Charles “Chuck” Yeager with the Bell X-1.

Charles Elwood Yeager (February 13, 1923 – December 7, 2020)

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS/WVAH) — West Virginia native,
United States Air Force officer and record-setting test pilot,
Charles “Chuck” Yeager has died.

Yeager’s wife, Victoria, announced via Twitter that Yeager
passed away just before 9:00 p.m. Monday night.

The Lincoln County native, considered one of the greatest
pilots of all-time, was the first man to break the sound barrier
when he exceeded Mach 1 as he flew the experimental Bell
X-1 rocket plane over Edwards Air Force Base in California
in 1947.

He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (below).

Yeager also appeared in the 1983 film “The Right Stuff” and
Charleston’s Yeager Airport is named in his honor.

On this day in 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the U.S.
Navy base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii as part of its plan to conquer Southeast Asian territories; the raid, which claims 2,400 American
lives, would prompt the United States to declare war against Japan
the next day.

The USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor.