Frederick J. Shaw Jr.

Timothy Warnock

Air Force History and Museums Program

in association with

Air University Press

1997
For sale by theU.S . Government Printing Office

Superintendent of Documents, Mail Stop SSOP,Washington, DC 20402-9328

ISBN 0-16-049145-2
1967-76 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

1977-86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

1987-97 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117

iii

, py

significant role in the events that have shaped modern

history. Initially, the reassuring drone of USAF transports

announced the aerial lifeline that broke the Berlin blockade,

the Cold War's first test of wills. In the tense decades that

followed, the USAF deployed a strategic force of nuclearcapable intercontinental bombers and missiles that deterred

open armed conflict between the United States and the

Soviet Union. During the Cold War's deadly flash, points,

USAF jets roared through the skies of Korea and Southeast

Asia, wresting air superiority from their communist

opponents and bringing air power to the support of friendly

ground forces . In the great global competition for the hearts

and minds of the Third World, hundreds of USAF

humanitarian missions relieved victims of war, famine, and

natural disaster. The Air Force performed similar disaster

relief services on the home front. Over Grenada, Panama,

and Libya, the USAF participated in key contingency

actions that presaged post-Cold War operations.

In the aftermath of the Cold War the USAF became

deeply involved in constructing a new world order. As the

Soviet Union disintegrated, USAF flights succored the

populations of the newly independent states . Blazing across

the Iraqi skies, Desert Storm's aerial assault paved the way

for the liberation of Kuwait and established the leadership

of the United States in an emerging global coalition. Since

then, the USAF has shielded Iraqi Kurds, relieved

populations on the verge of starvation, supported the

restoration of democracy in Haiti, and reestablished the

authority of United Nations peacekeepers in the former

Republic of Yugoslavia .

V
introduced a new and more terrible dimension to strategic

deterrence. Over the same period the USAF advanced into

space, as its people launched the first satellites, explored

the moon, and crewed space shuttles.

The USAF's first 50 years also spanned a period of

profound change in the society of the United Stateschange that has influenced the service's composition and

policies . Opportunities for professional advancement have

opened to all. Participating in the full range of military

specialties, minorities and women now occupy some of the

highest command positions. The diverse composition of the

modern USAF, coupled with open opportunity, has paid off

in greater internal cohesion and effectiveness and the fresh

perspectives required to successfully pursue global

engagement far into the twenty-first century.

Taken individually, each entry in this volume marks a

single, notable moment in the evolution of an illustrious

heritage. In the aggregate, the entries tell a remarkable

story of a powerful military institution's adaptation to 50

years of political, technological, and social change.

DR. FREDERICKJ. SHAW JR.

Chief, Research Division

Air Force Historical Research Agency

Vi

the transfer of personnel, bases, and materiel from the

Army to the new Department of the Air Force .

14 October: The first faster-than-sound flight is made by

Capt Charles E. Yeager at Muroc Air Base (AB), California,

in a rocket-powered USAF research plane, Bell XS-1 rocket

ship . Captain Yeager wins the Mackay Trophy for the most

meritorious flight of the year.
pp

1948

30 January: Orville Wright dies in Dayton, Ohio, at age 76.

20 February: The Strategic Air Command receives its first

B-50 Superfortress bomber. Equipped for in-flight refueling,

the B-50 is an improved version of the B-29 with larger

engines and a taller tail fin and rudder.

26 April: The U.S. Air Force becomes the first service to

plan for racial integration, anticipating President Truman's

executive order to be issued in July 1948.

1 June: U.S. Navy and Air Force air transport systems

consolidate into Military Air Transport Service (MATS) under

the United States Air Force .

12 June: Congress passes the Women's Armed Service

Integration Act, establishing Women in the Air Force (WAF).

16 June: The U.S. Air Force appoints Col Geraldine P. May

as the first WAF director.

26 June: The Berlin airlift (Operation Vittles) begins as a

response to a ground blockade imposed by the Soviet Union

on Berlin .

26 June: SAC'S 7th Bombardment Group receives the first

operational B-36 Peacemaker heavy bomber. With a length

of 160 feet and wings spanning 230 feet, the Peacemaker is

the world's largest bomber with intercontinental capability .

20 July: Sixteen F-80 Shooting Stars reach Scotland from

Selfridge Field, Michigan, after nine hours, 20 minutes,

3
accomplishing the first west-to-east transatlantic flight by

jet planes.

23 July : The Military Airlift Transport Service is ordered to

establish Airlift Task Force with headquarters in Germany

for relief to Berlin . Maj Gen William H. Tunner is named to

command Task Force operations.

30 July: The USAF takes delivery of its first jet bomber, the

North American Aviation B-45A Tornado. This light bomber

is a tactical aircraft and later will be the first USAF aircraft

to carry a tactical nuclear bomb.

6 August: The first B-29 Superfortresses to circumnavigate the

globe land near Tucson, Arizona, after a leisurely 15-day trip .

10 November: The School of Aviation Medicine, Randolph

Air Force Base (AFB), Texas, holds the first symposium on

space medicine .

4
ice cap, stranding a crew of seven. Subsequent rescue

attempts by a B-17 and a towed glider fail, stranding five

rescuers as well. On 28 December Lt Col Emil Beaudry

lands a ski-equipped Skytrain on the ice cap, rescuing the

12 airmen . For this rescue, Beaudry wins the Mackay

Trophy.

17 December: On the 45th anniversary of the first heavierthan-air aircraft flight, the Smithsonian Institution celebrates

the return of the Wright 1903 Flyer, also called the Kitty Hawk,

to the United States. The plane arrived in Washington on 22

November from the British Museum, where it has been

displayed for 20 years.

31 December: Allied aircraft log the 100,000th flight of the

Berlin airlift.

1949

9 February: The Department of Space Medicine is established

at the School ofAviation Medicine, Randolph AFB.

2 March : Lucky Lady II lands at Carswell AFB, Texas.

Piloted by Capt James Gallagher, the B-50 Superfortress

completes the first nonstop, around-the-world flight in

history, covering 23,452 miles in 94 hours, one minute,

refueling in the air over the Azores, Arabia, the Philippines,

and Hawaii. The crew of the Lucky Lady II wins the Mackay

Trophy for this flight .

26 March: A B-36 Peacemaker bomber equipped with ten

engines-the usual six reciprocating, plus four jet-makes

its first successful test flight at Fort Worth, Texas.

5
6 April : Curtiss-Wright announces the X-1 rocket plane

(made by Bell, engine by Curtiss-Wright) flies at 1,000 mph,

an unofficial world-record speed for piloted planes .

11 May: President Truman signs a bill providing a 3,000-

mile guided-missile test range for USAF. The range is subsequently established at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

12 May: The Soviet Union ends the blockade of West Berlin .

To build up stockpiles, airlift continues on a gradually

reduced basis.

2 June: Gen Henry H. Arnold is given the permanent rank

of General of the Air Force.

1 July: The Air Force establishes the USAF Medical Service,

headed by Maj Gen Malcolm C. Grow, the first USAF

surgeon general.

10 August: President Truman signs the National Security

Act amendments of 1949, revising unification legislation of

6
pjg

and other areas of the United States .

1950

15 January: General of the Air Force Henry H. Arnold dies of

a heart ailment at Sonoma, California .

1 June : The USAF is authorized to organize the Ground

Observer Corns as Dart of the civil air raid warninLF svstem.
MacArthur to dispatch air forces against targets in North

Korea.

6 July : The Harmon International Aviation Awards

Committee names James H. Doolittle as aviator of the

decade, Jacqueline Cochran as outstanding aviatrix, and

Vice Adm Charles E. Rosendahl as top aeronaut (lighterthan-air man).

13 July: B-29s of the 22d and 92d Bombardment Groups

bomb the North Korean marshaling yards at Wonsan, the

first strategic bombing raid of the Korean War. The groups

had been alerted on 1 July, left the United States on 5 July,

and arrived at their bases in Japan and Okinawa only six

days prior to this raid.

5 August: Maj Louis J. Sebille, USAF, is killed in action

flying a severely damaged F-51 Mustang against an enemy

force concentration in Korea. Major Sebille is the first

member of the recently created USAF to be awarded the

Medal of Honor.

15 September-28 October: The first contingent of 27th

Fighter Escort Wing F-84E Thunderjet fighters leaves

Bergstrom AFB, Texas, on 15 September, arriving in West

Germany on 18 September. The second contingent leaves

Texas on 15 October, arriving in West Germany on 28

October. The 27th Fighter Escort Wing receives the Mackay

Trophy for this flight .

22 September: Col David C. Schilling completes the first

nonstop flight over the Atlantic by a jet aircraft, landing his

F-84 Thunderjet at Limestone, Maine, after flying 3,300

miles from England in ten hours, one minute.

8
downs a North Korean MiG-15 .

29 November-8 December: Combat Cargo Command mounts

a- maximum effort to supply the 1st Marine Division trapped

by Chinese forces at the Chosin Reservoir. Altogether, C-119s

and C-47s air-drop or land on rough air strips 1,580 tons of

supplies and equipment, including eight bridge spans, and

evacuate almost 5,000 sick and wounded marines.

5 December: Combat Cargo Command uses 131 flights to

evacuate 3,925 patients from Korea. This is the Korean

War's largest day of aeromedical airlift.

14-17 December: Combat Cargo Command evacuates 228

patients, 3,891 other passengers, and 20,088 tons of cargo

from Yonpo Airfield as Chinese troops press the X Corps

in the Hamhung-Hungnam defense perimeter. Naval

transports remove the remainder of X Corps by 24

December.

14951

15-16 February: H-5 helicopter pilots of the 3d Air Rescue

Squadron brave a blinding snowstorm and 40-knot winds to

deliver blood plasma and medical supplies to the U.S. Army

2d Division at Chipyong, Korea, and to evacuate 52 wounded

men.

1 March: The USAF establishes its northernmost operational

base, Thule AB, Greenland, 690 miles north of the Arctic

Circle .

15 March: A Boeing KC-97A Stratofreighter tanker successfully refuels a B-47 jet bomber in-flight.

9
combat conditions. The tanker refuels four RF-80 Shooting

Stars flying reconnaissance missions over North Korea.

17 August: Flying a combat-equipped F-86E Sabrejet, Col

Fred J. Ascani sets a world-speed record of 635.6 mph in

the 100-kilometer closed-course competition at the National

Air Races in Detroit, Michigan. Colonel Ascani will receive

the Mackay Trophy for the meritorious flight of 1951.

24 August: Air Force Chief of Staff Gen Hoyt S. Vandenberg

reports that the February 1951 Nevada atomic bomb tests

evaluated a new atomic tactical weapon for use against

armies in the field.

13 September: The USAF announces establishment of its

first pilotless bomber squadron at Missile Test Center,

Cocoa, Florida.

14 September: Capt John S. Walmsley Jr., USAF, loses his

life illuminating an enemy supply train while piloting a

searchlight-equipped B-26 Invader. Disabling the enemy

train with bombs, Captain Walmsley makes repeated passes

over the halted train, taking no evasive action, to guide

other USAF aircraft to the target. He earns the Medal of

Honor.

