Midmorning With Aundrea - December 10, 2020 (Part 4)

(Part 4 of 4) Fans of John Lennon congregate in Strawberry Fields in Central Park to mark the 40th anniversary of John Lennon's assassination.

And we take a look at the life and career of Chuck Yeager, the legendary aviator who was the first human to break the sound barrier and trained the early NASA astronauts.

It it has been 40- years since one of the greatest tragedies to hit the music world: the death of john lennon.

Michael george looks back at that day and the legacy lennon leaves behind.

Fans of john lennon came together - at the memorial in central park known as "strawberr fields" some of these fans were also right here on that tragic night 40 years ago, when the beatles legend was gunned down outside his apartment at the age of 40.

Ch charles rosenay is a beatles expert who published a magazine about the band.

He says lennon was one of the most influential musicians of all time- but his death transcended music.

And even 40 years later& john lennon's legacy lives on.

Fans like mike eagen say his music and his message of peace are timeless.

Still inspiring millions...a generation after he left us.

In new york, michael george, cbs news.

The man convicted of killing john lennon, mark david chapman, remains behind bars in an upstate new york prison.

Legendary air force pilot chuck yeager died this week..

The retired one- star general was the first person to break the sound barrier, becoming an almost mythical american hero.

Yeager was 97 years old.

Jericka duncan looks at the life and career of a country boy who became the model for "the righ stuff."

Yeager // drops clear... it was october 14- th, 19-47 -- and chuck yeager was already an accomplished world war ii pilot who'd shot down more than a dozen german adversaries across 64 missions.

But on that day... ...the 24-year-old captain in the army air corps set his course for the history books.

And he does it -- the first human to crack the sound barrier there he goes... 65 years later, to the minute, he rode along to re-create the historic flight.

Across a decades- long career, all the aircraft he flew were named "glamorou glennis," for hi first wife, who died in 19-90.

Up until that time, we'd never been able to get above the speed of sound.

Mach 1 opened up space to us.

Breaking the sound barrier wasn't yeager's only brush with speed.

He'd hit Ámach-2Á -- twice the speed of sound -- in 19-53, and his sonic booms would set the standard for pushing the limits of flight.

Yeager later played a key role in developing u-s space exploration... training nearly ÁhalfÁ of the astronauts who served in the gemini, mercury and apollo programs. those milestones would later be memorialized in a book and film, "th right stuff."

I'm still going steady like a bat outta hell!

We didn't even know that we would ever break mach 1 // it's not a matter of thinking that it's possible, it's duty.

Just like flying combat // didn't make any difference to me whether i thought the airplane would go faster than sound.

I was assigned as a test pilot on it, and it was my duty to fly it.

Jericka duncan, cbs news, new york th that and more on the next midmorning.