General Yeager was born in Myra, Lincoln County. After the war, he became the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound.

In 1941, Yeager had enlisted in the Army Air Corpsand served as a fighter pilot during World War II, flying 64 combat missions and downing 13 enemy planes, making him a "double ace." While stationed in England as a fighter pilot, he was shot down on March 5, 1944, during his eighth mission, when he was escorting B-24 bombers. After parachuting into German-occupied France, Yeager hid in a farmer’s barn for several days. He then managed to escape across the snowy Pyrenees into Spain.

When he returned to England, there was a rule that downed pilots couldn’t fly again, but Yeager convinced General Eisenhower to let him rejoin his squadron. In November 1944, he shot down five German planes in one battle, earning headlines that praised his bravery.

In 1947, Yeager made history by flying the Bell X-1 rocket plane and breaking the sound barrier. He flew faster than the speed of sound at 700 miles per hour. Yeager went on to set more speed records and became a famous test pilot. In 1962, he became the commander of the Aerospace Research Pilot School and later retired as a brigadier general in 1975.