What Was Chuck Yeager's Net Worth?
Chuck Yeager was an American brigadier general of the United States Air Force who had a net worth of $1.5 million at the time of his death in 2020 at the age of 97. Chuck Yeager was best known for being the first pilot to break the sound barrier, a feat he accomplished in 1947 at the age of 24. He is considered to be one of the greatest pilots of all time. Chuck was featured prominently in Tom Wolfe's 1979 book "The Right Stuff." In the 1983 movie based on the book, Yeager was played by actor Sam Shepherd.
After graduating from high school, he joined the U.S. Army Air Force and began working as an aircraft mechanic at George Air Force Base in California. He soon switched to pilot training. Decades later, when asked why he switched from maintenance to flying, Chuck replied: "I was in maintenance, saw pilots had beautiful girls on their arms, didn't have dirty hands, so I applied."
Yeager would soon become one of the most widely respected pilots in the Armed Forces. During WW2, flying a P-51, he shot down 13 German planes, five in a single day. That earned him "ace" status, something some pilots work their whole careers to achieve. He was also shot down over France but managed to evade capture thanks to the French Resistance.
After the war, Chuck became a test pilot at Muroc Army Air Field, which today is known as Edwards Air Force Base. On October 14, 1947, he became the first person to break the sound barrier, flying the X-1 at Mach 1.07 at 45,000 feet. The Air Force kept the accomplishment a secret for several months until the news was leaked to "Aviation Week" magazine. In June 1948, the Air Force finally came forward and confirmed the feat. He went on to break multiple speed and altitude barriers before retiring from the Air Force in 1975. His work and expertise with aircraft were instrumental in the development of the space program. In December 1953, Yeager flew the X-1A 2.5X the speed of sound, setting a world record.
In the 1960s, Chuck worked as the commander of the astronaut school at Edwards. During Vietnam, he charged back into combat, flying 127 missions while holding the rank of colonel. During this time, he flew B-57 bombers. Yeager retired from the Air Force in 1975 as a brigadier general.
Early Life
Chuck Yeager was born on February 13, 1923, in Myra, West Virginia He was the son of Albert Yeager and Susie (Sizemore.) His father was a farmer and, in 1928, the family relocated to Hamlin, West Virginia. He had four siblings, Roy, Hal Jr., Pansy, and Doris. Sadly, Doris was accidentally killed by a gun Roy was playing with when she was a year old.
During his summer vacations in 1939 and 1940, Chuck attended the Citizens Military Training Camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, which provided young men with basic military training. He graduated from Hamlin High School in 1941.
WW2
On September 12, 1941, Yeager enlisted as a private in the United States Army Air Forces. He served as an aircraft mechanic at George Air Force Base in Victorville, California. In the autumn of 1942, he was accepted into the pilot flight training program. Chuck graduated from the program on March 10, 1943, at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, where he received his pilot wings and was promoted to the rank of flight officer.
Assigned to the 357th Fighter Group air combat unit, Chuck trained as a fighter pilot in Bell P-39 Airacobras. He was shipped overseas on November 23, 1943. At Royal Air Force Leiston in the United Kingdom, he flew a P-51 Mustang, which he christened "Glamorous Glen" in honor of his girlfriend, Glennis Dickhouse.
Yeager was shot down over France on March 5, 1944, escaped to Spain with the assistance of the French Resistance on March 30th, and was back in England by May 15th.
While a P-51 Mustang Fighter Pilot on the Western Front, Chuck was credited with downing 12 enemy aircraft. On October 12, 1944, he was designated an "ace in a day pilot," one who shot down five or more enemy aircraft in one day.
He was commissioned a second lieutenant and promoted to captain before flying his 61st and final mission on January 15, 1945.
(Photo by Kim Kulish/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
Test Pilot Career
After the war, he became a test pilot at Muroc Army Air Field and flew aircraft such as experimental rocket-powered craft for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics – a United States federal agency founded to undertake, promote and institutionalize aeronautical research.
The United States Army Air Force selected him to fly the experimental rocket engine-powered Bell X-1 in a National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics program that was to research high-speed flight. Two days before he was to make the flight, he fell off a horse and broke two ribs. He had his ribs taped and told a few people about the accident. On the day of the flight, Chuck was in so much pain that he enlisted fellow pilot Jack Ridley to fashion a device from a broom handle that would allow him to seal the plane's hatch because the pain he was in prevented him from accomplishing the task as he normally did.
