In 1947, General Charles Yeager broke a very important record. The fearless pilot became the first man to break the sound barrier. He even topped his own record in 1952 when he flew at more than twice the speed of sound.

It wasn't just excessive speed either. Yeager's flights paved the way to space exploration, using skills he learnt to train the majority of the test pilots for the Gemini, Mercury and Apollo space programs. Ironically, in the biopic 'The Right Stuff' Yeager is played by Sam Shepard - a playwright/actor known for his fear of flying.