US aviation legend Chuck Yeager, the first pilot to break the sound barrier, has died, his wife announced Monday. "It is w/ profound sorrow, I must tell you that my life love General Chuck Yeager passed just before 9pm ET," Victoria Yeager tweeted on her husband's account. A World War II fighter pilot, Yeager, 97, rocketed into history by breaking the sound barrier in the experimental Bell X-1 research aircraft in 1947, helping to pave the way for the US space program. to/jh