Editing Chuck Yeager (section)

==== Test pilot – breaking the sound barrier ====
[[File:Yeager supersonic flight 1947.ogv|thumb|Yeager broke the sound barrier on October 14, 1947, in the X-1.]]
After the war, Yeager remained in the [[United States Army Air Forces|U.S. Army Air Forces]]. Upon graduating from [[U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School|Air Materiel Command Flight Performance School]] (Class 46C),<ref>{{cite web |title=Getting schooled with the Air Force's elite test pilots |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/getting-schooled-with-the-air-forces-elite-test-pilots <!--|title = Test pilot Capt Chuck Yeager--> |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170906051721/https://www.cnet.com/news/getting-schooled-with-the-air-forces-elite-test-pilots/ |archive-date=September 6, 2017 |access-date=April 30, 2017 |publisher=CNET}}</ref> Yeager became a test pilot at Muroc Army Air Field (now [[Edwards Air Force Base]]). After [[Bell Aircraft]] test pilot [[Chalmers "Slick" Goodlin]] demanded {{US$|150000|1947|round=-4}}<!--over US$1.7 million in 2020 dollars--> to break the sound "barrier", the USAAF selected the 24-year-old Yeager to fly the rocket-powered [[Bell X-1|Bell XS-1]] in a [[National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics|NACA]] program to research high-speed flight.<ref name="yeagerbio_121">{{harvp|Yeager|Janos|1985|p=121|ps=.}}</ref><ref name="right_stuff_52-53">{{cite book|author-link=Tom Wolfe|last=Wolfe|first=Tom|title-link=The Right Stuff (book)|title=The Right Stuff |location=New York|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|year=1979|isbn=0-374-25033-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/rightstuff00tomw/page/52 52–53]}}</ref> Under the [[National Security Act of 1947]], the USAAF became the [[United States Air Force]] (USAF) on September 18.

[[File:Chuck Yeager.jpg|thumb|Yeager stands in front of the [[Bell X-1]] named ''Glamorous Glennis''. He named all of his assigned aircraft in some variation after his wife.]]
[[File:Chuck Yeager X-1 (color).jpg|thumb|Yeager is in the Bell X-1 cockpit.]]
Yeager's flight was scheduled for October 14.<ref name="yeagerbio_157">{{harvp|Yeager|Janos|1985|p=157 |ps=.}}</ref> Two nights before his flight, Yeager went horseback riding with his wife, fell, and broke two ribs under his right arm. Worried the injury would remove him from the mission, Yeager had a civilian doctor in nearby [[Rosamond, California|Rosamond]] tape his ribs.<ref name="Ryan">{{cite book|last1=Ryan|first1=Craig|title=Sonic Wind: The Story of John Paul Stapp and How a Renegade Doctor Became the Fastest Man on Earth|date= 2015|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-1-63149-079-8|pages=98–99|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ID-dBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT98|access-date=February 26, 2016}}</ref>{{refn|In some versions of the story, the doctor was a veterinarian; however, local residents have noted that Rosamond was so small that it had neither a medical doctor nor a veterinarian.<ref name="Ryan"/>|group=lower-alpha}}

To seal the hatch of the XS-1, the pilot needed to hold the hatch in position and use their right arm to slam down a heavy lever. Yeager would not be able to seal the hatch with his broken ribs, so Yeager secretly asked his friend and fellow project pilot [[Jack Ridley (pilot)|Jack Ridley]] for a solution. Ridley sawed off the end of a broom handle for Yeager to use as a lever to seal the hatch.<ref>{{cite news|last=Fountain|first=Nigel |date=December 8, 2020|title=Chuck Yeager obituary|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/08/chuck-yeager-obituary|access-date=December 8, 2020|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

