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#charlesyeagersuperpilot When you come into my bedroom, you will see two airplane models on my dresser. One is an ugly orange airplane with a signature on one wing.

If you asked me about it, I would respond with these words:

"This plane symbolizes what the American spirit is all about."

The plane you would be looking at is a model of the Bell X-1. On one wing is the signature of Chuck Yeager. In the 1940's, the US, Britain, The Soviet Union, Germany, and Japan had the capability of building a manned aircraft that would fly faster than the speed of sound. No one was able to pull it off. Right before an airplane reaches the speed of sound, it goes through the transonic zone. It starts to buffet wildly. Every attempt to break the sound barrier ended in a crash. The pilots always died. It appeared that it would be impossible to fly a manned aircraft faster than the speed of sound.

A small start-up aircraft company in Buffalo, New York, took up the challenge to build a manned aircraft that would fly faster than the speed of sound. Bell Aircraft and its young team of engineers decided to do the impossible. They refused to believe the words: "I can't."

They discovered that the whole secret to breaking the sound barrier was the tail assembly of the airplane, They designed a tail assembly that would allow an aircraft to go through the rough ride of the transonic zone and break the sound barrier. On October 14, 1947, a 24- year-old US AIr Force captain named Charles "Chuck" Yeager took a ride on a B-29 bomber. Under its bomb bay was the Bell X-1 rocket plane, Yeager climbed into this plane and strapped in. He was dropped. A rocket engine ignited. He was blasted toward 760 miles per hour. It was a wild ride full of fear. Yeager was not sure that he would survive the violent turbulence. He heard a loud boom. The plane started to fly smoothly. He became the first human being to fly faster than the speed of sound.

Yesterday General Charles Yeager left us after an incredible life spanning 97 years.