By David Bitton dbitton@appealdemocrat.com "Duty!" That's retired Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager's response to the question everyone wants to know more about: What's it mean to be the first person to break the sound barrier? "I was a maintenance type and since I understood systems, I was assigned as a test pilot on...
Anyone Remember the F-20 Tigershark? Chuck Yeager Does! Back in the 1980’s Northrop privately funded the building of the F-20 Tigershark. A variant of the F-5 it was initially designated the F-5G. The Tigershark first flew in 1982 and only three aircraft were ever built. Watch the F-20 Tigershark in...
  Chuck Yeager Courtesy U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission www.centennialofflight.gov Reproduced by Permission. For many people, Chuck Yeager is a true hero in the strictest definition of the word. Throughout his career, Yeager displayed distinguished courage and performed several extraordinarily brave deeds, although he only considered such acts as following his duty. Many people...
Stamp
On Oct. 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager flew his Bell X-1 jet into the history books by becoming the first pilot to break the sound barrier. A stamp honoring his feat was issued 50 years later. “Few moments in American history can match the day that the experimental aircraft Bell X-1,...
A remarkable reunion occurred recently at Edwards AFB, California when the two key veterans involved in the breaking of the sound barrier in 1947 returned to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the achievement.  Meeting on stage on October 13, the day before the anniversary, were 94-year-old Brig. Gen (Ret.) Chuck...
The last member of the original Tuskegee Airmen, Willie Rogers of St. Petersburg, Florida, died Monday. He was 101 years old. The last member of the original Tuskegee Airmen, Willie Rogers of St. Petersburg, Florida, died Monday. He was 101 years old. The Airmen were members of the first African-American...
The girl was born Florence, but everyone called her Pancho. The nickname was earned, as one story goes, after she left her first husband, disguised herself as a man and boarded a ship that turned out to be running...
Since its inception in 1947, the Air Force has consistently broken barriers as an element of the finest joint warfighting team on the planet, and its Airmen have refined its mission through innovation and teamwork. This video is one of 10 videos for the Air Force's 70th Anniversary. The theme...
When Chuck Yeager proved humans could fly faster than the speed of sound, he emphasized his point by generating a boom so loud over the Mojave Desert that no one on the ground that October day in 1947 could doubt his achievement.
supersonic flight
NASA is trying to revive one of the coolest aviation programs ever, in the hopes of making the future of commercial flight faster, quieter, and way more efficient. NASA wants to revive its storied “X-plane” division, one of the coolest aviation programs ever, with an eye toward making the future...