Chuck Yeager was the first person ever to break the sound barrier in 1947, at the age of 24. His success in the Bell X-1 experimental rocket plane helped pave the way for the US space programme ...

Chuck Yeager flew a Bell X-1 experimental ... The X-1 raced toward the sound barrier as Yeager tested the plane's stabilizer. "The rudder and elevator lost their grip on the thinning air, but ...