U.S. Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager became the first person
to fly faster than the speed of sound.

Yeager, born in Myra, West Virginia, in 1923, was a combat
fighter during World War II and flew 64 missions over Europe.

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

John Denver (Henry John Deutschendorf Jr.)
(December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997)

To those who bought records like “Rocky Mountain High”
and “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by the millions in
the 1970s, John Denver was much more than just a great
songwriter and performer.

There never was and there probably never will be a star
quite like John Denver, who died on October 12, 1997
when his experimental amateur aircraft (below) crashed
into Monterey Bay on the California coast.

Quote from the NTSB Report: "The National Transportation Safety
Board determined the probable cause of the accident was the
pilot’s diversion of attention from the operation of the airplane
and his inadvertent application of right rudder that resulted in
the loss of airplane control while attempting to manipulate the
fuel selector handle.

Amelia Mary Earhart
(July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937; declared dead
January 5, 1939)

Aviation trailblazer Amelia Earhart became the first woman to
fly solo across the U.S. nonstop on this day in history, Aug. 24,
1932.

Earhart piloted her Lockheed Vega 5B from Los Angeles to
Newark in 19 hours and 5 minutes.  She set an official U.S
record for women’s distance and time.

Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Vega 5B in the National Air
and Space Museum.

George W. Bush is shown climbing the steps to his Texas National Guard fighter plane. He was inducted into the
Texas Aviation Hall of Fame in 2017.

On July 6, 1946, George Walker Bush—the son of 41st U.S.
President George Herbert Walker Bush—was born in New
Haven, Connecticut. He went on to become the 43rd U.S.
president.

On this day in history, July 3, 1962, Tom Cruise — who would
go on to become one of Hollywood’s most iconic leading men
— was born.

Thomas Cruise Mapother IV was born in Syracuse, New York,
and his acting career emerged in the 1980s.