Who is the pilot that broke the speed of sound in 1947 that was interviewed for the book by Tom Wolfe?
Chuck Yeager Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager ( ; born February 13 , 1923) is a former United States Air Force general officer and record-setting test pilot. In 1947, he became the first pilot confirmed to have exceeded the speed of sound in level flight.
Kamikaze (aircraft) Kamikaze (神風号 , Kamikaze-gō ) was a Mitsubishi Ki-15 "Karigane" aircraft, (registration J-BAAI) sponsored by the newspaper " Asahi Shimbun". It became famous on April 9, 1937, as the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly from Japan to Europe. The flight from Tokyo to London took 51 hours, 17 minutes and 23 seconds and was piloted by Masaaki Iinuma (1912–1941), with Kenji Tsukagoshi (1900–1943) serving as navigator.