On the steps of a Fresno courthouse, legendary Gen. Charles “Chuck” Yeager talked about shooting down Nazi German planes during World War II, breaking the sound barrier in an experimental aircraft in 1947 and parachuting out of a free-falling supersonic jet after his pressurized suit caught fire. The life of Chuck Yeager, who lives in Penn Valley in Gold Country, has been complicated by dozens of lawsuits from a variety of people, including his own children. The “Bell X1” on the license plate on Chuck Yeager's truck refers to the aircraft in which he became the first human to travel faster than sound in 1947. Chuck Yeager and his wife, Victoria, owe $270,000 in unpaid bills, a Fresno legal firm claims in a lawsuit.