Charles Elwood “Chuck” Yeager was a retired brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force and a very famous test pilot who became the first person to officially break the sound barrier. He achieved this feat in 1947 when he flew the experimental Bell X-1 research aircraft. Chuck Yeager had enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps to serve in World War II immediately after his graduation from high school. He began his career as a private and worked up his way to become a fighter pilot. So great was his love for flying that he became a test pilot and instructor for the United States Air Force after the war and flew many types of aircraft including experimental rocket-powered aircraft. During those times it was not even known if it was possible for a fixed-wing aircraft to fly faster than sound. Yeager proved that it was possible when he broke the sound barrier as he flew the rocket-powered X-1 fighter plane in October 1947. He set a new air speed record of 1650 mph—more than twice the speed of sound—in 1952. He later on commanded the Air Force Aerospace Research Pilots School where he trained future astronauts.