Chuck Yeager – The Sound Barrier, a hero & a legend.
Author : Zarir Karbhari
The breaking of the sound barrier, one of the ultimate technology advances of man and there is only one name synonymous that stands out and that is of Brigadier General Chuck Yeager.
If one grew up in awe of flight and aircraft, the breaking of the sound barrier was a milestone that was simply mind blowing. Chuck Yeager became the first human to officially break the sound barrier on October 14, 1947 when he flew the experimental Bell X-1 at Mach 1 at an altitude of 45,000 feet (13,700 m).
The Bell 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, No Kum-sok, 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 as she became the first woman to fly faster than sound.
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 longtime test, fighter and aerobatic pilot who had been Yeager’s wingman for the first supersonic flight. At the end of his speech to the crowd in 1997, Yeager concluded, “All that I am … I owe to the Air Force.”
Brigadier General Chuck Yeager passed away on 7th December 2020 at the age of 97. Never met him, stays in a country (India), many many miles away but I am glad I grew up knowing about his achievements.