20 September: The USAF makes the first successful

recovery of animals from a rocket flight when a monkey and

11 mice survive an Aerobee flight to an altitude of 236,000

feet .

23 October: The 306th Bombardment Wing, Medium,

receives the first production B-47 Stratojet medium bomber

to enter service. This aircraft will become the workhorse of

SAC through most of the 1950s.

10
pp 

g p

from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to Wheeler-Sack Army Air

Field, New York.

1 February: The U.S. Air Force acquires its first generalpurpose, high-speed digital computer, a vacuum-tube-based

Univac I.
p

, gj

Stratofortress prototype, the

first all-jet intercontinental heavy bomber, makes its first

flight .

3 May: A ski-and-wheel-equipped USAF C-47 Skytrain

makes the world's first successful North Pole landing.

23-24 June: Combined air elements of the U.S. Air Force,

Navy, and Marine Corps virtually destroy the electric power

potential of North Korea. The two-day attack, involving over

1,200 sorties, is the largest single air effort since World War II .

2 July: The USAF discloses a newjet fighter, the Lockheed

F-94C Starfire, the first Air Force fighter armed solely with

rockets.

14 July: The Ground Observer Corps initiates the 24-

hour-a-day Skywatch program as part of a nationwide

air-defense effort .

17 July: Fifty-eight F-84 Thunderjets of 31st Fighter Escort

Wing complete a record transoceanic massjet flight . The

flight, under Col David C. Schilling, left Turner AFB,

Georgia, on 4 July, and landed at Yokota AB, Japan, on 16

and 17 July, flying 10,895 miles with seven stops and two

aerial refuelings . This is the first mass-fighter deployment

supported by in-flight refueling.

19 July: The USAF announces the first successful flying of

balloons at controlled constant stratospheric altitudes for

periods lasting over three days.

29 July: An RB-45 assigned to the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Wing flies from Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, to Yokota AB

making the first nonstop transpacific flight by a jet aircraft.

Maj Louis H. Carrington Jr., Maj Frederick W. Shook, and

12
22 November: While leading a flight of four F-80 Shooting

Star fighters dive-bombing enemy gun positions, Maj

Charles J. Loring deliberately crashes his damaged aircraft

into enemy emplacements . Major Loring earns the Medal of

Honor for his sacrifice.

26 November: A Northrop B-62 Snark, a turbojet-powered

subsonic long-range missile, is launched for the first time

from a zero-length launcher.

194 tat

8 February : The American Medical Association recognizes

Aviation Medicine as a medical specialty, the first one to

evolve from military practice and research.

25 May: George Welch, North American test pilot, flies the

prototype YF-100 Super Sabre for the first time, taking off

and landing at Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards AFB,

California.

8 June: At Luke AFB, Arizona, the USAF Thunderbirds,

officially designated the 3600th Air Demonstration Flight,

perform for the first time.

11 July: Maj John F. Bolt becomes the first jet ace in

Marine Corps history while flying the F-86 Sabrejet on

temporary duty with the Air Force's 51st Fighter Interceptor

Wing.

27 July: Capt Ralph S. Parr Jr. gains the last aerial victory

of the Korean War by shooting down an Il-2 at 12:30 P.M.

The armistice became effective at 10:01 P.M.

1 3
g

announces that it has transformed a

B-36 Peacemaker bomber into a "flying aircraft carrier"

capable of launching and recovering an F-84 Thunderjet

fighter in flight .

1 September: The USAF announces the first instance of

aerial refueling of jet-powered aircraft by jet-powered

aircraft, in which a standard B-47 Stratojet received fuel in

the air from a KB-47B Stratojet.

11 September: The Sidewinder infrared-guided air-to-air

missile makes the first successful interception, sending an

F-6F drone down in flames.

14 October: The X-10, prototype of the North American

B-64 Navaho ramjet-propelled surface-to-surface guided

missile, makes initial flight .

12 December: Maj Charles E. Yeager, USAF, attains speed

of 1,650 mph-about twice that of sound-at Edwards AFB

in a Bell X-lA rocket ship launched from a B-36 bomber.

11) 1W A4

24 February: President Dwight D. Eisenhower approves a

National Security Council recommendation for construction

of a distant early warning line.

1 March: The United States explodes the first hydrogen

bomb in the Marshall Islands.

16 March: Representative W. Sterling Cole, chairman of the

Joint Atomic Energy Committee, reports that the United

States has a hydrogen weapon that can be delivered by

airplane to any target in the world.

14
g gg

aircraft is the prototype for military Stratotanker and

commercial Stratoliner.

26 July: Lt Gen Hubert R. Harmon is appointed the first

superintendent of the Air Force Academy.

6-7 August: Two B-47 Stratojets assigned to the 308th

Bombardment Wing fly a 10,000-mile nonstop flight from

Hunter AFB, Georgia, to French Morocco and back to

Hunter AFB. The 308th Bombardment Wing wins the

Mackay Trophy for this flight. During the same period, two

B-47 Stratojet wings assigned to the 38th Air Division

depart Hunter AFB, fly a simulated bombing mission, and

recover in French Morocco, demonstrating the ability of

strategic bombers to operate from forward bases.

1 November: The USAF B-29 Superfortress, the aircraft

famed for having dropped atom bombs on Hiroshima and

Nagasaki, Japan, is withdrawn from service.

2 November: Test pilot J. F. Coleman, flying Convair XYF-1,

takes off in vertical flight, shifts to horizontal, and changes

back to vertical for landing at San Diego, California .

7 December: The USAF makes the first successful recovery

of a missile, a Navaho X-10, using a fully automatic

approach and landing system at Edwards AFB.

10 December: In a rocket-propelled sled run, Col John P.

Stapp, USAF, attains speed of 632 mph and sustains

greater G-force than ever endured in recorded deceleration

tests-the equivalent of Mach 1 .7 at 35,000 feet. The test

determines that humans can survive ejection from aircraft

at supersonic speeds.

1 5
g, Castle AFB, California .

July: The Air Force Academy admits its first class of 306

cadets at Lowery AFB, Colorado; its temporary location until

it can move to Colorado Springs.

20 August: Col Horace A. Hanes, USAF, flying an F-100

Super Sabre over the Mojave Desert, establishes a new

speed record of 822.135 mph. Colonel Hanes, the director of

Flight Testing, Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards AFB,

will receive the Mackay Trophy for his record-breaking

flight.

6 October: DOD announces that it has awarded a contract

to Glenn L. Martin Company as primary contractor for

building a rocket vehicle for launching an earth satellite.

Martin receives authorization to contract with General

Electric Company for construction of the rocket motor for

the launching vehicle.

22 October: The Republic F-105A Thunderchief fighterbomber, designed to carry nuclear weapons and support

field armies, exceeds the speed of sound on its initial flight

at Edwards AFB.

1 56

17 January: DOD reveals the existence of semiautomatic

ground environment (SAGE), an automated electronic

air-defense system. SAGE radars transmit data rapidly via

telephone lines to direction/combat centers where large

computers process the information.

21 May: At an altitude of 50,000 feet over the Pacific, Maj

David Crichlow, USAF, in a B-52 Stratofortress bomber,

16
scheduled to be equipped with the Matador cruise missile,

activates under Twelfth Air Force at Hahn AB, Germany.

This is the first USAF TMW.

27 September: An X-2 transonic rocket-powered plane,

piloted by Capt Milburn G. Apt and launched from a B-50

bomber, sets a speed record of 2,094 mph over the Mojave

Desert. Later in the flight the aircraft crashes, killing the

pilot.

11 November: USAF's first supersonic bomber, the

delta-wing Convair B-58 Hustler, capable of flying at a

speed of 1,000 mph, makes its initial flight at Fort Worth,

Texas.

26 November: Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson

issues a memorandum to the Armed Forces Policy Council

establishing the areas of jurisdiction of three U.S. armed

services in developing missiles of various ranges. Secretary

Wilson gives the USAF operational jurisdiction over

long-range missiles.

30 November: A Martin TM-61 Matador, a jet-propelled

missile, completes its final test flight and becomes USAF's

first operational tactical missile. With a range of several

hundred miles, the Matador cruises at 650 mph and has a

ceiling of 35,000 feet .

9 December: The 463d Troop Carrier Wing receives USAF's

first C-130 Hercules tactical cargo and troop carrier. This

four-engined turboprop airlifter has an unrefueled range of

over 2,500 miles. It can carry outsized cargo of almost

50,000 pounds or up to 92 troops, and can take off and

land within about 3,600 feet.

1 7


12 April : The USAF discloses the Ryan X-13 Vertijet

research plane, capable of vertical takeoff and landings, has

flown successfully at Edwards AFB.

19 April : A Douglas Thor (XSM-75) intermediate-range

ballistic missile successfully launches at Cape Canaveral.

2 June: Capt Joseph W. Kittinger Jr., USAF, establishes the

altitude-endurance record for manned lighter-than-air

aircraft by remaining aloft in a balloon over Minnesota for

six hours, 34 minutes. Two hours of that time was spent

above 96,000 feet.

11 June: Assigned to the 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance

Wing, the first U-2 high-altitude, long-range reconnaissance

aircraft arrives at Laughlin AFB, Texas. The U-2 can fly

ten-hour missions at exceptionally high altitudes at a top

speed of 600 mph.

28 June: Assigned to the 93d Air Refueling Squadron, the

first KC-135 Stratotanker arrives at Castle AFB. The jet

tanker can cruise at the same speed as jet bombers while

refueling, drastically reducing the time for missions

requiring in-flight refueling.

1 July: The 704th Strategic Missile Wing (SMW) activates at

Cooke AFB, California. This is the first USAF ICBM wing.

19 July: The USAF fires the first air-to-air nuclear defense

rocket, the Douglas MB-1 Genie, from an F-89J over Yucca

Flat, Nevada.

31 July: The distant early warning line, a string of early

warning radar installations extending across the Canadian

Arctic, is declared fully operational.

20

detecting ICBMs at distances of 3,000 miles.

4 October: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik, the world's

first artificial space satellite.

11 October: A Thor intermediate-range ballistic missile is

launched at Cape Canaveral, exceeding its designed 1,500-

mile range and landing in the Atlantic Ocean 2,000 miles

from launching point. It is the second Thor to be successfully

tested .

16 October: The USAF successfully launches an Aerobee

rocket to a height of 35 miles, where its nose cone separates

and travels to a height of 54 miles. At this point, shaped

charges blast pellets into space at a speed of 33,000 mph,

surpassing by 8,000 mph the speed necessary to escape from

the earth's gravity.

22 October: Operation Far Side, a four-stage rocket, fires

from a balloon at 100,000 feet above Eniwetok, penetrating

at least 2,700 miles into outer space.

21 November: DOD announces that the first ICBM base will

be built at Francis E. Warren AFB, Wyoming.

29 November : Gen Thomas D. White announces the

assignment of the intercontinental and intermediate-range

ballistic missile programs to SAC as well as the transfer of the

1st Missile Division to SAC, and that the San Bernardino Air

Force Depot will support the long-range ballistic missile

program.

15 December: The 556th Strategic Missile Squadron (SMS),

the first SM-62 Snark operational squadron, activates at

Patrick AFB, Florida.

