First person to break sound barrier dies, aged 97
America’s greatest pilot, Chuck Yeager – who became the first person to break the sound barrier – has died at the age of 97.
The former Second World War fighter ace made history in 1947, when he managed to reach speeds of more than 700 miles an hour in an experimental rocket plane.
His story was later immortalised in Tom Wolfe’s ‘The Right Stuff’.
Today his widow said his legacy of “strength, patriotism and adventure will be remembered forever”.
From the United States, Kate Fisher reports.