Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier

Watch footage of American Chuck Yeager becoming the first pilot to fly faster than the speed of sound on 14 October 1947.

Despite having two broken ribs, Chuck reached Mach 1.06 – a speed of more than 1,100km per hour.

He flew an orange, single-seated, rocket-powered Bell X-1, 13,000m above the Mojave Desert in California.

(Picture: Chuck Yeager with 'Glamorous Glennis', Credit: Getty Images)