On This Day: Chuck Yeager Breaks Sound Barrier (1947)

Chuck Yeager pushed past Mach 1 in the desert with broken ribs.

Breaking the sound barrier was one of the great technological achievements of the 20th century, and one of the most deliberately understated. Yeager flew the Bell X-1, which he named "Glamorous Glennis" after his wife, to Mach 1.06 at 45,000 feet. He had cracked two ribs in a horseback riding accide