CHRONOLOGY AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS

AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTSFIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS1948:In Japan, two USAF P-80 Shooting Stars attained 778 miles per hour with aid of tail winds. (24)1951:KOREAN WAR. A C-47 dropped flares for the first time to illuminate B-26 and F-82 nightattacks on enemy forces and deter enemy night attacks on U.S. troops. Fifth Air Force withdrewthe 4th Fighter Interceptor Wing and its F-86s from Kimpo Airfield near Seoul, S. Korea, toJohnson AB, Japan. (28)1952:A Sikorsky H-19 helicopter flew 1,800 miles from Great Falls, Mont., to Ladd AFB, Alaska, infive days. This was probably the longest flight made by a rotary wing aircraft to date. (5)1953:Cessna Aircraft’s T-37 design won the competition for the Air Force's primary jet trainer over14 other entries. (5)1954:Colonel Willard W. Millikan, Air National Guard, set a Federation Aeronautique Internationalerecord for a cross-country flight in an F-86F Sabre jet. He averaged 612 miles per hour, whileflying from Los Angeles, Calif., to New York, N.Y., in 4 hours 8 minutes. (9) (24)1957:Cessna’s model 310 won the competition to provide a light, twin-engine administrative liaisonand cargo plane to the Air Force. (5)1962:PROJECT MULE TRAIN. The first 4 of 16 C-123 assault transports of the 346th Troop Carrier Squadron arrived at Tan Son Nhut AB, S. Vietnam. (17)1967:OPERATION BOLO. F-4 Phantom pilots from the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing shot down sevenNorth Vietnamese MiG-21s in a sweep mission over the Red River valley to set a one-day aerialvictory record. This MiG suppression operation, dubbed the largest air battle of the war, and themost dramatic use of tactical deception, resulted in the downing of the MiGs. In the successfulruse, F-4C pilots simulated Rolling Thunder F-105 strike aircraft to draw the MiGs out. ColonelRobin Olds, the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing Commander, shot down a MiG and became the onlyUSAF ace with aerial victories in World War II and the Vietnam War. (16) (17) (21)1968:Col Henry Brown and Lt Col Joe B. Jordan became the first USAF pilots to use an F-111A'semergency escape module when their plane crashed near Edwards AFB, Calif. (3)1980:Through 4 January, two C-141s from the 437th Military Airlift Wing at Charleston AFB, S.C.,delivered 700 tents and 1,000 blankets to the homeless on Terceira Island in the Azores following an earthquake. (16)1994:The F-4G Wild Weasel flew its last combat mission over Southern Iraq.3 January1933:General Douglas MacArthur ordered the Air Corps “to conduct the land-based air operations indefense of the US and its overseas possessions.” (5)1935:Lincoln Ellsworth and Herbert Hollick-Kenyon completed an Antarctic flight. (24)1945:BATTLE OF THE BULGE: American and British forces counterattacked the Germans underthe protection of American airpower. (4)TEST FIRE-BOMB RAID. In a test-bombing mission to determine the efficacy of fire bombing over conventional high-explosive bombing, 57 of 97 B-29s bombed Nagoya, Japan,. Theresults gave the Japanese the mistaken impression that their fire-prevention system was adequate. (17)

AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTSFIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS1949:Representative Carl Vinson of Georgia introduced a bill to speed guided missile research and tocreate a 70-group Air Force. (24)1950:Jacqueline Cochran set new Federation Aeronautique Internationale 500-kilometer closedcourse speed record of 444 miles per hour. (5)1951:KOREAN WAR. In one of the largest Far East Air Forces Bomber Command air raids, morethan 60 B-29s dropped 650 tons of incendiary bombs on Pyongyang, N. Korea. UN forcesburned nearly 500,000 gallons of fuel and 23,000 gallons of napalm at Kimpo before abandoning the base. Altogether, Far East Air Forces flew 958 combat sorties, a one-day record. (28)1960:American Airline Boeing 707s set records of 3 hours 39 minutes from Los Angeles, Calif., toBaltimore, Md., and 4 hours 24 minutes from Los Angeles to Boston, Mass. A Transworld Airlines 707 flew from Los Angeles to New York in 3 hours 57 minutes, while Eastern AirlinesDC-8 completed a flight Long Beach, Calif., to Miami, Fla., in 3 hours 58 minutes (5)1963:At Eglin AFB, Fla., a Boeing BOMARC-B missile successfully intercepted its first low-altitudeaircraft. (5)PROJECT FARM GATE. