Chuck Yeager, the decorated pilot who was the first person to break the sound barrier, dies at 97. Yeager's death was announced on his official Twitter account in a tweet attributed to his wife Victoria Scott D'Angelo. Yeager, who was one of the U.S. Air Force's most decorated test pilots, broke the sound barrier on Oct. 14, 1947, while flying over Rogers Dry Lake in Southern California. Ref. USAToday.