[jacket] Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager wore this standard-issue United States Air Force leather jacket when he piloted the Bell X-1 and became the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound on October 14, 1947. He attained a speed of 1127kph (700mph)--Mach 1.06.

The Bell X-1, which Yeager nicknamed "Glamorous Glennis" after his wife, flew 78 times. On March 26, 1948, it reached a speed of 1540kph (957mph)--Mach 1.45--the highest velocity ever reached by a manned airplane until that time.

Courtesy of the National Air and Space Museum
Chuck Yeager's Jacket

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