KEY POINTS

  • Yeager earned the Purple Heart, Bronze Star with valor, among others
  • He was depicted in the 1983 film, “The Right Stuff”
  • He left the military with the rank of brigadier general

Brig. Gen. Charles “Chuck” Yeager was a highly decorated combat pilot in the Air Force and the first person to break the sound barrier in a manned aircraft. He died Monday evening at the age of 97.

Known as the "Fastest Man Alive" and having escaped numerous scrapes with crashes during his legendary career, Yeager had been suffering physical challenges and other complications from old age. He died in a Los Angeles hospital, his second wife, Victoria, wrote on Yeager’s Twitter account.

“An incredible life well lived, America’s greatest Pilot, & a legacy of strength, adventure, & patriotism will be remembered forever,” she wrote.

Chuck Yeager -- seen sitting in the cockpit of the Bell X-1 supersonic research aircraft he flew into the history books -- spent most of his career as a military commander directing US fighter squadrons throughout the 1950s and 1960s
Chuck Yeager -- seen sitting in the cockpit of the Bell X-1 supersonic research aircraft he flew into the history books -- spent most of his career as a military commander directing US fighter squadrons throughout the 1950s and 1960s USAF / US AIR FORCE

On Oct. 14, 1947, Yeager became the first person to man an aircraft that broke the sound barrier when he flew the experimental Bell X-1 aircraft at Mach 1, the speed designation for the speed of sound, which is about 767 miles per hour. Yeager piloted the craft after it was dropped from a B-29 bomber to break the sound barrier.

He repeated the feat at the age of 89, boarding an F-15 Eagle to mark the 65th anniversary of his breaking the sound barrier.

Flying the P-51 in World War II, Yeager was credited with shooting down 11.5 enemy aircraft. He was shot down over German-occupied France on March 5, 1944, during his eighth combat mission and escaped capture with the help of the French Resistance.

Seven months later, on Oct. 12, 1944, he became the first pilot in his division to become an ace in a single day by shooting down five enemy aircraft.

A decorated veteran earning the Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, the West Virginia native retired from the Air Force in 1975, after serving in tours in Vietnam. The actor Sam Shepard played Yeager in the 1983 film “The Right Stuff,” a Tom Wolfe-inspired movie about military test pilots.

Yeager had four children with his first wife, Glennis, who died of ovarian cancer in 1990. The plane he piloted to first break the sound barrier was named after her. He later married Victoria D’Angelo, 35 years his junior, in 2000. His children sued, arguing D’Angelo married for money, but Yeager won after a court found one of the children breached their duty as an estate trustee.

He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985 by then-President Ronald Reagan for “meritorious contribution” to U.S. interests.

Chuck Yeager is seen here in 1947 with "Glamorous Glennis," the experimental plane in which he became the first human to travel faster than the speed of sound
Chuck Yeager is seen here in 1947 with "Glamorous Glennis," the experimental plane in which he became the first human to travel faster than the speed of sound USAF / USAF
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