 8 , 1976 . Yeager , who never attended college and was often modest about his background , is considered by some to be one of the greatest pilots of all time . Despite his lack of higher education , he has been honored in his home state . Marshall University has named its highest academic scholarship , the Society of Yeager Scholars , in his honor . Yeager was also the chairman of Experimental Aircraft Association ' s Young Eagle Program since 1994 , and has been named the program ' s Chairman Emeritus . Additionally , Yeager Airport in Charleston , West Virginia , is named after Yeager . The Interstate 64 / Interstate 77 bridge over the Kanawha River in Charleston is named in his honor . On October 19 , 2006 , the state of West Virginia also honored Yeager with a marker along Corridor G ( part of 119 ) in his home Lincoln County , as well as renamed part of the highway the " Yeager Highway " . Yeager is an Honorary Board Member of the humanitarian organization Wings of Hope . On August 25 , 2009 , Governor Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver announced that Yeager would be one of 13 California Hall of Fame inductees in The California Museum ' s yearlong exhibit . The induction ceremony was on December 1 , 2009 in Sacramento , California . Personal life . Yeager , and his wife Glennis , moved to Grass Valley , California after his retirement from the Air Force in 1975 . The couple prospered because of Yeager ' s best - selling autobiography , speaking engagements and commercial ventures . Glennis Yeager died of ovarian cancer in 1990 . They had four children ( Susan , Don , Mickey and Sharon ) . In 2000 , Yeager met actress Victoria Scott D ' Angelo on a hiking trail in Nevada County . The pair started dating shortly thereafter , and married in August 2003 . Subsequent to the commencement of their relationship , a bitter dispute arose between Yeager , his children and D ' Angelo . The children contended that the much younger D ' Angelo had married him for his fortune , which Yeager and D ' Angelo denied . Litigation ensued , in which his children accused D ' Angelo of " undue influence " on Yeager , and Yeager accused his children of diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars from his pension fund . In August 2008 , the California Court of Appeal ruled for Yeager , finding that his daughter Susan had breached her duty as trustee . Yeager , with his wife , currently lives in Penn Valley , California , the location of the General Chuck Yeager Foundation , which supports programs that " teach the ideals by which General Yeager has lived . "