Easton Press "Chuck Yeager and the Bell X-1" Signed Limited Edition Print Framed w/COA

An original limited edition framed print, personally autographed by General Chuck Yeager.

Chuck Yeager Broke Sound Barrier more than 60 Years Ago

A historic framed print to display proudly in your home or office.

• Overall frame dimensions: 16" x 14"
• Approximate print dimensions 10" x 8"
• COA - Certificate of Authenticity by the publisher.

Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager (born February 13, 1923) is a retired Brigadier-General in the United States Air Force and a noted test pilot. In 1947, he became the first pilot (at age 24) to travel faster than sound in level flight and ascent.

An exclusive signed limited edition print, as a tribute to the 60th anniversary of one of aviation's greatest accomplishments. This is Chuck Yeager and his Bell X-1, the famous plane to break the sound barrier. Presented in a beautiful hardwood frame ready for wall mounting.

This remarkable image has been printed on unique acid-free paper. Housed under a protective glass and encased in a hardwood frame. A wonderful gift for the aviation collector that will add years of enjoyment. This print has been hand signed by Chuck Yeager in the lower right corner of the image in a blue pen. To guarantee the authenticity of the signature, Easton Press has included a COA (Certificate of Authenticity) on the back panel.

About Chuck Yeager

Brigadier General Charles Elwood Yeager (February 13, 1923 – December 7, 2020) was a United States Air Force officer, flying ace, and record-setting test pilot who in October 1947 became the first pilot in history confirmed to have exceeded the speed of sound in level flight.

Yeager was raised in Hamlin, West Virginia. His career began in World War II as a private in the United States Army, assigned to the Army Air Forces in 1941.[a] After serving as an aircraft mechanic, in September 1942, he entered enlisted pilot training and upon graduation was promoted to the rank of flight officer (the World War II Army Air Force version of the Army's warrant officer), later achieving most of his aerial victories as a P-51 Mustang fighter pilot on the Western Front, where he was credited with shooting down 11.5 enemy aircraft (the half credit is from a second pilot assisting him in a single shootdown). On October 12, 1944, he attained "ace in a day" status, shooting down five enemy aircraft in one mission.

After the war, Yeager became a test pilot and flew many types of aircraft, including experimental rocket-powered aircraft for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Through the NACA program, he became the first human to officially break the sound barrier on October 14, 1947, when he flew the experimental Bell X-1 at Mach 1 at an altitude of 45,000 ft (13,700 m), for which he won both the Collier and Mackay trophies in 1948. He then went on to break several other speed and altitude records in the following years. In 1962, he became the first commandant of the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School, which trained and produced astronauts for NASA and the Air Force.

Yeager later commanded fighter squadrons and wings in Germany, as well as in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. In recognition of his achievements and the outstanding performance ratings of those units, he was promoted to brigadier general in 1969 and inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1973, retiring on March 1, 1975. His three-war active-duty flying career spanned more than 30 years and took him to many parts of the world, including the Korean War zone and the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War.

Yeager is referred to by many as one of the greatest pilots of all time, and was ranked fifth on Flying's list of the 51 Heroes of Aviation in 2013. Throughout his life, he flew more than 360 different types of aircraft over a 70-year period, and continued to fly for two decades after retirement as a consultant pilot for the United States Air Force.

About

A member of the National Aviation Hall of Fame, Air Force Captain Charles Elwood Yeager was the first to break the sound barrier. On October 14, 1947, Yeager's Bell X-1, Glamorous Glennis, powered by four liquid oxygen and alcohol rockets, was attached to a B-29 mother plane until reaching an altitude of 25,000 feet, streaked at over 662 mph to more than 40,000 feet over Rogers Dry Lake in southern California. Yeager climbed to 42,000 feet and reached a speed of 670 mph (March 1.015).

The feat, which was not publicly announced until June of 1948, was not Yeager's last record-breaker; on December 12, 1953, he set a world record of 1,650 mph in an X-1A rocket plane. Over twenty years after retiring from the Air Force with the rank of Brigadier General (1975), Yeager duplicated his history-making feat on October 14, 1997 - exactly fifty years after first breaking the sound barrier. The former WWII fighter pilot turned test pilot retired from the U.S. Air Force as a Brigadier General in 1975.