Chuck Yeager logged over 10,000 hours in 180 different military aircraft, including foreign and experimental rocket aircraft. In 1947, piloting the X-1, he broke Mach 1 at Edwards AFB. He continued to fly the X-1 as a research vehicle and checked out other pilots in the aircraft. In 1953 he flew the Bell X-1A to break Mach 2, reaching Mach 2.435, or 1650 mph at 70,000 ft. Yeager was the first American to test a captured Russian Mig 15. Among his many flights were the F-86, F-100, X-1, X-3, X-4, F-80 acceleration tests, and chase flights for Joe Walker and Jackie Cochran. He served as commandant of the Edwards AFB Air Force Test Pilot School from 1962 to 66, was Director of Aerospace Safety for the Air Force Inspection and Safety Center at Norton AFB, commander of the 17th Fighter Squadron at Hahn Air Base, Germany, and also served as Commandant of the Edwards AFB Aerospace Research Pilot School. Born in 1923 in Myra, West Virginia, he graduated from the Air War College at Maxwell AFB, Alabama, in 1951 and trained at the Air Force Test Pilot School in 1946. He was a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and was honored by the Congressional Medal of Honor, the MacKay Trophy, the Aviator’s Valor Award, the Harmon International Trophy, the Aviation Hall of Fame, the David C. Schilling Award, the Collier Trophy, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Ribbon, and the Aerospace Walk of Honor.