Still faster than the speed of sound: Chuck Yeager, 89, recreates historic mission 65 years to the day since first supersonic flight



Legendary aviator Chuck Yeager made history yet again this morning as he broke the sound barrier to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the day he became the first man to do so.



Yeager, 89, took off for altitudes more than 30,000 feet above California's Mojave Desert at t 9:45 a.m. in an F-15D fighter jet piloted by Capt. David Vincent.



It was the same bit of azure desert sky where Yeager first flew faster than the speed of sound on this day in 1947.

Still flying high: Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Charles Yeager strapped into a fighter jet to re-enact his history supersonic flight

Salad days: Yeager was only 24 when he became the first man to travel faster than the speed of sound

Vincent piloted the F-15D descending from 45,000 feet to 30,000 feet, at which point he leveled off and cracked the barrier at Mach 1.4.

Take Off: Chuck Yeager and Capt. David Vincent reached Mach 1.4 on their flight above the Mojave Desert





Yeager, who piloted for the rest of the flight, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal there was little on his mind as he took the stick just four months shy of his 90th birthday.



'Flying is flying. You can't add a lot to it,' Yeager said.

Retired: Yeager, 89, said he barely thought of anything while piloting the jet. 'Flying is flying,' he told reporters

Daredevils: Charles Yeager, flew with Capt. David Vincent, who was chosen because he had the same rank as Yeager when he made his first flight

Vincent was chosen to escort Yeager because of his flight record and rank - as Yeager was also a captain when he made the first supersonic flight.



'This captain is as much of a maverick as General Yeager is. He's in the back seat where the instructor pilot sits because he's the elder statesman,' Yeager's wife Victoria told reporters.

Historic flight: Yeager's first supersonic jet was called the XS-1 for 'experimental supersonic'

Yeager's first flight was in a rocket-powered, Bell X-1, known then as the XS-1 for 'experimental, supersonic.'

The rocket plane was attached to the belly of a B-29 aircraft and Yeager lowered himself in flight from the B-29's bomb bay into the X-1's open hatch.

Need for speed: Yeager and Vincent taxied through celebratory water streams when they landed

Inspiration: Chuck Yeager's accomplishments have been the basis for several books and movies

In 1964 his ribs had been broken while horseback riding just two days before take-off and his injury forced him to lock the hatch shut using a sawed-off broom handle.

Yeager's exploits were notably featured in Tom Wolf's bestselling 1979 nonfiction book The Right Stuff and he was played by Sam Shepard in the 1983 film adaptation.

Coincidentally, the anniversary was also marked by the arrival of the world's first supersonic skydiver as Felix Baumgartner plummeted to Earth from a record 24.5 miles hitting mach 1.24 on his descent.

New generation: Felix Baumgartner became the first man to break the sound barrier skydiving just as Yeager was re-enacting his flight