Yeager broke the [[sound barrier]] on October 14, 1947, in level flight while piloting the X-1 ''Glamorous Glennis'' at [[Mach number|Mach 1.05]] at an altitude of {{cvt|45000|ft|m|sigfig=3}}<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1947/12/22/archives/new-us-plane-said-to-fly-faster-than-speed-of-sound-said-to-have.html|title=New U.S. Plane Said to Fly Faster Than Speed of Sound|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180723004851/https://www.nytimes.com/1947/12/22/archives/new-us-plane-said-to-fly-faster-than-speed-of-sound-said-to-have.html|archive-date=July 23, 2018|newspaper=The New York Times|date=December 22, 1947|quote=An experimental rocket plane, the Bell XS-1, has flown faster than the speed of sound a number of times recently, ''[[Aviation Week & Space Technology|Aviation Week]]'' reports in an issue to be released tomorrow.}}</ref>{{refn|Yeager was the first confirmed to break the sound barrier, and the first by any measure to do it in level flight. Other pilots who have been suggested as unproven possibilities to have exceeded the sound barrier before Yeager were all flying in a steep dive for the supposed occurrence. There is anecdotal evidence that American pilot [[George Welch (pilot)|George Welch]] may have broken the sound barrier two weeks before Yeager, while diving an [[North American F-86 Sabre|XP-86 Sabre]] on October 1, 1947, and again on October 14, just 30 minutes before Yeager's X-1 flight. However, the precision instruments used to carefully document the speed of Yeager's flight were not used during Welch's flights.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Blackburn|first=Al|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140511104429/http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/mach-match-361247/?all|archive-date=May 11, 2014|url=http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/mach-match-361247/?all|title=Mach match: Did an XP-86 beat Yeager to the punch?|magazine=Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine|publisher=The Smithsonian|date=January 1999|access-date=April 14, 2015}}</ref> Even earlier, German pilot [[Lothar Sieber]] was estimated to have broken the speed of sound during his fatal test-flight of the rocket-powered [[Bachem Natter]] on March 1, 1945, although the speed was not officially measured.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/pilot-chuck-yeagers-resolve-to-break-the-sound-barrier-was-made-of-the-right-stuff/news-story/b5cc3ee54c061c32b0bb08f42e11ab24|title=Pilot Chuck Yeager's resolve to break the sound barrier was made of the right stuff|last=Donnelly |first=Marea|date=October 13, 2017|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=March 29, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018195504/http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/pilot-chuck-yeagers-resolve-to-break-the-sound-barrier-was-made-of-the-right-stuff/news-story/b5cc3ee54c061c32b0bb08f42e11ab24|archive-date=October 18, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> In his 1990 book ''Me-163'', former [[Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet]] pilot Mano Ziegler claims that his friend, test pilot [[Heini Dittmar]], broke the sound barrier and that on July 6, 1944, he reached 1,130 km/h in dive, and that several people on the ground heard the sonic booms. There was also a disputed claim by German pilot [[Hans Guido Mutke]] that he was the first person to break the sound barrier, on April 9, 1945, in a [[Messerschmitt Me 262]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Yoon|first=Joe |url=http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/history/q0198c.shtml|title=Me 262 and the Sound Barrier|website=aerospaceweb.org|date=October 7, 2004|access-date=April 14, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305021742/http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/history/q0198c.shtml|archive-date=March 5, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>|group=lower-alpha}} over the [[Rogers Dry Lake]] of the [[Mojave Desert]] in California.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/X-1-airplane|title=Bell X-1|publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=English|access-date=December 8, 2022}}</ref> The success of the mission was not announced to the public for nearly eight months, until June 10, 1948.<ref name=ppgfsnd>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AAwNAAAAIBAJ&pg=2734%2C2355693 |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |agency=Associated Press |title=Two U.S. planes fly faster than sound |date=June 11, 1948 |page=4}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/yeager-breaks-sound-barrier |title=This day in history: Yeager breaks the sound barrier|access-date=September 5, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905061022/http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/yeager-breaks-sound-barrier|archive-date=September 5, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> Yeager was awarded the [[Mackay Trophy]] and the [[Collier Trophy]] in 1948 for his mach-transcending flight,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.naa.aero/html/awards/index.cfm?cmsid=192|title=Mackay 1940–1949 Winners|publisher=National Aeronautic Association|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127182450/http://www.naa.aero/html/awards/index.cfm?cmsid=192|archive-date=January 27, 2012}}</ref><ref name="collier-1940-1949-winners">{{cite web|title=Collier 1940–1949 Recipients|url=https://naa.aero/awards/awards-and-trophies/collier-trophy/collier-1940-1949-winners|publisher=National Aeronautic Association|access-date=July 22, 2020}}</ref> and the [[Harmon International Trophy]] in 1954.<ref name="nyt1954">{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0F10FC3B5E107B93C7A9178CD85F418585F9|title=Harmon Prizes go for 2 Air "Firsts"; Vertical-Flight Test Pilot and Airship Endurance Captain Are 1955 Winners|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 5, 1955}}</ref> The X-1 he flew that day was later put on permanent display at the [[Smithsonian Institution]]'s [[National Air and Space Museum]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Bell X-1 "Glamorous Glennis"|url=https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/bell-x-1-glamorous-glennis/nasm_A19510007000|publisher=National Air and Space Museum |access-date=December 8, 2020}}</ref> During 1952, he attended the [[Air Command and Staff College]].<ref>{{cite web|title=BRIGADIER GENERAL CHARLES E. "CHUCK" YEAGER|url=https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Biographies/Display/Article/105165/charles-e-chuck-yeager/|publisher=United States Air Force |access-date=April 26, 2022}}</ref>