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) augmented the Farm Gate detachment in Vietnam with an additional 10 B-26s, 5 T-28s, and 2 C-47s. (17)1966:The No. 2 XB-70 flew for 3 minutes at 70,000 feet over Edwards AFB, Calif., for the first time.(16)1978:Lockheed Missiles and Space Company received 34 million to build a spacecraft for the Satellite Infrared Experiment (SIRE) to measure long wave infrared signatures of objects against thestellar background. This craft also carried two secondary payloads, a space sextant and a sensorto measure the isotopic composition of solar flares. (5)1993:President George Bush and Soviet President Boris Yeltsin signed the second Strategic ArmsReduction Treaty (START) to reduce nuclear bombers, missiles, bombs, and warheads. (16)(26)2007:Through 4 January, a Wyoming Air National Guard C-130 Hercules and 10 airmen assisted theColorado National Guard with a cattle feeding operation near Lamar in southeast Colorado afterhuge snowstorm blanketed the area. Colorado National Guard helicopters and the C-130dropped hay to cattle. (AFNEWS, “Air National Guard Dropping Hay for Colorado Cattle,” 4Jan 2007.) (32)4 January1936:The Vought SB2U Vindicator first flew. (5)1937:Frank Sinclair flew a Seversky Airplane 240 miles per hour from New York to New Orleans,La., in a record of 5 hours. (24)1944:Operation CARPETBAGGER. American and Royal Air Force planes dropped arms and supplies to French, Belgian, and Italian partisans for the first time. (4)1945:Republic received a contract to build 100 production P-84 Thunderjets. (12)1948:The University of California completed a pilot model for the world’s first low-pressure supersonic wind tunnel. (24)

AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTSFIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS1951:KOREAN WAR. As Communist Chinese forces occupied Seoul, the last USAF aircraft leftKimpo Airfield. (28)Miss Caro Bayley flew a Piper Super Cub 30,203 feet over Miami to set a Federation Aeronautique Internationale altitude record for light planes. (24)1955:Aerojet General began a research and development effort on rocket engines and associatedground equipment for the Titan Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. (6)1957:Exercise JUMP LIGHT/Project ROTAD. Through 28 January, a joint Army-Tactical AirCommand airlift effort supported this exercise and Project ROTAD (Reorganization and Testingof Airborne Division) near Fort Bragg, N. C. (11)1958:The Army awarded Chrysler Corporation a 51.8 million contract to build the Jupiter Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missile. (6)1965:The Strategic Air Command’s first Atlas-E missiles came off alert in the 548th Strategic MissileSquadron at Forbes AFB, Kans., and the 566th Strategic Missile Squadron at Francis E. WarrenAFB, Wy. Moreover, the first Titan Is came off alert in the 568th Strategic Missile Squadron atLarson AFB, Wash., the 850th Strategic Missile Squadron at Ellsworth AFB, N. Dak., and the851st Strategic Missile Squadron at Beale AFB, Calif. (6)1968:A 6511th Test Group (Parachute) C-130 claimed an unofficial single-delivery record by dropping a 50,160-pound pallet from 1,200 feet at El Centro, Calif. (3)1985:Major Patricia M. Young became the first female commander of an Air Force Space Commandunit, Detachment 1, 20th Missile Warning Squadron. (16) (26)1989:Two Navy F-14 Tomcats, operating from the USS John F. Kennedy, shot down two LibyanMiG-23 Floggers that were displaying hostile intentions over international waters. (20)1994:Operation PROVIDE PROMISE. The USAF formed a C-130 “Delta Squadron” under the435th Airlift Wing at Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany, with Air Force Reserve and Air NationalGuard assets. The squadron joined the effort to deliver relief supplies to Bosnia. (16)2000:Joint Task Force FUNDAMENTAL RESPONSE. Final tallies of the flood devastation nearCaracas, Venezuela revealed 30,000 people dead and another 400,000 left homeless. Through10 March, 11 C-17 missions and 5 C-5 missions airlifted 189 passengers and 527 short tons ofcargo to Simon Bolivar International Airport near Caracas to support Task Force relief efforts.