22
1 Q9511

1 January: The USAF activates the 672d Strategic Missile

Squadron, with Thor intermediate-range ballistic missile, at

Cooke (later, Vandenberg) AFB with Col Harry H. Zink as

commander.

15 January: The USAF activates the 475th Air Defense Missile

Wing and assigns it the mission of developing and conducting

a training program for Bomarc missile units. The Bomarc is

an unmanned supersonic interceptor capable of destroying

targets at ranges between 250 and 450 nautical miles.

31 January: Explorer I, the first U.S. satellite to go into orbit,

is launched by a Jupiter C rocket from Cape Canaveral.

8 February: The USAF institutes systems management of a

ballistic early warning system when it contracts with RCA to

manage existing communications facilities, including the

distant early warning line and SAGE systems, designed to

provide maximum early warning to the North American Air

Defense Command, SAC, and civil defense agencies.

27 February: Missile Director William M. Holaday approves

USAF's Minuteman Project, a program for building 5,000-

mile-range solid-fuel ballistic missiles launched from underground installations.

17 March: Vanguard I, second U.S. satellite to go into orbit,

is launched from Cape Canaveral.

28 April : After an in-flight explosion, the pilot and navigator of

a 341st Bombardment Wing B-47 eject successfully. While

attempting to egress, the copilot, 1st Lt James E. Obenauf,

notices another crew member unconscious and incapable of

23
nose cone test at ICBM range and velocity, carries a mouse

some 6,000 miles over the Atlantic Ocean in flight from

Cape Canaveral to the Ascension Island area.

15 July: After Lebanon asks the U.S. for assistance, Tactical

Air Command (TAC) dispatches Composite Air Strike Force

Bravo to the Middle East in 12 hours.

1 August: A missile-borne nuclear weapon detonates at

high altitude over Johnston Island in the Pacific as part of a

program to develop an anti-ICBM defense .

28 August: Cape Canaveral launches an Atlas ICBM that

accurately flies a 3,000-mile course and lands in the target

area in the first test of radio-command guidance system.

September: Responding to Chinese communist threats to

the Taiwan Straits, a TAC Composite Strike Force (that

includes F-100 Super Sabres, F-101 Voodoos, B-57

Canberras, and C-130 Hercules) deploys to the Far East.

Its rapid and effective deployment wins the Mackay

Trophy.

24 September: A Bomarc missile pilotless interceptor

launches from Cape Canaveral by a semiautomatic groundenvironment unit in Kingston, New York, destroying a

1,000-mph target flying 48,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean

at a distance of 75 miles.

1 October: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is established to control nonmilitary scientific

space projects.

11 October: A USAF-launched Pioneer I lunar probe vehicle

attains a height of approximately 80,000 miles before falling

back to the earth on 13 October.

24
15 January: SAC orders the first integration of missile and

bomber forces by transferring the 703d Strategic Missile

Wing (ICBM Titan) and the 706th Strategic Missile Wing

(ICBM Atlas) from 1st Missile Division to Fifteenth Air

Force.

21 January: The U.S . Army's first tactical Jupiter

intermediate-range ballistic missile strikes target area after

a 1,700-mile flight test. The Jupiter will eventually become

a USAF weapon system.

1 February: Operational control of the distant early warning

line is transferred from USAF to Royal Canadian Air Force.

6 February: The USAF successfully launches the first Titan

I ICBM. With a range of 5,500 nautical miles, the two-stage

liquid-fueled missile will be deployed in underground silos

but has to be raised to the surface before launch.

12 February: SAC retires its last B-36 Peacemaker to

become an alljet bomber force.

28 February: The USAF successfully launches the

Discoverer I satellite into polar orbit from Vandenberg AFB,

California.

6 April : NASA announces that seven pilots from U.S .

armed services are chosen for the Mercury astronaut

program established to train the first U.S . space pilot.

Among those selected are USAF Capts L. Gordon Cooper

Jr ., Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, and Donald K. "Deke"

Slayton.

25
3 June: The Air Force Academy graduates the first class of

207 graduates. Two hundred and five receive commissions

as regular officers in USAF.

8 June: Piloted by Scott Crossfield, the seven and one-halfton X-15 hypersonic rocket plane, designed for speeds up to

4,000 mph and altitudes to 100 miles, drops from a B-52

more than seven miles above the Mojave Desert for a

nonpowered glide testits first free flight .

7 August: Two USAF F-100s make the first flight by jet

fighter aircraft over the North Pole.

9 September: A SAC crew fires an Atlas ICBM for the first

time from Vandenberg AFB. The missile travels 4,300 miles

at 16,000 mph. After this shot, SAC's commander in chief

declares Atlas operational.

1 October: The USAF Aerospace Medical Center activates at

Brooks AFB, Texas, absorbing the former School of Aviation

Medicine, the USAF Hospital at La.ckland AFB, Texas, and

other facilities .

28 October-19 December: The 4520th Aerial Demonstration

Team, better known as the Thunderbirds, tours the Far East,

earning the Mackay Trophy.

31 October: A Series D Atlas ICBM goes on alert at

Vandenberg AFB. This is the first American ICBM equipped

with a nuclear warhead to be placed on alert status .

14960

May: SAC places one-third of its bombers and tankers on

15-minute ground alert.

26
1 August: SAC's 43d Bombardment Wing at Carswell AFB

accepts the first operational B-58 Hustler medium

bomber. The United States's first supersonic bomber, the

delta-wing aircraft flies at twice the speed of sound and

can be refueled in-flight.

11 August : Recovery of a 300-pound capsule ejected by

USAF's Discoverer VII marks the first recovery of an object

ejected by an orbiting satellite. Planned aerial retrieval is

abandoned when the capsule lands outside the designated

area; recovery is made by U.S. Navy frogmen.

19 August: Piloting a C-119, Capt Harold F. Mitchell, USAF,

retrieves the Discoverer MV reentry capsule in midair. This

is the first successful aerial recovery of a returning space

capsule . The 6593d Test Squadron (Special) wins the

Mackay Trophy for the aerial recovery of reentry vehicles .

27
14961

31 January: ARedstone booster carrying Ham, a chimpanzee,

in a Mercury space capsule launches from Cape Canaveral on

an 18-minute, 420-mile flight . Ham performs well during the

flight, apparently suffering no ill-effects .

1 February: The ballistic missile early warning system

(BMEWS) site at Thule, Greenland, becomes operational.

Subsequently, other sites become operational at Clear,

Alaska, and Fylingdales in the United Kingdom. Operated

by the North American Air Defense Command, the BMEWS

provides SAC with sufficient warning of an impending

missile or aircraft attack to launch its own alert force.

1 February: A Minuteman ICBM launches for the first time at

Cape Canaveral in a major test . Under full guidance, the

solid-fueled missile travels 4,600 miles, hitting the target area.

3 February: SAC initiates the Looking Glass airborne

command post. Maintaining continuous 24-hour coverage

in shifts, Looking Glass aircraft are converted KC-135

Stratotankers equipped to communicate with the Joint

Chiefs of Staff, any SAC base, or any SAC aircraft in the air

or on the ground.

13 February: The USAF successfully launches its new

solid-fueled, air-to-surface missile, GAM-83B Bullpup, at

supersonic speed from an F-100 Super Sabre. A modified

version of a U.S. Navy missile, GAM-83B can carry a

nuclear weapon. The pilot of the parent airplane can guide

it to target .

28
26 May: A B-58 Hustler supersonic bomber from the 43d

Bombardment Wing sets a record flying from New York to

Paris in three hours, 19 minutes, 41 seconds at an average

speed of 1,302 mph. The crew, consisting of Maj William R.

Payne, Capt William L. Polhemus, and Capt Raymond

Wagener, win the Mackay Trophy for the flight.

1 June: At Kincheloe AFB, Michigan, the first Bomarc-B

pilotless interceptor site is declared operational.

9 June: Delivery of the first C-135 Stratolifter jet cargo

aircraft marks the beginning of modernization of MATS's

former all-propeller-driven fleet .

July: SAC places 50 percent of its bombers and tankers on

15-minute ground alert.

1 July: The North American Air Defense Command begins

operation of a space detection and tracking system designed

to provide electronic cataloging of man-made space objects.

21 July: America's second Project Mercury astronaut, Capt

Virgil I ., Grissom, USAF, attains an altitude of 118 miles and

a speed of 5,310 mph in a 303-mile suborbital space flight

from Cape Canaveral in the Liberty Bell 7 capsule launched

by a Mercury-Redstone 4 booster.

8 August: The USAF launches an Atlas F missile from Cape

Canaveral for the first time. The Atlas F, designed for

long-term storage of liquid fuels and for shortened

countdown, is the only Atlas model destined for emplacement

in hardened underground silos .

13 September: The world-wide Mercury tracking network is

used for the first time in observing the orbit of an

29
9 November: Maj Robert M. White, USAF, attains a top

speed of 4,093 mph in an X-15 hypersonic rocket plane

while flying at full throttle at an altitude of 101,600 feet.

17 November: The USAF successfully launches the first

Minuteman intercontinental missile from an underground

silo at Cape Canaveral. It flies 3,000 miles down the Atlantic

Missile Range.

29 November: NASA's Mercury vehicle, containing two

chimpanzees, successfully completes a two-orbit flight

around the earth after launch from Cape Canaveral.

1 December: The first Minuteman Missile Squadron, the

10th Strategic Missile Squadron, is activated at Malmstrom

AFB, Montana.

15 December: The North American Air Defense Command's

SAGE system becomes fully operational with completion of

its 21 st and last control center at Sioux City, Iowa.

1964 2

29 January: The last Titan I test-fires from Cape Canaveral

on a 5,000-mile flight. Of 47 shots, 34 are successful, nine

partially successful, and four unsuccessful.

2 February: A USAF C-123 Provider aircraft crashes in

South Vietnam while spraying defoliant during Operation

Ranch Hand. This is the first USAF aircraft loss in South

Vietnam.

5 March: The crew of a B-58 Hustler bomber assigned to

the 43d Bombardment Wing sets three speed records in a

round-trip flight between New York City and Los Angeles,

30
California . The Hustler makes the trip in four hours, 41

minutes, 15 seconds, averaging 1,044 .46 mph. The crew

receives the Mackay Trophy for this flight .

21 March: A bear becomes the first living creature ejected

from a supersonic aircraft when the USAF tests an escape

capsule designed for installation in the B-58 . Ejecting at

35,000 feet from a B-58 flying 870 mph, the bear lands

unharmed seven minutes, 49 seconds later.

18 April : At Lowry AFB SAC declares operational the USAF's

first Titan I squadron, the 724th Strategic Missile Squadron,

equipped with nine missiles, the first emplaced in hardened,

underground installations.

19 June : Astronaut Capt Virgil I . Grissom, USAF, receives

the first Gen Thomas D. White USAF Space Trophy from

Secretary of the Air Force Eugene M. Zuckert for his

3 1
Johnston Island in Operation Dominic. The detonation of

the nuclear device at that altitude marks the highest U.S.

thermonuclear blast.

