RAVENSWOOD, W.Va. — Organizers are planning for yet another day to honor a West Virginia native most notable for being a record-setting test pilot — becoming the first in history to break the speed of sound.
The Jackson County Airport will host the annual Chuck Yeager Aviation Day this Saturday, September 28 to honor the life and legacy of General Chuck Yeager.
Wife of the late Chuck Yeager, Victoria Yeager told 580 WCHS the event not only honors the West Virginia legend but highlights and educates people on his extraordinary achievements, such as his effort of breaking the sound barrier on October 14, 1947. She said this achievement changed everything in aviation innovation.
Chuck and Victoria Yeager
“He did far more than just breaking the sound barrier, risking his neck, everyone before him died trying to do it, and without that, we would not have air superiority which keeps us safe, and we would not have been able to get into space,” she said.
Through various activities, educational workshops, and a series of speeches, Victoria Yeager said that the event also aims to instill a passion for aviation in young people to help foster a new generation of aerospace trailblazers.
“There’s lots of openings for pilots, openings for maintenance, openings for administration, so it’s to expand their horizons as to what’s possible, and even if they don’t go into the aviation careers, they can be pilots,” Victoria Yeager said.
The event will kick off Saturday with a pancake breakfast from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. which will be followed by free Young Eagles flights, airplane and helicopter displays, STEM and aviation activities, drone demonstrations and a flight simulator, as well as a number of speakers including Victoria Yeager herself.
Information regarding careers and opportunities in aviation will be available at the event as well as food vendors. A Girls in Aviation Day will also be held simultaneously.
Victoria Yeager said prior to Chuck Yeager’s big breakthrough of exceeding the speed of sound, she said he served in the U.S. Air Force and was a World War II hero, as well as a flying ace, credited for shooting down nearly a dozen enemy aircraft.
When Yeager went on to work with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics as a test pilot following WWII, he continued to break several other speed and altitude records. Victoria Yeager said at one point he went up to an astonishing 118,000 feet and saw the curvature of the earth during a test flight in 1963.
She said Chuck Yeager can serve as inspiration for everyone in striving to be the best they can be.
“If he can be a role model of integrity, working hard, enjoying life, and just moving forward, than that would be great if everybody could have that basis, it would be terrific,” she said.
Yeager then went on to help command fighter squadrons during the Vietnam War where he was promoted to Brigadier General in 1969, and was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1973.
He retired on March 1, 1975 with a three-war active-duty flying career spanning over 30 years.
While Yeager never went to space, he did train pilots for the space program.
Victoria Yeager said teaching kids about his passion for flying is something he strived to do while he was alive, making this Chuck Yeager Aviation Day even more important as it’s passing on his legacy.
“He got over a million kids flying by December 17, 2003, the 100th anniversary of the first powered flight by the Wright Brothers, so his legacy is continuing and it’s exciting,” Victoria Yeager said.
Chuck Yeager Aviation Day this Saturday at the Jackson County Airport will last from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event is open to the public.