[[File:Charles Yeager photo portrait head on shoulders left side.jpg|thumb|upright|Yeager in 1950]]
Yeager continued to break many speed and altitude records. He was one of the first American pilots to fly a [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15]], after its pilot, [[No Kum-sok]], defected to [[South Korea]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Clark|first=Mark|title=From the Danube to the Yalu|location=New York|publisher=Harper|year=1954|page=208}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Kum-Suk|first1=No|first2=J. Roger|last2=Osterholm |title=A MiG-15 to Freedom: Memoir of the Wartime North Korean Defector who First Delivered the Secret Fighter Jet to the Americans in 1953|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|publisher=McFarland & Co.|year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7864-0210-6|page=158}}</ref> Returning to Muroc, during the latter half of 1953, Yeager was involved with the USAF team that was working on the [[Bell X-1#X-1A|X-1A]], an aircraft designed to surpass Mach 2 in level flight. That year, he flew a [[chase plane|chase aircraft]] for the civilian pilot [[Jacqueline Cochran|Jackie Cochran]] as she became the first woman to fly faster than sound.<ref name="yeagerbio_252"/>

On November 20, 1953, the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] program involving the [[Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket|Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket]] and its pilot, [[Scott Crossfield]], became the first team to reach twice the speed of sound. After they were bested, Ridley and Yeager decided to beat rival Crossfield's speed record in a series of test flights that they dubbed "Operation NACA Weep". Not only did they beat Crossfield by setting a new record at Mach 2.44 on December 12, 1953, but they did it in time to spoil a celebration planned for the [[Wright brothers|50th anniversary of flight]] in which Crossfield was to be called "the fastest man alive".<ref name="yeagerbio_252">{{harvp|Yeager|Janos|1985|p=252|ps=.}}</ref>

The new record flight, however, did not entirely go to plan, since shortly after reaching Mach 2.44, Yeager lost control of the X-1A at about {{cvt|80000|ft|m}} due to [[inertia coupling]], a phenomenon largely unknown at the time. With the aircraft simultaneously rolling, pitching, and yawing out of control, Yeager dropped {{cvt|51000|ft|m}} in less than a minute before regaining control at around {{cvt|29000|ft|m}}. He then managed to land without further incident.<ref name="yeagerbio_252"/> For this feat, Yeager was awarded the [[Distinguished Service Medal (U.S. Army)|Distinguished Service Medal]] (DSM) in 1954.<ref>{{cite news|date=August 1954|title=Airpower in the News|volume=37|page=17|magazine=Air Force Magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I1jdZ3m2uFgC&pg=RA9-PA9}}</ref>{{Refn|Yeager received the DSM in the Army design, since the [[Air Force Distinguished Service Medal]] was not awarded until 1965.|group=lower-alpha}}