News Desk
Chuck Yeager, the steely “Right Stuff” test pilot who took aviation to the doorstep of space by becoming the first person to break the sound barrier more than 70 years ago, died on Monday at the age of 97. Yeager’s death was announced on his twitter account by his wife, Victoria. “It is with profound sorrow, I must tell you that my life love General Chuck Yeager passed just before 9pm ET. An incredible life well lived, America’s greatest Pilot, & a legacy of strength, adventure, & patriotism will be remembered forever,” Victoria Yeager said in the tweet. Yeager, an unlikely candidate to become one of the most famous aviators in history, joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1941 just to work on the engines of airplanes, not to fly them. His first plane ride made him throw up.