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.