412th Test Wing

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif.--It may be best known as the place where Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier in 1947, a big part of the plot of the great film "The Right Stuff."

But today, Edwards Air Force Base, located in the middle of California's punishing Mojave Desert, is still a huge part of the U.S. Air Force's test flight program.

In fact, that program -- the 412th Test Wing -- is operated out of this building. The idea is for the pilots in the program to put any new Air Force aircraft through their paces to ensure that the planes are ready to be deployed. If not, it's their job to figure that out and determine why.

CNET reporter Daniel Terdiman stopped in at Edwards as part of Road Trip 2012 to see the right stuff first hand.

The two planes mounted in front of the 412th Test Wing's headquarters are an F-16 on the left, and an F-86 on the right.