Heroic Pilot Chuck Yeager, Portrayed in ‘The Right Stuff,’ Dead at 97

Chuck Yeager, the heroic World War II fighter pilot who went on to break the sound barrier in 1947, has died. He was 97. Yeager’s monumental feat was immortalized in the 1983 film, “The Right Stuff,” where Yeager was portrayed by actor Sam Shepard. The film also captures Yeager’s near-fatal flight in 1963, after he reached the fringes of outer space and was forced to eject in a fiery crash. He emerged from the crash bloodied, but largely uninjured.