17 July: Maj Robert M. White, USAF, pilots the X-15-1

hypersonic experimental aircraft to a world-record altitude

of 58.7 miles during which the X-15 achieves its original

design altitude . Maximum speed is 3,784 mph.

19 July: ANike-Zeus antimissile missile fired from Kwajalein

Island makes the first known interception of an ICBM when

it brings down the nose cone of an Atlas missile launched

from Vandenberg AFB.

1 August: The USAF launches the first Atlas F from an

underground silo on a successful 5,000-mile flight from

Vandenberg AFB to the Pacific Test Range in the vicinity of

the Marshall Islands.

9 August: The USAF gives the first U.S. demonstration of

multiple-countdown capability by launching two Atlas D

missiles in rapid succession from Cape Canaveral on

5,000-mile flights.

14 October: A U.S. Air Force reconnaissance flight proves

the existence of Russian missile sites in Cuba.

27 October: A 4080th Strategic Wing U-2 reconnaissance

aircraft piloted by Maj Rudolf Anderson Jr. is shot down over

Cuba. Lost with his aircraft, Major Anderson posthumously

receives the first Air Force Cross for his sacrifice .

27 October: SAC places on alert the first ten Minuteman I

ICBMs, assigned to the 10th SMS, 341st Missile Wing,

Malmstrom AFB.

32
manned by Capt Joseph A. Kittinger Jr., USAF, and William

C. White, U.S. Navy civilian astronomer, reach an altitude of

82,000 feet in an 18.5-hour flight over southwestern New

Mexico. Atelescope mounted atop the gondola gives White the

clearest celestial view ever experienced by an astronomer.

22 December: A U.S. Army Nike-Zeus antimissile missile

fired from Kwajalein Island intercepts an Atlas launched on

a 4,800-mile flight from Vandenberg AFB, demonstrating for

the first time the ability of a Nike-Zeus to discriminate

between an intended target and accompanying decoys.

1963

6 February: The 655th Aerospace Test Wing crew becomes

the first USAF unit to launch a Titan II missile in a firing

from Cape Canaveral.

1 March: The USAF achieves its first successful launch of an

advanced ballistic reentry system in a firing from Cape

Canaveral.

7 May: Dr. Theodore von Karman, distinguished U.S .

physicist, dies in Aachen, West Germany, a few days before

his 82d birthday.

15 May: Astronaut Maj L. Gordon Cooper Jr., USAF,

launches from Cape Canaveral in Project Mercury capsule

Faith 7. On 16 May, after completing 22 orbits of earth in 34

hours, 19 minutes, 49 seconds, he lands in the Pacific

about 60 miles southeast of Midway Island . He is the first

American to orbit the earth for more than one day and the

last pilot of the Project Mercury series .

33
Trophy for this deed .

1 August: NASA's Mariner II, launched by USAF on 27

August 1962 from Cape Canaveral, completes its first orbit

around the sun. It traveled approximately 540 million miles

to complete the first solar orbit.

10 October: Seven original members of the Project Mercury

astronaut team receive the Collier Trophy.

16 October: At Cape Canaveral the U.S. Air Force inaugurates

a space-based nuclear detection system by launching twin

satellites designed to assume circular 7,000-mile-high orbits

on opposite sides of the earth. The 475-pound, 20-sided

satellites, known as Project Vela Hotel or Project 823, are

designed to detect nuclear explosions.

29 November: By executive order, President Lyndon B.

Johnson renames Cape Canaveral as Cape Kennedy and

redesignates space facilities there as the John F. Kennedy

Space Center.

17 December: USAF's new C-141A Starlifter jet cargo

transport flies for the first time at Dobbins AFB, Georgia.

Capable of crossing any ocean nonstop at more than 500

mph, the Starlifter can transport 154 troops, 123 paratroopers, or a combination of men and supplies. It can carry a

70,000-pound payload.

1 ~)(i4

8 April: The USAF's Titan II launch booster blasts into orbit

the first Gemini spacecraft. The Gemini series comprises the

first U.S.-manned. orbital spacecraft.

34
altitudes above 70,000 feet, the 275ton aircraft measures

185 feet in length and 105 feet in wing span.

27 July: The 1964 Daniel Guggenheim Medal is awarded

posthumously to Dr. Robert H. Goddard, the pioneer rocket

scientist.

28 July: NASA's Ranger VII spacecraft launches from Cape

Kennedy on a flight to the moon. On 31 July Ranger VII will

complete its mission of taking and relaying 4,316 highquality close-up pictures of the lunar surface before

crashing into an area northwest of the Sea of Clouds.

19 August: Syncom III communications satellite is launched

by Thor-Delta launch vehicle . By 23 September after several

weeks of minor maneuvers, it will achieve almost perfect

stationary position (apogee 22,311 miles, perigee 22,164

miles) above the equator and international date line . For 15

days from 7 October, it will transmit the Olympic Games from

Tokyo, Japan. It is the world's first geostationary satellite.

1 September: USAF Capts Albert R. Crews and Richard E.

Lawler complete a two-week stay in a simulated space cabin

at General Electric Space Center, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

According to officials, the test demonstrates that man can

perform more tasks in extended space flight than previously

assumed.

11 September: The USAF announces the retirement of two

squadrons of Atlas ICBMs and impending retirement of 105

more liquid-fueled missiles made obsolete by the solid-fueled

Minuteman.

17 September: President Johnson announces that the United

States is installing recently developed, over-the-horizon-type

35
of nearly 2,000 hostages and wins the Mackay'rrophy.

21 December: A USAF F-111A (later nicknamed Aardvark)

variable-sweep-wing fighter makes a successful maiden

flight at Carswell AFB.

22 December: President Johnson approves the inclusion in

fiscal year (FY) 1966 budget of funds for development of the

C-5A transport, later nicknamed Galaxy. The new aircraft can

carry 345 troops or up to 250,000 pounds of cargo to 6,500

miles, without refueling, at a speed of approximately 550 mph.

22 December: The new USAF strategic reconnaissance

plane, the SR-71 Blackbird, in its first flight at Palmdale

exceeds an altitude of 45,000 feet and speed of 1,000 mph.

The USAF team that tested the SR-71 will receive the

Mackay Trophy. 196`5

January: The USAF's first SR-71 Blackbird unit, the 4200th

Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, activates at Beale AFB,

California.

18 January: The short-range attack missile program is

announced by the President in his defense message to

Congress. Launched from a B-52 Stratofortress or FB-111

Aardvark, the nuclear-tipped missile can hit targets 50

nautical miles from the aircraft.

21 January: The Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories,

Office of Aerospace Research, Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts,

"bounces" a laser beam off the Explorer 22 ionospheric

beacon satellite and photographically records its reflection .

36
18 February: First USAF jet raids are flown against enemy

concentrations in South Vietnam. American pilots fly Martin

B-57 Canberra bombers and F-100 fighters against the

Vietcong in South Vietnam near An Khe.

1 March: As a test, the first launch of an ICBM from an operational base is made from Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota. A

short-range, tethered, and unarmed Minuteman I missile is

used.

5 March: USAF's F-111 completes its first supersonic flight

at Fort Worth, Texas.

23 March: Gemini 3, the first two-man U.S. space capsule,

is launched into orbit from the Air Force Eastern Test

Range, Patrick AFB, Florida.

20 April : The last Atlas F to leave a SAC operational base

is shipped from the 551st SMS, Lincoln AFB, Nebraska,

to storage facilities for future use as a launch vehicle in

various research and development programs . This

completes the phaseout of SAC's first generation of

ICBMs.

23 April: The first operational Lockheed C-141 Starlifter

aircraft is delivered to Travis AFB, California.

2 May: An Oklahoma Air National Guard (ANG) "Talking

Bird" C-97 command post flies to the Caribbean area to

support U.S. forces in the Dominican Republic. Air Reserve

transports airlift 4,547 tons of cargo and 5,436 passengers

supporting the U.S. Air Force mission.

10 May: Tactical control of aircraft in battle areas is

assigned to USAF by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

37
29 June: X-15 hypersonic pilot Capt Joe Engle becomes the

12th and youngest pilot to receive astronaut wings.

30 June : The last of 800 Minuteman I ICBMs become

operational at Francis E. Warren AFB when SAC accepts

the fifth Minuteman wing from the AFSC.

10 July: Scoring the first U.S. Air Force air-to-air combat

victory in Southeast Asia, two F-4C aircrews of the 45th
120 revolutions around the earth. It establishes five world

records, including four previously held by the USSR.

14 October: The XB-70A Valkyrie flies at triple-sonic speed

for the first time. The six-engine jet hits 2,000 mph at a

70,000-foot altitude .

15 October: The U.S . Air Force graduates the first class of

16 missile combat crew members from its Minuteman

education program. SAC missilemen receive their master's

degrees under a program sponsored by the Air University's

Air Force Institute of Technology.

18 October: New York ANG's 107th Tactical Fighter Group

becomes the first tactical guard unit deployed in peacetime

to the Pacific for ajoint-service exercise.

23 October : The 4503d Tactical Fighter Squadron

(Provisional) arrives in Vietnam with 12 F-5A Freedom

Fighter aircraft for combat evaluation tests . Afighter version

of the T-38 Talon, the Freedom Fighter is produced for

export.

31 October : The first ten Minuteman II missiles are

transferred to SAC and are assigned to 447th Strategic

Missile Squadron at Grand Forks AFB.

1 November: Col Jeanne M. Holm becomes director of WAF.

3 December: The Secretary of Defense announces the U.S.

Air Force will develop a reconnaissance version of the F-111

Aardvark.

7 December: An operationally configured Minuteman II is

fired by a SAC crew for the first time from an operational

silo . The missile's reentry vehicle impacts approximately

39
18 December: The 14-day flight by astronauts Cmdr James

Lovell Jr. and Lt Col Frank Borman aboard the Gemini 7

spacecraft and the rendezvous with astronauts Lt Col

Thomas P. Stafford and Capt Walter M. Schirra Jr., USN, in

Gemini 6, complete the nation's most successful space

mission. Gemini 7 establishes 11 world records for manned

space flights, including the first rendezvous of two-manned

maneuverable spacecraft and the longest manned space

flight.

1 ~)(i(i

1 January: The MATS is redesignated the Military Airlift

Command (MAC). The Eastern and Western Air Transport

Forces are redesignated the Twenty-first and Twenty-second

Air Forces, respectively. The Air Rescue Service becomes the

Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service (ARKS) . The Air

Photographic and Charting Service is renamed the

Aerospace Audio-Visual Service (AAVS) .

1 January: Military airlift units of the ANG begin flying

about 75 cargo flights a month to Southeast Asia. These

flights are in addition to the more than 100 overseas

missions flown in a month by the ANG in augmenting

MAC's global airlift mission.

1 January: A large rocket facility is established at the

Arnold Engineering Development Center, Tullahoma,

Tennessee, to operate two high-altitude test cells.

22 January: Operation Blue Light, the largest airlift in

history of troops and equipment into a combat zone, is

completed. More than 4,600 tons of equipment and over

40
24 February: The first Minuteman salvo launch is made

from Vandenberg AFB by a SAC missile combat crew from

the 341st Strategic Missile Wing, Malmstrom AFB.

