17 October 2012
On the same day Felix Baumgartner was breaking the sound barrier without a vehicle, Brigadier General Charles “Chuck” Yeager marked the anniversary of his historic first supersonic flight by breaking the sound barrier again.
Yeager, 89, broke the sound barrier flying in an F-15 Eagle at more than 30,000 feet above California’s Mohave Desert, in the same place he first broke the sound barrier 65 years ago. The F-15 was piloted by 65th Aggressor Squadron Capt. David Vincent.
Yeager became the first man to break the sound barrier on 14 October 1947, over Edwards Air Force Base, California.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, he seemed underwhelmed at having broken the sound barrier again, saying, “Flying is flying.” But the flight seemed to have a special significance when he added, “The F-15 is my favourite airplane, and that’s why I came here to fly it.”
(U.S. Air Force photo: Lawrence Crespo)
