Chuck yeager children

After serving as an aircraft mechanic, in September , he entered enlisted pilot training and upon graduation was promoted to the rank of flight officer the World War II Army Air Force version of the Army's warrant officer , later achieving most of his aerial victories as a P Mustang fighter pilot on the Western Front , where he was credited with shooting down On October 12, , he attained "ace in a day" status, shooting down five enemy aircraft in one mission.

After the war, Yeager became a test pilot and flew many types of aircraft, including experimental rocket-powered aircraft for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.

Chuck yeager death

As such, he became the first human to officially break the sound barrier on October 14, when he flew the experimental Bell X-1 at Mach 1 at an altitude of 45, ft 13, m , for which he won both the Collier and Mackay trophies in He then went on to break several other speed and altitude records in the following years. Yeager later commanded fighter squadrons and wings in Germany, as well as in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.

In recognition of the outstanding performance ratings of those units, he was promoted to brigadier general in , retiring on March 1, Yeager's three-war active-duty flying career spanned more than 30 years and took him to many parts of the world, including the Korean War and the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War.

Throughout his life, he flew more than different types of aircraft. When he was five years old, his family moved to Hamlin, West Virginia. Yeager had two brothers, Roy and Hal Jr. He attended Hamlin High School, where he played basketball and football, receiving his best grades in geometry and typing. He graduated from high school in June 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 and On February 26, , Yeager married Glennis Dickhouse, and the couple had four children.

Glennis died in Yeager enlisted as a private in the U.