10 March: USAF Maj Bernard F. Fisher of Kuna, Idaho, a

1st Air Commando Squadron A-lE pilot, lands on the A

Shau airstrip after it is overrun by North Vietnamese

regulars to rescue downed A-lE pilot Maj Dafford W. Myers

of Newport, Washington. Major Fisher is later awarded the

Medal of Honor for his heroic act.

16 March: Titan II launches Neil Armstrong and David Scott

on their Gemini 8 mission. The astronauts later accomplish

the first docking maneuver in space with a Space Systems

Division-developed Agena target vehicle launched by an

Atlas booster. USAF pararescuemen attach flotation gear to

the Gemini 8 space capsule 20 minutes after splashdown in

the Pacific Ocean, 500 miles east of Okinawa. It is the first

time USAF rescue forces have participated in the actual

recovery of a Gemini capsule .

28 March: The USAF Special Weapons Center achieves the first

successful midair catch of an air-launched, air-recoverable

rocket (ALARR) nose cone over White Sands Missile Range.

31 March: SAC phases out its last B-47 Stratojet. The first

alljet strategic bomber entered active service in 1951 .

5 April : The first successful voice communications test with

airplane, satellite, and ground equipment is conducted in

an Air Force Avionics Laboratory project.

6 April : The Army agrees to transfer its CV-2 Caribou and

CV-7 Buffalo aircraft to the U.S. Air Force, which will be

responsible for all future intratheater, fixed-wing tactical

41
launchcontrol facilities is transferred to SAC by the AFSC

s

Ballistic Systems Division.

26 April : Maj Paul J. Gilmore and 1st Lt William T. Smith

become the first USAF pilots to destroy a MiG-21 . Flying

escort for F-105 Thunderchiefs near Hanoi when the flight is

attacked, the F-4C pilots down the MIG with a Sidewinder

missile.

5 May: USAF A-1 E Skyraider pilots fly their first strikes

against targets in North Vietnam.

3 June: NASA's Gemini 9 spacecraft with astronauts Lt Col

Thomas P. Stafford, USAF, as command pilot and Lt Cmdr

Eugene Cernan, USN, as pilot is successfully launched from

the Eastern Test Range, Patrick AFB, by a Titan II booster.

Personnel from various USAF commands provide support

for the flight. Reentry is on 6 June.

16 June : USAF's Titan IIIC boosts seven experimental

communications satellites and one gravity gradient satellite

into orbit 18,000 nautical miles above the equator. The

satellites demonstrate the feasibility of a global military

communications satellite system.

1 July: The U.S. Air Force begins aeromedical evacuation

flights from Saigon to the United States via Japan, reducing

en route time to 24 hours.

9 July: The F-111 Aardvark variable-sweep-wing fighterbomber flies for the first time at Mach 2.5-about 1,800

mph. Officials call the performance the highlight in the

F-111 flight-test development program.

18 July: Gemini 10 is launched from the Air Force Eastern

Test Range by a Titan booster with astronauts Cmdr John

42
enters training at Sheppard AFB, Texas. The school will

provide 212 pilots per year with training similar to that

received by U.S. Air Force pilots .

20 September: Lt Col Donald M. Sorlie becomes the first

USAF pilot to fly the NASA lifting body from the Air Force

Flight Test Center. Air launched from a B-52 at an altitude

of 45,000 feet, the craft reaches a speed of nearly 400 mph

during the three and one-half-minute flight .

5 October: USAF begins operating a space-age communications system developed by the Electronic Systems

Division. Spanning the Mediterranean from Spain to the

Near East, the system provides rapid communications

between commanders in that area and the United States. It

is also used by the Army and Navy.

7 October: USAF selects the University of Colorado to

conduct independent investigations into unidentified flying

object (UFO) reports.

31 October: USAF announces its selection of the Boeing

Company to develop and produce an air-to-surface

short-range missile known as Maverick . Designated

AGM-65A, the television-guided missile will be carried by

the FB--111 and late model B-52 bombers.

9 November: USAF's F-111A fighter-bomber scores a first

for American aircraft by flying faster than the speed of

sound for 15 minutes at a constant ground clearance of less

than 1,000 feet.

14 November: A MAC C-141 Starlifter is the first jet aircraft

to land in the Antarctic. Commanded by Capt Howard

Geddes, 86th Military Airlift Squadron, Travis AFB, the

43
exemplary courage and airmanship under the most

hazardous conditions of darkness and intense enemy fire

while participating in a combat strike mission in Southeast

Asia. Colonel Howarth wins the Mackay Trophy for this

flight.

44

27 January: Three of America

s Apollo astronauts, USAF Lt

Cols Virgil Grissom and Edward H. White and USN Lt Cmdr

Robert B. Chaffee, are trapped and killed in a capsule by a

flash fire while conducting a preflight rehearsal at Cape

Kennedy.

6 February: The North American Aerospace Defense

Command's Space Defense Center moves into Cheyenne

Mountain, Colorado, completing the movement of all units

into the hardened, underground facility.
repeatedly over the enemy force, Captain Wilbanks uses

smoke rockets and a rifle to draw the fire of the enemy and

interrupt their advance. Mortally wounded on his last pass

over the Vietcong, Captain Wilbanks sacrifices his life to

protect the withdrawing rangers, earning the Medal of

Honor for his bravery.

10 March: USAF F-105 Thunderchiefs and F-4C Phantom

Its bomb the Thai Nguyen steel plant in North Vietnam for

the first time. During this attack, Capt Merlyn Hans

Dethlefsen earns the Medal of Honor while silencing enemy

defenses with his severely damaged F-105 Thunderchief

despite intense enemy fire and fighter attacks.

10 March: Capt Mac C. Brestel, an F-105 Thunderchief

pilot with the 355th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Takhli

Royal Thai AFB, Thailand, becomes the first U.S. Air

Force combat crewman to down two MiGs during a single

mission.

15 March: The Sikorsky HH-5313, the largest and fastest

helicopter in USAF inventory, makes its first flight . It is

slated for ARRS operations in Southeast Asia.

21 March: Twelve SAC air crewmen are decorated by

President Johnson at Andersen AFB, Guam, for B-52

bomber and KC-135 refueling missions to Vietnam.

30 March: A two-man submarine, the first USAF-owned

underwater vessel, is added to AFSC's Western Test Range

inventory. It will be used to locate reentry vehicles in the

Eniwetok Atoll area.

3 April : Paul W. Airey becomes the first chief master

sergeant of the U.S. Air Force.

47
4,000 tons of equipment, from Tay Ninh to Chu Lai

during the five-day operation.

19 April: Maj Leo K. Thorsness earns the Medal of Honor for

protecting the rescue of downed airmen in North

Vietnamese territory. Flying an F-105 Thunderchief

critically low on fuel, Major Thorsness shoots down one

MiG-17, damages another, and drives off three more.

Despite his urgent need for fuel, Major Thorsness elects to

recover at a forward operating base, allowing another

aircraft in emergency condition to refuel from an aerial

tanker.

25 April: Maj Gen Benjamin D. Foulois, USAF; Retired,

America's oldest military pilot, dies at Andrews AFB,

Maryland.

28 April: A USAF Titan IIIC booster successfully orbits five

unmanned satellites . They include two Vela nucleardetection satellites and three scientific satellites .

29 April : The 1966 Daedalian Flight Safety Trophy, the

nation's outstanding air safety award, is presented to MAC

for a record fifth time.

30 April : The ALARR system has its first operational test. It

is designed to detect and identify nuclear tests in the

atmosphere.

13 May: For the second time pilots of the 8th Tactical

Fighter Wing, Ubon Royal Thai AB, Thailand, shoot down

seven MiGs in a single day's action over North Vietnam.

31 May: While piloting a KC-135 Stratotanker over the Gulf

of Tonkin, Maj John H. Casteel and his three-man crew

from the 902d Air Refueling Squadron accomplish a

48
9 June: The first 0-2A Skymaster forward-air-controller

aircraft arrives in Vietnam.

9 June: USAF begins the evacuation of about 1,300 military

and civilian Americans to the United States from the Middle

East because of Arab-Israeli war.

1 July: Civil Air Patrol national headquarters completes its

move from Ellington AFB, Texas, to Maxwell AFB, Alabama.

1 July: A Titan IIIC booster launches six satellites into a

circular, near-synchronous orbit. Included are three

communications satellites, a scientific capsule, a gravitymeasuring device, and an antenna test satellite.

11 July: First public rollout of the X-24A-a manned,

flatiron-shaped wingless lifting body powered by a rocket

engine to be used in atmospheric reentry studies.

13 July: Eighteen astronauts-nine from the Air Force,

eight from the Navy, and one from the Marine Corpsreceive the Distinguished Flying Cross for their Mercury and

Gemini space flights .

13 August: The Alaskan Air Command, assisted by the Alaska

ANG and other USAF units, begins a three-day rescue and

support operation during a flood disaster in the Fairbanks

area. Alaska-stationed Air Force Communications Service

personnel provide emergency communications, and MAC

provides airlift.

26 August: The North Vietnamese capture Maj George E.

Day, a downed F-100 Super Sabre pilot who is severely

wounded, and take him to a prison camp where he is

interrogated and tortured. Despite his wounds, Major Day

49
3 October: Maj William J. Knight pilots the X-15 hypersonic

rocket aircraft to a record 4,534 mph.

16 October: The first operational F-111A Aardvark supersonic

tactical fighter lands at Nellis AFB, Nevada. It uses its

terrain-following radar-guidance controls for the flight from

Fort Worth, Texas.

24 October: U.S. planes attack North Vietnam's largest air

base, Phuc Yen, for the first time in a combined Air Force,

Navy, and Marine Corps strike . During the attack, the Air

Force downs its 69th MiG.

9 November: Enemy gunners shoot down a helicopter piloted

by Capt Gerald O. Young during USAF efforts to rescue an

Army reconnaissance team near Khe Sanh, Republic of

Vietnam. Captain Young survives the crash, and although

badly burned, he aids another wounded crewman. Later, he

attempts to divert hostile forces from the crash site . Refusing

rescue because of the proximity of enemy forces, he

successfully evades capture for 17 hours before finally being

evacuated. Captain Young's bravery earns the Medal of Honor.

9 November-January: Capt Lance P. Sijan ejects from his

F-4C Phantom over North Vietnam and successfully evades

capture for more than six weeks. The enemy eventually

captures him, but the severely weakened pilot manages to

escape. Recaptured and tortured, he contracts pneumonia

and dies . Captain Sijan received the Medal of Honor

posthumously.

15 November: Maj Michael J. Adams is killed in an X-15

hypersonic crash, the first fatality since the program began in

1959.

50
1 January: The Reserve Forces Bill of Rights and

Vitalization Act becomes law. The Office of Air Force Reserve

is established as part of the Air Staff to serve as a policy

planning center for Reserve operations.

5 January: The Air Force Academy implements the T-41

Mescalero Light Plane Flying Program.

12 January: USAF announces a system by which tactical air

units will carry with them all they need to operate at "bare"

bases equipped only with runways, taxiways, parking areas,

and a water supply.