On October 14, 1947, he became the first pilot in history confirmed to have broken the sound barrier when he flew at 45,000 feet over Rogers Dry Lake in the Mojave Dessert. In 1948, he was honored for the accomplishment with the Robert J. Collier Trophy, which is annually presented to those who have made a great achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, as well as the Mackay Trophy, which is awarded annually for the most meritorious flight of the year.
On November 20, 1953, American naval officer Albert Scott Crossfield reached twice the speed of sound. Yeager and Jack Ridley became determined to break that record and did so on December 12, 1953. During the flight, the plane began to roll and pitch, dropping 51,000 feet in less than 60 seconds. Chuck regained control of the plane when it reached 29,000 feet and landed without catastrophe. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal in 1954 for his masterful landing.
In 1954, he was awarded the Harmon International Trophy, which is awarded annually to the world's most outstanding aviator, aviatrix, and aeronaut. The plane was put on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
From 1954 to 1957, Chuck commanded the 417th Fighter-Bomber Squadron in France and West Germany. From 1957 to 1960, he commanded the 1st Fighter Day Squadron in California and in Spain.
In 1959, he was Commandant of the United States Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School.
In 1962, Yeager became the first commandant of the United States Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School, training astronauts for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the United States Air Force. That same year, he flew with Neil Alden Armstrong to evaluate Smith Ranch Dry Lake in Nevada for use as an emergency landing site.
During the winter of 1963, while test flying the school's Lockheed NF-104A, Chuck had climbed to a near-record altitude when the plane's controls stopped working and the aircraft began to spin. After losing altitude of about 95,000 feet, he ejected himself from the plane and was hit by the seat base. His helmet faceplate was broken, and his emergency oxygen supply caught fire. The facial burns he suffered would later require extensive medical attention.
In 1966, he commanded the 405th Tactical Fighter Wing at Clarke Air Base in the Philippines. That same year he was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame. In 1968, he was assigned to command the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing in North Carolina.
During the Vietnam War, Yeager commanded fighter squadrons in Germany and Southeast Asia and was promoted to brigadier general in 1969. That same year he was assigned as vice-commander of the Seventeenth Expeditionary Air Force in Germany.
From 1971 to 1973, he was assigned as a military diplomat in Pakistan to advise the Pakistani Air Force.
In 1973, Chuck was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio. He retired on March 1, 1975, at Norton Air Force Base in California.
On December 8, 1976, at a ceremony at the White House, President Gerald Ford, on behalf of the United States Congress, presented him with a silver medal equivalent to a noncombat Medal of Honor for his contributions to aerospace science.
In 1981, Yeager was inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame. In 1983, he appeared in the historical drama film "The Right Stuff" portraying a bartender named Fred. He is mentioned several times in the television series "Star Trek," in which a starship formation maneuver is referred to as a "Yeager Loop" in his honor.
He served as technical advisor for three Electric Arts flight simulator games, "Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer," "Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer 2.0," and "Chuck Yeager's Air Combat."
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In 1990, Chuck was inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor in Lancaster, California.
Yeager Airport in Charleston, West Virginia, was named in his honor.
From 1994 to 2004, Chuck served as chairman of the Experimental Aircraft Association's Young Eagle Program.
In 1997, he was awarded the Tony Janus Award, which recognizes outstanding individual achievement in scheduled commercial aviation.
In 2009, he was inducted into the California Hall of Fame.
On October 14, 2012, to commemorate the 65th anniversary of breaking the sound barrier, Chuck co-piloted a McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle out of Nellis Air Force Base and broke it again.
In 2003, "Air & Space Smithsonian" magazine rated him the fifth greatest pilot of all time. In 2013, he was ranked among the "51 Heroes of Aviation" by "Flying" magazine.
Marshall University in West Virginia named its highest academic scholarship the "Society of Yeager Scholars" scholarship.
Chuck was honored with over 25 medals and foreign awards, including a Purple Heart, a Bronze Star, a Distinguished Flying Cross, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Personal Life
Chuck married Glennis Dickhouse on February 26, 1945, and they had four children. Glennis died in 1990. Yeager married actress Victoria D'Angelo in 2003. Chuck died on December 7, 2020, in a Los Angeles Hospital at the age of 97.
