Gen. Chuck Yeager, 'The Right Stuff' test pilot who broke sound barrier, has died at 97 - Business Insider

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Gen. Chuck Yeager, 'The Right Stuff' test pilot who broke sound barrier, has died at 97

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Author Tom Wolfe was so impressed by the mien of the rough-hewn man from Hamlin, West Virginia, that he made Yeager a prominent character in "The Right Stuff," his 1979 book about the early days of the space program. A B-29 bomber carried the X-1 26,000 feet over California's Mojave Desert and let it go. Neither Yeager nor aviation engineers knew if the plane - or the pilot - would be able to handle the unprecedented speed without breaking up. But Yeager took the 31-foot X-1, powered by liquid oxygen and alcohol, to Mach 1.06, about 700 mph at 43,000 feet , as if it were a routine flight.

Yeager was unfazed by having a job that took him to the brink of death with every outing - such as the 1953 flight on which he safely landed his X-1A after hitting Mach 2.4 and then losing control of the aircraft for 51 seconds.

 

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I like to think he just broke the speed of life barrier 🙏 Rest In Peace Chuck ⚡️ A true monument to the human spirit 🙌

horrible

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