16 January: United States Air Forces Europe (USAFE) and

MAC crews provide a six-day airlift of food and equipment to

Sicilian earthquake victims .

21 January: Communists begin a 77-day siege of the U.S.

Marine Corps stronghold at Khe Sanh, South Vietnam, which

results in avictory for U.S. air power over enemyground forces .

26 January: ANG and Air Force Reserve (AFRES) elements

are called to active duty because of the USS Pueblo incident

and increased enemy activity in Vietnam.

3 February: At AFSC's Arnold Engineering Development

Center, Tullahoma, a laser beam is used for the first time as

a light source for photographing aircraft and missile models

at high velocity.

14 February: Continental Air Command's AFRES military

airlift units assist MAC in routine missions, while MAC

participates in the rapid deployment of elements of the 82d

Airborne Division and over 3,000 marines and equipment to

Southeast Asia.

51
permanent rank of colonel under the public law that

removed the restriction of the promotion of women to higher

ranks in all the armed services .

19 March: The first class of 12 South Vietnamese air force

pilots begin A-37 Dragonfly training at England AFB,

Louisiana.

25 March : F-111 Aardvarks fly their first combat mission in

Southeast Asia against military targets in North Vietnam.

25 March: The 944th Military Airlift Group (Associate) is

activated at Norton AFB, California, becoming the first Air

Force Reserve Group to function under the new associate unit

concept. The Reserve associate unit's personnel fly and

maintain aircraft assigned to the associated active force unit.

31 March : President Johnson directs a halt in U.S. bombing

north of the 20th parallel in North Vietnam.

28 April: USAF's Southern Command C-130 Hercules crews

airlift approximately 92,000 pounds of food to La Toma,

Ecuador, a drought-stricken area, over a 13-day period.

1 May: ANG tactical refueling units complete one year of

overseas duty on a continuous basis without mobilization.

This is the first operation of its type in Guard/Reserve history.

3 May: The first ANG unit called to active duty in the

Vietnam conflict, the 120th Tactical Fighter Squadron,

arrives in South Vietnam and begins flying combat missions

two days later.

12 May: Lt Col Joe M. Jackson lands his C-123 Provider

aircraft on a special forces camp airstrip that is being

overrun by hostile forces . Despite intense enemy fire including

52
17 June: The first C-9 Nightingale aeromedical evacuation

aircraft ordered by MAC for airlift of patients within the United

States is rolled out at McDonnell-Douglas Corporation, Long

Beach, California.

19 June: A "fast-fix" cement that hardens in only 30

minutes is developed for helicopter landing sites by AFSC's

Aero Propulsion Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio,

and is tested in Southeast Asia.

30 June: The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, USAF's newest and

largest aircraft, makes its first flight.

31 July: Two UH-1F helicopters from USAF's Southern

Command help the Costa Rican government evacuate

people endangered by the eruption of Mount Arenal.

1 August: Continental Air Command is discontinued and

Headquarters AFRES is established at Robins AFB, Georgia.

The Air Reserve Personnel Center at Denver, Colorado, is

established as a separate operating agency.

1 August: USAF's Southern Command flies 13,000 pounds

of disaster relief supplies to San Jose, Costa Rica, to aid the

victims in the Mount Arenal volcano eruption.

16 August: The first Minuteman III missile is successfully

launched from Cape Kennedy. Equipped with multiple

independently targetable reentry vehicles, the Minuteman

III ICBM can attack three targets simultaneously.

21 August: An estimated 260 people are evacuated and

52,000 pounds of food and personal belongings are airlifted

by a USAF UH-1F helicopter during a four-day period aiding

flood victims in northeastern Nicaragua.

53
g

his crippled aircraft and, in extreme pain, flies back to base

where he reports the downed pilot's location. Colonel Jones

receives the Medal of Honor for his gallantry.

11 October: USAF units support the first manned space

mission in NASA's Apollo project when three astronauts,

among them USAF Maj Donn F. Eisele, are launched in the

Apollo 7 capsule into an 11-day earth orbit from Cape

Kennedy.

1 November: President Johnson halts all bombing of North

Vietnam.

26 November: Piloting a UH-1F helicopter, 1st Lt James P.

Fleming twice exposes his aircraft to intense hostile fire while

attempting to rescue a special forces reconnaissance patrol .

Finally rescuing the patrol, Lieutenant Fleming returns to

base, eventually receiving the Medal of Honor for his gallantry.

21 December: NASA's Apollo 8 begins a seven-day mission

from Cape Kennedy with various USAF units supporting the

mission. The astronauts USAF Cols Frank Borman and

William A. Anders and USN Capt James A. Lovell Jr.

achieve man's first circumlunar space travel .

1 Jti9

1 January: The first AC-119 Shadow gunship combat

mission in Vietnam is flown by the AFRES 71st Special

Operations Squadron.

4 February: The XB-70 Valkyrie research aircraft is flown to

Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, to become part of the Air Force

Museum's exhibit of outstanding and historic aircraft.

54
y y

mortar shell. Although seriously wounded and stunned,

Airman Levitow flings himself on a smoking magnesium

flare rolling in the cargo compartment, drags it to an open

cargo door, and ejects it . Almost immediately the flare

ignites clear of the aircraft . For this selfless heroism,

Levitow becomes the fourth enlisted airman to win the

Medal of Honor and the only enlisted airman to win the

nation's highest military honor in Vietnam.

3-13 March: The Apollo 9 crew, consisting of USAF Cols

James A. McDivitt and David R. Scott and civilian Russell L.

Schweikart, begins testing the lunar module while in the

earth's orbit. The crew also makes the first transfer between

space vehicles using an internal connection.
refuelings . The wing receives the Mackay Trophy for the

redeployment.

11 April : The first Minuteman III ICBM launch at Vandenberg

AFB is accomplished by a SAC combat missile crew under the

direction of technicians from the AFSC .

17 April : The first free flight of the X-24 lifting body is

completed at the Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards AFB,

with Maj Jerauld R. Gentry at the controls .

14 May: USAF's Southern Command personnel begin a

massive U.S. Air Force/State Department/Public Health

Service campaign to combat an encephalitis epidemic in

Ecuador.

18-26 May: Climaxing the Apollo 10 mission, astronauts Col

Thomas Stafford, USAF, and Cmdr Eugene A. Cernan, USN,

approach within nine miles of the lunar surface in the lunar

module Snoopy.

4 June: The Thunderbirds, the USAF Air Demonstration

Squadron, hold their first exhibition using the F-4 Phantom

aircraft .

10 June: AFSC presents the number one X-15 hypersonic

rocket-powered, manned research aircraft to the Smithsonian

Institution, Washington, D. C., for display with other historic

aircraft.

1 July: USAF service numbers are replaced by social

security account numbers for all military personnel.

8 July: The first of 25,000 troops withdrawn from Southeast

Asia under the administration's Vietnamization policy are

airlifted aboard C-141 Starlifters from Vietnam to McChord

AFB, Washington.

56
airlift emergency supplies as part of its role in a seven-nation

team helping to mediate a cease-fire in the Honduras-El

Salvador conflict.
White Space Trophy, the Collier Trophy, and the Harmon

Trophy.

25 August: MAC crews complete the first aerial refueling of

the C-5 Galaxy jet cargo transport.

2 September: Scientists at the Air Force Cambridge

Research Laboratory's Lunar Laser Observatory bounce a

laser signal off the retroreflector placed on the moon by

Apollo 11 astronauts .

8 October: Helicopter crews from the 58th Aerospace

Rescue and Recovery Squadron, Wheelus AB, Libya, save

the lives of more than 2,500 Tunisians during a six-day

rescue mission and airlift food, water, clothing, and

medicine to the flood-stricken area.

29 October: SAC announces the phaseout of all B-58

Hustler strategic bombers from USAF inventory. The

Hustler entered operational service in August 1960.

14 November: USAF personnel at locations throughout the

world support the Apollo 12 launch and recovery operations .

17 December: USAF concludes the UFO reporting and

investigating project designated "Blue Book."

18 December: Air Force Missile Development Center crews

complete the first guided launch of the Maverick (AGM-65)

missile-an air-to-surface television-guided missile capable

of attacking close-in targets in movement.

23 December : McDonnell Douglas is named prime

contractor for the USAF's F-15 Eagle air-superiority fighter.

With a top speed of 920 mph, the heavily armed fighter will

have a ferry range of 3,450 nautical miles.
y

10 January: AFSC engineers at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico,

test a small, portable water treatment plant capable of

producing 4,000 gallons of drinking water a day from

sewage.

17 January: Reserve aircrews airlift carpenters and painters

to New Orleans, Louisiana, to help repair damage caused by

Hurricane Camille.

27 January: The first increment of a 64-man Air Training

Command mobile training team is deployed to Vietnam to

assist in the establishment of 17 basic maintenance

training courses. These courses form the foundation of

training to support further expansion of the Vietnamese air

force capabilities .

30 January: Operational control of the first Skynet communications satellite is turned over to the United Kingdom after

launch and orbit insertion on 8 January by AFSC's Space and

Missile Systems Organization.

3 February: USAF rescue crews from the 36th Aerospace

Rescue and Recovery Squadron, Yokota AB, begin rescue of

44 seamen from one ship sinking and 59 seamen involved

in another ship sinking in the North Pacific-the Liberian

freighter Antonious Demades and the Japanese freighter

California. Maru.

27 February : The first F-111E arrives at the Air Force Flight

Test Center, Edwards AFB, for flight testing.

27 February: DOD selects Pratt and Whitney Aircraft to

develop and produce engines for USAF F-15 and Navy

F-14B aircraft.

59
North Atlantic Treaty Organization_ is launched from the Air

Force Eastern Test Range, Cape Kennedy AFS, on a ThorDelta booster.

24 March: The President mobilizes certain AFRES and ANG

units to support the U.S. Post Office during a strike by

postal employees.

24 March: The first launching of the Bomarc "B" guided

missile, using the new BUIC III computerized command and

control equipment, is completed at Tyndall AFB, Florida.

30 March : USAFE dispatches medical teams and support

personnel from units in Turkey to provide medical aid and

other humanitarian services to thousands of earthquake

victims of Gediz, Turkey, and surrounding villages .

31 March: Phaseout of the last Mace missile is completed .

The missiles are stored at the Military Aircraft Storage and

Disposition Center, Davis-Monthan AFB, for possible use as

subsonic target drones .

1 April: SAC's postattack command and control system is

reorganized and relocated to inland operating bases at

Offutt AFB, Nebraska; Grissom AFB, Indiana; and Ellsworth

AFB, North Dakota.

10 April: Air Training Command completes shipment of 872

trainers under Project Pacer Bravo in support of the

Vietnamese air force improvement and modernization

program.

11 April: TAC gains its first ANG tactical airlift unit when

the 146th Tactical Airlift Wing, California ANG, is formally

reorganized.

60
missile is accomplished by a C-141 Starlifter . The missile is

airlifted from Hill AFB, Utah, to Minot AFB, North Dakota.

4 May: A SAC task force of four B-52s wins the Blue Steel

Trophy for best results in combined bombing and

navigation during the Royal Air Force (RAF) Strike

Command bombing and navigation competition at RAF

Station, Marham, England.