(See 20 December 1999) (22)2001:A C-17 Globemaster III from the 315th Airlift Wing at Charleston AFB, S. C., flew the 2001Mars Odyssey spacecraft from Buckley AFB, Colo., to Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Fla. (22)5 January1914:Marine pilots and enlisted mechanics were sent from Annapolis, Md., to the Philadelphia NavyYard, Pa., where they left on the Navy transport, the USS Hancock, for Puerto Rico to join theAdvance Base Brigade in Atlantic Fleet maneuvers. This was the first time an all-Marine aviation force acted with Marine ground forces. During the next three weeks, Lts Bernard L. Smithand William M. McIlvain flew a Curtiss C-3 (an F-model Flying Boat) on scouting and reconnaissance missions. (10)

AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTSFIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS1915:Lt Joseph E. Carberry, Signal Corps, and Lt Arthur R. Christie set a 2-man American altituderecord of 11,690 feet at San Diego. The pilots made the 1-hour, 13-minute flight in a CurtissTractor (OXX Curtiss 100). (24)1916:The 1st Company, 2d Aero Squadron, sailed from San Francisco, Calif., for the Philippines. Itwas the first air unit to serve outside the US. (24)1935:The de Haviland Queen Bee first flew. (5)1949:Capt Charles E. Yeager flew the Bell X-1 to 23,000 feet at a record ascent of 13,000 feet perminute. (9) (24)1951:KOREAN WAR. At Pyongyang, 59 B-29s dropped 672 tons of incendiary bombs. Additionally, the 18th Fighter-Bomber Group staged its final missions from Suwon Air Base. U.S.ground troops burned the buildings at Suwon's airfield before withdrawing. (28)1954:Col Willard W. Millikan (Air National Guard) set a speed record, when he flew an F-86F Sabrebetween New York and Washington DC in 24 minutes. (24)1961:PROJECT NARROW GAUGE: Tactical Air Command B-57s participated in a test of therunway lighting system at Dow AFB, Me. (11)1968:The Air Force Academy implemented the T-41 Mescalero Light Plane flight program. (16) (26)1970:With the acceptance of the 80th Air Defense Group facility at Fortuna Air Force Station, N.Dak., the Aerospace Defense Command’s Backup Intercept Control (BUIC) III radar systembecame fully operational. (26)1972:President Richard M. Nixon announced his decision to develop a Space Shuttle system. (5)1985:A C-141 carried a Sikorsky S-70 helicopter to La Paz, Bolivia, to assist in the search for anEastern Airlines Boeing 727 that had crashed high in the Andes Mountains. (16) (26)2001:An F-22 Raptor, equipped with combat-capable avionics, flew for the first time at LockheedMartin’s facility in Marietta, Ga. (AFNEWS Article 0018, 6 Jan 01)2002:Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. A 437th Airlift Wing C-17 from Charleston AFB, S. C.,arrived at Naval Air Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with the first materials for U. S. NavySeabee project to build a prison for 2,000 Taliban and Al Qaeda detainees from Afghanistan. Inthe early weeks of 2002, 21 C-17 missions from Charleston moved 1.2 short tons of equipmentand supplies to Guantanamo. (22)6 January1945:Taking off from Chengtu, China, 45 B-29s bombed the Omura aircraft plant, enemy installations, and targets of opportunity in occupied China. (24)1951:KOREAN WAR. As the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division defended the U. N. line across S. Korea,Far East Air Forces Combat Cargo Command dispatched C-47s from the 21st Troop CarrierSquadron with 115 tons of cargo to Wonju, and C-119s from the 314th Troop Carrier Group todrop 460 tons of supplies to the division. (28)1964:The Supersonic Transport (SST) Evaluation Group, under the Federal Aviation Authority, convened in Washington DC to evaluate airframe and engine design proposals for the SST. (5)

AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTSFIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS1965:The General Dynamics F-111A demonstrated the ability to fly with its wings swept back in itsfirst flight. (5)1977:The Department of Defense placed the Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) program into fullscale development and set up a joint cruise missile project office. (12)1978:Vandenberg AFB, Calif., launched a Minuteman III, carrying three Mark 12A reentry vehicles,to study an experimental nose tip and heat shield materials. (5)1979:The 388th Tactical Fighter Wing at Hill AFB, Utah, accepted the Tactical Air Command’s firstF-16. (12)7 January1945:Far East Air Forces joined the 3d Fleet in air attacks on enemy airfields in northern Luzon, Philippines. This attack was the largest coordinated mission of light and medium bombers (132) todate in the Southwest Pacific. (24)1960:An American Airlines Electra flew 540 miles per hour to set a record of 1 hour 11 minutes 30seconds from Chicago, Ill., to Washington DC. (5)1963:Bell Telephone Laboratory scientists repaired Telstar I in flight in an unprecedented groundoperation. (5)1966:The 4200th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale AFB, Calif., received the first operationalSR-71 (Tail No. 61-7957). (1)The US Junior Chamber of Commerce named Lt Col Edward H. White, a Gemini IV Astronaut,one of the 10 outstanding young men of 1965. (16)1968:The National Air and Space Administration’s Surveyor VII, the last spacecraft in the program toanalyze the lunar surface, launched from the Eastern Test Range, Fla., on an Atlas-Centaurrocket (AC-15) on a 67-hour lunar intercept trajectory. It touched down on 9 January in Tychocrater after a 66-hour 35-minute flight and began sending the first of 21,274 detailed picturesback to earth. (5)1989:Operation MEDFLY 89. Through 20 January, the 167th Tactical Airlift Group flew medicalpersonnel and supplies aboard two C-130 Hercules to Liberia to support Medfly 89. This jointservice humanitarian effort trained medical personnel in inoculating people against diseases andtreating ailments. (16)1995:Operation UNISOM II. Through 24 March, Air Mobility Command supported the withdrawalof United Nations forces from Somalia by deploying some U. S. forces to Kenya to cover thewithdrawal and then returning the forces to the U. S. The returning flights stopped at MoronAB, Spain, which served as a stage base and refueling site for the operation. Besides Moron,Air Mobility Command units deployed to Mombasa and Nairobi, Kenya. The KC-135s atNairobi refueled AC-130 gunships. Altogether, Air Mobility Command’s airlifters andcontracted commercial flights flew 59 missions to carry over 1,400 passengers and over 1,400short tons of cargo. (18)2005:Colonel Joseph Lanni, the 412th Test Wing Commander at Edwards AFB, Calif., delivered anF/A-22 Raptor to Langley AFB, Va. That Raptor, the fifth built, formed the nucleus of the firstoperational F-22 squadron. (3)

AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTSFIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS8 January1944:Milo Burcham flew the Bell/Lockheed XP-80 Shooting Star, named the “Lulu Belle,” for thefirst time at Muroc Field, Calif. This field became Edwards AFB on 5 December 1949. (12)1951:KOREAN WAR. Fifth Air Force flew more missions when blizzards forced U. S. Navy TaskForce 77 carriers to stop close air support missions for X Corps. B-29 Superfortresses crateredKimpo Airfield to prevent its use by enemy aircraft. (28)1952:EXERCISE SNOWFALL: Through 13 January, the 516th Troop Carrier Wing used nearly100 planes to move 8,623 11th Airborne Division troops from Fort Campbell, Ky., to WheelerSack Army Air Field, N.Y. This exercise tested military capabilities using winter tactics, techniques, and doctrines. Some 10,000 Army personnel were airlifted and 6,400 paratroops weredropped. The exercise saw the first use of Sikorsky H-19 helicopter in tactical air maneuvers.(11) (24)1959:Through 16 January, two ski-equipped C-130s from the Tactical Air Command recoveredequipment and people from Ice Island Charlie, after it began to break up 450 miles northwest ofPoint Barrow, Alaska. (11)The National Air and Space Administration asked the Army for eight Redstone-type launchvehicles for the Project Mercury development flights. (20)1964:The USAF received its last F-105D aircraft. (5)1965:The Strategic Air Command’s last test Atlas F launched from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. (6)1970:Col Douglas H. Frost set flight endurance record for A-7D Corsair IIs. He made a 10-hourflight from Edwards AFB, Calif., with two round trips to New Mexico and covered 5,000 mileswith one air refueling. (5)A Space and Missile Systems Organization crew from Air Force Systems Command launchedand inserted the Skynet communications satellite into orbit. (26)1971:The Strategic Air Command completed the first Minuteman III squadron at Minot AFB, N. Dak.