Yeager broke the sound barrier October 14, 1947, flying the experimental rocket-powered Bell X-1 aircraft, and soared at an altitude of 13,700 meters (45,000 feet) to reach the speed of sound - some 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) per hour.
The significance of the flight was enormous. Supersonic speed, 84-year-old Yeager said, allowed the US military to fly "faster than the enemy" but, just as importantly, "it opened up space: Star Wars, satellites," he said.
It launched a whole new era in aviation and, by the 1960's, the Americans had developed the SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance plane, capable of flying at Mach 3, or triple the speed of sound.
Since then, "speed and the ability to accelerate has been a key component in aerial combat," said aviation historian James Young.
"Every fighter that's going to be engaged in air combat is designed to fly faster than sound."
And despite the birth, and eventual demise, of the supersonic Concorde passenger plane, "for the world, the meaning of the sound barrier has pretty much been restricted to military uses."
On the civilian side, Concorde, a French-British joint aviation project with its distinctive bird-shape, and Russia's Tupolev 144 were the only two commercial supersonic planes. They were developed in the 1970's, and were capable of flying at about Mach 2, carrying some-100 passengers.
A jewel in the European aviation industry's crown, Concorde linked Europe to the United States, cutting transatlantic flights from seven to just-three hours.
But as oil prices climbed, Concorde with its hefty fuel bills increasingly became to look like a white elephant.
Only 20 models were ever built and, in 2003, what was once the pride and joy of British Airways and Air France was consigned to dusty museum aircraft hangers.
Most experts agree that supersonic flight is just not commercially viable.
"Massive supersonic transport is a fool's game that's just not sustainable because of the high ticket prices," said Richard Aboulafia, vice-president of aviation consultants, Teal Group.
"Priorities have changed," agreed an Airbus official, highlighting that commercial airlines, today, want planes that can cut fuel bills and do less harm to the environment.
At the end of 2002, US aircraft manufacturer Boeing abandoned its "Sonic Cruiser" project, which would have flown just below the speed of sound, to pump its energy and resources into the 787 Dreamliner "green" long-range jet.
Japan is still a believer, though, and hopes to develop by 2025 a supersonic 300-seat plane that would use 1.5-times-less fuel than Concorde and cut the sonic boom by half.
The most promising projects, though, are in the field of executive transport, experts say.
"They're an entirely-different world when it comes down to economics ... People in this market are willing to pay almost anything," said Aboulafia, adding it was just a matter of time before such models were on the market.
US companies Aerion and Supersonic Aerospace International, in collaboration with Lockheed Martin, are already designing private eight-to-12-seat supersonic jets capable of flying from New York to Paris in about-four hours.
To get round a ban on supersonic flights above the United States, which dates back to the Concorde years, Aerion is working on a plane that flies at subsonic speed over land and at Mach 1.6 over the sea.
Both firms are hoping to be able to launch their planes in 2013, at a cost of around $80-million-to-$100-million-per-plane, and hope to sell about 400-to-500 jets.
© 2007 Agence France-Presse
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