5 May: Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps expands to

include women after test programs at Ohio State, Drake,

East Carolina, and Auburn Universities prove successful.

8 May: An AC-119K Shadow gunship attacks one of the

most heavily defended road sections in Southeast Asia.

Despite the loss of 15 feet of the aircraft's right wing and

one aileron, the crew destroys three enemy supply trucks

and successfully returns to base. For this feat, the crew will

receive the Mackay Trophy.

2 June: USAF's Southern Command personnel and aircraft

from Howard and Albrook AFBs, Canal Zone, and C-130s

from Lockbourne AFB, Ohio, begin massive disaster relief

operations for victims of a devastating earthquake in Peru

that killed 70,000 and left 800,000 homeless. In 31 days,

USAFSO crews airlift 1 .5 million pounds of supplies and

equipment and 2,827 passengers and make 501 medical

evacuations, while operating under practically bare-base

conditions 1,500 miles from their home base.

5 June: North American Rockwell (airframe) and General

Electric (engines) contracts are signed for engineering a

development of the B-1, the proposed follow-on weapon

system to replace the B-52 aircraft.

6 1
5 July: The first contract for the new airborne warning and

control system (AWACS) aircraft is let to the Boeing

Company. The AWACS fleet serves as airborne combat

direction centers for Aerospace Defense Command.

14 July: The C-5 Galaxy completes its first transpacific

flight of 21,500 miles, inaugurating service to Hickam AFB;

Andersen AFB; Clark AB, Republic of the Philippines; and

Kadena AB, Okinawa.

20 July: Electronics Systems Division, L. G. Hanscom Field,

Massachusetts, turns over to the Air Force Communications

Service the recently completed photo relay system known as

Compass Link. Using three ground stations and two

satellites, Compass Link can transmit exposed film from

Southeast Asia to the Pentagon via electronic signals and

laser beams.

31 July: The first class of Vietnamese students under the

president's Vietnamization Program completes the

Undergraduate Pilot Training course at Keesler AFB,

Mississippi.

August: Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announces the

Total Force Concept of the armed services . USAF

incorporates capabilities of Air Force Reserve and Air

National Guard (together, the Air Reserve Forces) into all

aspects of planning and budgeting. These forces also take

on a far greater role in normal USAF operations.

4 August: Aircrews of the AFRES airlift 73 mentally and

physically handicapped children from Corpus Christi to

Austin, Texas, after Hurricane Celia destroyed their school.

62
ferry flight from Eglin AFB to Da Nang Airport, Vietnam.

17 September-28 October: C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft

assigned to the USAFE and MAC participate in Operation

Fig Hill, transporting food, medical supplies, and equipment

to Jordan. The supplies relieve suffering resulting from

internal conflict.

2 October: The USAF Special Operations Force, Hurlburt

Field, Florida, takes possession of the new UH-1N Bell Twin

Huey. It is the first operational unit in the Air Force to have

the helicopter .

11 October: The first USAF Undergraduate Helicopter Pilot

Training student enters training at Fort Wolters, Texas. The

U.S. Army trains 225 helicopter pilots for the Air Force

annually.

21 October: The X-24A aerospace vehicle makes its first

supersonic speed-flight at the Air Force Flight Test Center,

Edwards AFB.

27 October: Doctors at Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center,

Lackland AFB, develop a new device to save infants who are

suffocating. Costing only about $1,000 and built from various

standard hospital components, the device gives physicians

precise control over pressure, composition, and volume of air,

oxygen, and mists to help newborn babies breathe.

1 November: During their off-duty time, USAF physicians

assigned to USAF Hospital, Wurtsmith AFB, Michigan,

begin free medical care for nearby Chippewa native

American residents under the Domestic Action Program.

1 November: The 336th Tactical Fighter Squadron begins

testing new bare-base mobility equipment in a field exercise

63
to peoay ote tass peousy peoed by doctos

Graduates will suture wounds, apply and remove casts and

dressings, and accomplish routine physical examinations.

17 November: C-141 Starlifters of MAC begin the airlift of

men and equipment to Dacca, East Pakistan, to aid that

country's recovery from massive tidal waves.

20 November: USAF's Southern Command celebrates its

30th anniversary as a major air command, while its aircraft

and personnel assist Colombians hard hit by floods .

21 November: A special task force of Air Force and Army

volunteers make a daring but unsuccessful attempt to

rescue American servicemen from the Son Tay

prisoner-of-war (POW) camp 20 miles west of Hanoi. Brig

Gen Leroy J. Manor leads the mission and is one of 39

USAF personnel participating in the effort .

5 December: Air Force Reservists from the 945th Military

Airlift Group, Hill AFB, assist in a domestic action program

to provide 40,000 pounds of food and clothing to Navajo

native Americans on reservations spanning the corners of

four states .

16 December: The 509th Bombardment Wing, Pease AFB,

New Hampshire, receives the first FB-111A Aardvark

assigned to a SAC combat unit.

149 7 1

8 January: USAF's first tactical squadron of Minuteman III

missiles is completed by AFSC at Minot AFB. The squadron

consists of five manned launch-control centers and 50

unmanned silo launchers.

64
p y p

by the American Humane Society.

2 March: USAF introduces a policy permitting women who

become pregnant to remain on active duty or to be discharged

and return to duty within 12 months of discharge.

10 March: Ten Japanese fishermen shipwrecked 200 miles

southwest of Kadena, Okinawa, are saved from rough surf

and a coral reef by an Air Force helicopter crew.

17 March: Jane Leslie Holley becomes the first woman

commissioned through the Air Force Reserve Officer

Training Corps program. She graduated from Auburn

University in Alabama.

18 March : Capt Marcelite C. Jordon becomes the first

woman aircraft maintenance officer after completing the

Aircraft Maintenance Officer School.

7 April: 2d Lt Susanne M. Ocobock becomes the first

woman civil engineer in the Air Force and is assigned to

Kelly AFB, Texas.

26 April : Crewing an SR-71 Blackbird strategic

reconnaissance aircraft assigned to the 9th Strategic

Reconnaissance Wing, Lt Col Thomas B. Estes, aircraft

commander, and Maj Dewain C. Vick, reconnaissance

systems officer, make a record-breaking 15,000-mile

nonstop flight, at time attaining speeds in excess of Mach 3.

16 June-18 July: Four C-130s from Pope AFB, North

Carolina, fly 308 sorties in Operation Bonny Jack, the

humanitarian airlift of East Pakistani refugees from the

Indian border state of Tripura to resettlement areas in

Gauhati, further inland. On return flights they carry more

65
and Hurlburt Field and eight C-47 Skytrains from England

AFB spray more than 2.5 million acres in southeastern

Texas with malathion to combat an outbreak of Venezuelan

Equine Encephalomyelitis. The operation, conducted in

conjunction with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is

nicknamed Combat Vee.

16 July: Jeanne M. Holm, director of WAF, is promoted to

brigadier general, becoming the first woman to attain

general officer rank in the Air Force.

23 July: Hughes Aircraft Company is awarded a $70 million

contract to build 2,000 Maverick (AGM-65A) air-to-surface

missiles for use on F-4E and A-7D aircraft.

26 July : With an all-Air Force crew composed of Col David

R. Scott, Lt Col James B. Irwin, and Maj Alfred M. Worden,

Apollo 15 blasts off from Cape Kennedy. The mission is

described as the most scientifically important and,

potentially, the most perilous lunar trip since the first

landing. Millions of viewers throughout the world watch as

color TV cameras cover Scott and Irwin as they explore the

lunar surface using a moon-rover vehicle for the first time.

29 July : The experimental USAF X-24A lifting body

completes its flight-test program.

10 September: The USAF's 17th Special Operations

Squadron flies its final AG-119G gunship mission and

begins transferring its aircraft to the Vietnamese air force.

Nicknamed Shadow for its close air support and interdiction

of enemy supply lines on night missions, the AC-119

aircraft are the first gunships assigned to the Vietnamese,

who operate them from Tan Son Nhut AB.

66
transport aircraft flew from unimproved airstrips providing

fresh foodstuffs and supplies to otherwise inaccessible

outposts.

1J72

31 January: Air Training Command accepts its last T-38

Talon aircraft (tail no. 70-1956) at Palmdale, California .

17 February: Air Force One, a VC-137 Stratoliner aircraft belonging to the 89th Military Airlift Wing, departs Andrews AFB,

Maryland, carrying President and Mrs. Nixon on their historic

trip to China to meet with Chinese premier Chou En-Lai.

1 March: The first production line short-range attack

missile is delivered to SAC.

April : In Operation Constant Guard, following the North

Vietnamese spring offensive, MAC helps move the 49th

Tactical Fighter Wing's 3,195 airmen and 1,600 tons of

cargo from Holloman AFB to Takhli, Thailand, in nine days.

1 April : Air Training Command activates the Community

College of the Air Force at Randolph AFB.

6 April : American aircraft and warships begin heavy,

sustained attacks on North Vietnam for the first time since

cessation of bombing in October 1968.

10 April: B-52 Stratofortress aircraft resume deep penetration

raids that had been halted since 31 October 1968 into

North Vietnam.

27 April : Four USAF fighter crews, releasing Paveway I

laser-guided "smart" bombs, knock down the Thanh Hoa

bridge in North Vietnam. Previously, 871 conventional

67
sorties resulted in only superficial damage to the bridge.

This raid introduces precision-guided munitions into

combat for the first time.

May: The last B-57 Intruder aircraft leaves Southeast Asia

and returns to the United States, ending its combat career .

12 May: A C-130 Hercules aircraft flies 5,000 pounds of

civilian-donated medical equipment from Stuttgart,

Germany, to a new hospital at Sile, Turkey.

26 May: President Nixon and Soviet General Secretary

Leonid I. Brezhnev sign a Strategic Arms Limitation (SAL)

agreement. This limits the number of land- and sea-based

launchers for both sides.

11 June: B-52 Stratofortress aircraft using laser-guided

bombs destroy a major hydroelectric plant near Hanoi,

North Vietnam.

27 June: USAF C-123 Provider aircraft operations in

Southeast Asia come to a halt with the transfer of the

aircraft to the Vietnamese air force.

29 June: Forward air controller Capt Steven L. Bennett and

his observer spot enemy troops attacking a friendly unit.

r_ 0
ygy

in support of NASA's Viking Project for landing an

unmanned spacecraft on Mars in 1976.

26 July-25 August: In response to flooding, Pacific Air

Forces (PACAF) airlifts over four million pounds of food and

medical supplies to the Philippine Islands .

27 July: The first flight of the F-15 Eagle advanced tactical

fighter at Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards AFB, is

accomplished ahead of schedule.

11 August: The first flight of the F-5E international fighter

aircraft is made at Edwards AFB, marking the beginning of

contractor development, test, and evaluation.

19-20 August: The USAF HH-3 Jolly Green Giant and

HH-43 Huskie helicopters save a total of 763 Korean

civilians from rising waters when heavy rains cause the Han

River, South Korea, to flood.

28 August: Capt Richard S. "Steve" Ritchie, flying with Capt

Charles B. DeBellevue, his backseater, becomes the

Vietnam War's first ace by shooting down his fifth MiG--21 .