(12)1973:The Tactical Air Command flew its first Weapon System Evaluation Program mission under theprogram name Combat Echo. (Msg, ACC/DO to AWFC/CC, R081245Z JAN 98)LAST AERIAL VICTORY. In their F-4D Phantom, Capt Paul D. Howman and 1Lt LawrenceW. Kullman shot down a MiG southwest of Hanoi with a radar-guided AIM-7 missile. Thisshootdown was the last aerial victory before the North Vietnamese signed the ceasefire agreement, which went into effect on 29 January. (16) (21)1977:First YC-141B, a C-141A Starlifter stretched 23.3 feet and equipped for inflight refueling,rolled out at Lockheed’s plant in Marietta, Ga. (2)1986:The Military Airlift Command accepted its first C-5B Galaxy for the 443rd Military Airlift Wingat Altus AFB, Okla. (16) (18)1988:The USAF let a 4.9 million contract to develop a new close air support and interdiction planeto replace the A-10. (5)1998:After originating Combat Echo in 1973, the Tactical Air Command combined this program inJuly 1984 with the Air Defense Command's Combat Pike to form the Combat Archer Weapon

AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTSFIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTSSystem Evaluation Program. This program reached its 25th anniversary in a continuing effort todevelop and validate USAF weapons systems. (Msg, ACC/DO to AWFC/CC, R081245Z JAN98)2001:At Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif., Boeing’s X-32B Joint Strike Fighter concept demonstratorcompleted its initial low- and medium-speed taxi tests at 30 and 60 knots, respectively, to verifyfunction and integration of crucial aircraft systems. It was the short-takeoff and vertical-landing(STOVL) version of the Joint Strike Fighter. (3)2007:Air Force AC-130 gunships attacked a terror training base in a heavily forested area called RasKamboni in Somalia near the Kenyan border. The gunships targeted al Qaeda terrorists whoplanned the 1998 attacks against the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. (AFNEWS, “Aircraft Attack Al Queda Haven in Somalia,” 9 Jan 2007.)9 January1793:Jean Pierre Blanchard made the first manned balloon flight in America with a 46-minute tripbetween the Wall Street Prison in Philadelphia, Pa., to Debtford Township, N.J. He carriedlanding clearance orders signed by President George Washington and a small black dog as apassenger. (7)1917:The Army ordered Capt Henry H. Arnold from Aviation School duty at San Diego, Calif., toPanama to organize and command the 7th Aero Squadron and ordered Capt John F. Curry toFort Kamehameha, Hawaii, to command the 6th Aero Squadron. (24)1918:The 1st Marine Aviation Company, under Capt Francis T. Evans, left the Philadelphia NavyYard for the Azores. There, the Marine pilots used Curtiss R-6 airplanes to conduct antisubmarine patrols against Germany. (10)1929:Through the 16th, Maj Paul Bock flew a C-2 Army transport 3,130 miles from Wright Field,Dayton, Ohio, to France Field, Panama. This was the first airplane to be ferried by the ArmyAir Corps to a foreign station. (24)1943:Lockheed’s C-69 transport, a military version of the Model 49 Constellation, flew its first flightat Burbank, Calif. (5)The Lockheed C-121 Super Constellation first flew. (5)1945:U. S. Army Air Forces participated in the opening of Luzon, Philippine Campaign. (24)1946:Northrop Aircraft Incorporated submitted a proposal to the US Army Air Forces (U. S. ArmyAir Forces) to study a subsonic surface-to-surface air-breathing missile with six turbojet enginesand a range of 3,000 miles. (6)1956:1Lt E. A. Schmid, 63rd Troop Carrier Wing, became the first airman in the USAF to fly over theSouth Pole and first member

Dec 15, 2015 · SR-71. (16) (26) 1966: Air National Guard airlift units started flying about 75 cargo flights a month to Southeast Asia. Additionally, the guard flew about 100-plus flights a month to augment the Military Airlift Command’s global airlift mission. (16) (26) At Tullahoma, Tenn., the Arnold Engineering Devel