SACRAMENTO, Calif.(AP)
Famed pilot Chuck Yeager is accusing his children in federal court of diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars from his pension fund.
The lawsuit filed Thursday is the latest legal dispute between Yeager, 83, the first pilot to fly faster than the speed of sound, and his four children.
The fight began in state court after Yeager became engaged to his second wife, Victoria Scott D´Angelo, said Yeager´s attorney, George A. Roberts. She was 45 when the couple wed in 2003. His first wife, Glennis, died in 1990.
Yeager´s finances had been managed by his oldest daughter, Susan Yeager, but D´Angelo feared her husband was being shut out of financial decisions, Roberts said.
Susan Yeager and two siblings had sued D´Angelo, accusing her of alienating Yeager from his family to gain control of his estate.
The federal suit names all four children, including Michael Yeager, Don Yeager and Sharon Yeager Flick. The children and their representatives either could not be reached or declined comment.
Yeager broke the sound barrier when he piloted a Bell X-1 rocket plane over the Mojave Desert on Oct. 14, 1947. He was a subject of Tom Wolfe´s novel “The Right Stuff.”
The retired Air Force brigadier general has lived near Nevada City, Calif., since 1975.
This post was last modified on 01/31/2009 1:53 pm