WASHINGTON, Oct. 11 -- The U.S. Air Force issued the following news: By Mark Lewis When Air Force Capt. Chuck Yeager became the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound on Oct. 14, 1947, the United States Air Force itself was officially only 26 days old. How fitting that the birth of the Air Force coincided so closely with such a historic technical achievement, one that helped establish the fledgling service as a science- and-technology-driven military branch. That appreciation for   more