Charles Elwood “Chuck” Yeager

Yeager was the first man to break the sound barrier on October 14, 1947, flying the experimental Bell X-1 at Mach 1 at an altitude of 45,000 ft (13,700 m).

*

Yeager had two brothers, Roy and Hal, Jr., and two sisters, Doris Ann (accidentally killed by Roy with a shotgun while still an infant)^[2] and Pansy Lee.

*

The name “Yeager” (/ˈjeɪɡər/) is an Anglicized form of the German or Dutch name, Jäger (German: “hunter”), and so is common among immigrants of those communities. He is the uncle of former baseball catcher Steve Yeager.^{[N 1]}

*

He had gained one victory before he was shot down over France on his eighth mission, on March 5, 1944.^[5] He escaped to Spain on March 30 with the help of the Maquis (French Resistance) and returned to England on May 15, 1944. During his stay with the Maquis, Yeager assisted the guerrillas in duties that did not involve direct combat, though he did help to construct bombs for the group, a skill that he had learned from his father.^[6] He was awarded the Bronze Star for helping another airman, who had lost part of his leg during the escape attempt, to cross the Pyrenees.

*

In his 1986 memoirs, he noted with disgust that “atrocities were committed by both sides” and went on to recount going on a mission with orders from the Eighth Air Force to “strafe anything that moved.”^[8][9] During the mission briefing he whispered to Major Donald H. Boschkay, “If we are going to do things like this, we sure as hell better make sure we are on the winning side.”^[8][9] He further noted, “I’m certainly not proud of that particular strafing mission against civilians. But it is there, on the record and in my memory.”^[10]

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Jaeger)