Today, the Star Spangled Salute honors World War II flying ace, Air Force Veteran and test pilot and “The Fastest man Alive” Chuck Yeager. Yeager joined the Air Force in 1941 at the age of 18. Over the course of World War II he flew 64 missions and shot down 13 German planes. Shot down over France in 1944, he evaded capture with the help of the French underground. After the War, Chuck become the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound when he broke the sound barrier testing the X-1 in October 1947. The X-1 reached a speed MACH 1.06 or 700 mph. Yeager retired from the Air Force with the rank of Brigadier General in 1975, having flown 10,131.6 hours in some 361 different types and models of military aircraft over the course of his career, according to the website. His 2nd wife, upon announcing his death tweeted, “An incredible life well lived, America’s greatest pilot”. Chuck Yeager, dead at the age of 97. THANK YOU Chuck Yeager for your service.