Captain DeBellevue shoots down his fifth MiG two weeks

later. For their achievements, the two aces will share the

1972 Mackay Trophy with Capt Jeffrey S. Feinstein, the

third USAF ace of the Vietnam War.

11 September: Using precision-guided munitions, U.S.

aircraft destroy the Long Bien bridge over the Red River in

downtown Hanoi, North Vietnam.

15 September: The 42d Bombardment Wing, Loring AFB,

Maine, becomes the first B-52 Stratofortress wing to be

operational with the short-range attack missile.

69
actated 

22 November: The first B-52 Stratofortress aircraft lost to

enemy action is hit by a surface-to-air missile while on a

mission over North Vietnam. The aircraft crashes in

Thailand, where the crew ejects and is recovered .

18 December: President Nixon directs the resumption of

full-scale bombing and mining in North Vietnam, in an

operation known as Linebacker 11 .

18-29 December: Supporting Linebacker II, KC-135

Stratotanker aircraft fly more than 1,300 sorties.

30 December: President Nixon orders a halt to the bombing

of North Vietnam north of the 20th parallel and announces

that peace talks will resume in Paris on 8 January 1973.

l97Q6;

8 January: An F-4D Phantom shoots down a MiG southwest

of Hanoi with a radar-guided AIM-7 missile. This is the last

aerial victory before the signing of the cease-fire that goes

into effect on 29 January.

22 January: President Johnson dies. The Spirit of 76, a

VC-137, flies his body from Texas to Washington, D.C. for a

final tribute.

27 January: In Paris, North Vietnam and the United States

sign an "Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace

to Vietnam."

28 January: A B-52 Stratofortress bombs targets in South

Vietnam at 0628 hours local time. This sortie ends Arc Light

operations, which have been continuous since 1965.

70
Hercules aircraft, reportedly on a reconnaissance mission

over the Mediterranean. The C-130 successfully evades its

attackers and lands safely at Athenai Airport, Greece.

28 March : The final flight of PACAF aircraft departs South

Vietnam for redeployment on 28 March 1973.

13 April : USAFE accepts responsibility for manning and

operating a program to train the Iranian air force in F-4

Phantom aircraft operations.

16 April: U.S. aircraft resume bombing North Vietnamese

positions in Laos following reports that the Communists

had overrun a town in the Plaine des Jarres.

18 May: Lockheed of Georgia delivers the 81st and last

production model of the C-5A Galaxy aircraft to USAF.

15 July: An A-7D Corsair of the 354th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing flies the last combat mission of the Southeast

Asian War. All told, USAF flew 5.25 million sorties over

South Vietnam, North Vietnam, northern and southern

Laos, and Cambodia, losing 2,251 aircraft 1,737 to hostile

action and 514 for other operational reasons.

6 September: The 561st Tactical Fighter Squadron (F-105

Thunderchief aircraft) leaves Korat Royal Thai AB, Thailand,

bound for George AFB, California .

30 September: Air Training Command inactivates Laredo

AFB, Texas, and places it in caretaker status .

October: The Air Weather Service declares operational at

Elmendorf AFB a ground-based liquid-propane system for

dissipating cold fog. Using this system will allow more air

traffic during inclement weather.

7 1
28 October: The first production model of the T-43 aircraft

arrives at Mather AFB, California .

19 December: USAF approves procurement of 52 A-10

Thunderbolt production aircraft, associated engines, and

the GAU-8A 30 mm gun system. This follows a successful

flight evaluation fly-off of the A-10 with the A-7D Corsair.

19<4

16-19 January: The 48th Air Rescue and Recovery Squadron

evacuates 93 persons from flooded areas near Pinehurst,

Idaho.

10 April : USAFE C-130 Hercules aircraft, crews, and

communications personnel support Operation Nimbus Star,

the mine-sweeping operation required to clear the Suez

Canal of obstacles prior to navigation.

May: The 354th Tactical Fighter Wing completes its

redeployment from Korat, Thailand, to Myrtle Beach, South

Carolina.

5 July: The 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron moves without

personnel or equipment from Udorn Royal Thai AB to Luke

AFB to become the first F-15 Eagle squadron in the USAF.

29 July : Secretary of Defense James R. Schlesinger directs

the U.S. Air Force to consolidate all military airlift aircraft

under a single manager. USAF will be the single manager

for all armed services.

4 August: The 8th Tactical Fighter Wing completes its

redeployment from Ubon, Thailand .

72
30 August: A C-5 Galaxy completes its first long-range

air-refueled mission over water. Flying from Dover AFB,

Delaware, to Clark AB, the aircraft covers 10,600 statute

miles (via mid-Pacific routing) in 21 hours, 30 minutes.

30-31 August: Detachment 13, 41st Air Rescue and Recovery

Wing, saves 36 Koreans from flood waters surrounding

Kwangju, South Korea.

1 September: Maj James V. Sullivan and Maj Noel Widdifield

set a New York to London speed record of 1,806 .964 mph in

a Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird aircraft.

3 September: SAC removes from alert its last Minuteman I

ICBM at the 90th Strategic Missile Wing, Warren AFB,

during the wing's conversion to Minuteman III missiles .

12 September: The United States returns the Takhli AB to

the Royal Thai government.

24 October: The Space and Missile Systems Organization

successfully launches a Minuteman I ICBM from a C-5A

Galaxy cargo aircraft.

24 November: President Ford and Soviet General Secretary

Leonid I . Brezhnev sign the Vladivostok SAL Accord. SAL

73
8 ecebe

President Ford signs a law allowing nonflyers

to command flying units.

23 December: The first flight of a B-1 Lancer aircraft is

made from Palmdale, California, to Edwards AFB.

1J1

11 January: USAF cargo aircraft begins airlifting military

equipment and supplies into Phnom Penh, Cambodia,

which is under siege by communist forces .

13 January: The Secretary of the Air Force, Dr. John L.

McLucas, selects the General Dynamics YF-16 prototype as

USAF's air combat fighter, a low-cost, light-weight, highly

maneuverable fighter aircraft.

16 January-1 February: Majs Roger J. Smith, David W.

Peterson, and Willard R. MacFarlane set eight time-to-climb

records in the F-15 Eagle, to earn the Mackay Trophy.

16 February: Brig Gen Eugene D. Scott becomes the first

USAF navigator to command a flying unit by assuming

command of the 47th Air Division, Fairchild AFB,

Washington.

March-June: Air Rescue and Recovery Service personnel

assist in the recovery of bodies and equipment from the

wreckage of a C-141 Starlifter aircraft that crashed in the

Olympic Mountains, Washington, on 21 March 1975.

5 March: Students fly the last T-29 navigator training sortie

at Mather AFB.

25 March: The United States organizes an airlift to evacuate

about 10,000 people . a day from Da Nang, South Vietnam.

74
April: Just prior to the fall of the South Vietnamese

government, MAC evacuates 50,493 refugees from Saigon,

South Vietnam, to safe-haven bases in the Pacific .

4 April: The first USAF aircraft evacuating Vietnamese

orphans from Saigon, South Vietnam, crash-lands shortly

after takeoff. The heroic efforts of the flight and medical

crews save the lives of 176 of the 314 passengers on the

crashed C-5 Galaxy.

10 April: The B-1 Lancer aircraft attains supersonic flight

speed for the first time.

12 April: American aircraft participate in Eagle Pull, the

evacuation of United States personnel from Phnom Penh,

Cambodia.

18 April : SAC begins transferring air refueling wings to the

Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard. AFRES and ANG

tanker units will support SAC alert operations.

21 April : SAC conducts its first in-flight refueling of the B-1

Lancer bomber.

29 April-16 September: During Operation New Arrival, 251

C-141 Starlifter and 349 commercial aircraft missions bring

121,562 Indochinese refugees to the United States from

Pacific staging areas.

29-30 April: During Operation Frequent Wind, the final

evacuation of Saigon, South Vietnam, USAF, U.S. Marine

Corps, and U.S. Navy aircraft extract over 7,000 people as

communist forces overrun the city.

12 May: Cambodian gunboats seize the U.S. merchant ship

Mayaguez near the Wai Islands, 60 miles from the

75
g

at U-Tapao, Thailand, begin their redeployment to the

United States.

15 June: The last F-111 unit in Thailand begins to redeploy

to the United States .

17 June: Detachment 5, 37th Air Rescue and Recovery

Squadron, saves 131 flood victims during a flood in a

13-county area of Montana.

1 July: The first ANG air refueling squadron begins

supporting SAC operations . ANG and AFRES units will

receive KC-135s over a four-year period.

7 August : Two C-141 Starlifter aircraft fly from Ramstein

AB, Germany, to Bucharest, Romania, with disaster relief

supplies requested by the Romanian government after

extensive flooding of the Danube River tributaries.

1 September: Gen Daniel "Chappie" James Jr. becomes the

first black officer to achieve four-star rank in the United

States military.

29 October: The first F-5E Tiger II aircraft is delivered to

Nellis AFB and takes its place in the USAF inventory.

29 November: The first Red Flag exercise begins at Nellis

AFB ushering in a new era of highly realistic air combat

training for USAF pilots .

1976

9 January: The USAF's first operational F-15 Eagle, the new

air superiority fighter aircraft, arrives at 1st Tactical Fighter

Wing, Langley AFB.

76

oes, eegecy equpet, ad suppes to

Guatemala:

29 February: Korat Royal Thai AB lowers its American flag

for the last time, marking termination of USAF operations at

that base.

1 March: Taipei Air Station (AS), Taiwan, officially closes,

ending 20 years of U.S. operation.

21--31 March: When a typhoon strikes Guam, C-5 Galaxy,

C-141 `Starlifter, and C-130 Hercules aircraft fly engineering

teams, generators, utility vehicles, and communications

equipment to the island .

22' March: The first A-10 Thunderbolt is delivered to

Davis-Monthan AFB for operational test and evaluation.

22 March : A U-2 departing U-Tapao Airfield, Thailand,

becomes the last SAC aircraft'to leave Southeast Asia.

1 April : USAFE activates the 527th Tactical Fighter

Aggressor Squadron at RAF Alconbury, United Kingdom, to

conduct dissimilar air combat tactics training for fighter

and reconnaissance aircrews.

2 April : The last C-118A Liftmaster in the active inventory

is delivered to the Davis-Monthan AFB storage facility .

29 April-15 May: USAFE crews take part in the first Allied

Air Forces Central Europe Tactical Weapons meet at

Twenthe AB, the Netherlands.

6 May-5 June: In response to a devastating earthquake in

the Furili region of northeastern Italy, USAF personnel at

Aviano AB provide medical assistance and working parties

to clear rubble and pitch tents for the homeless.

78
control system.

27 June: The first successful test flight of a Titan II ICBM

equipped with a universal space guidance system takes

place at Vandenberg AFB.

28 June: The U.S. Air Force Academy becomes the first of

the big three service academies to admit women cadets

when it admits Joan Olsen.

15 July: Consolidated interservice navigation training

begins for Navy and Marine personnel at Mather AFB.

27 July: Majs Adolphus H. Bledsoe Jr., pilot, and John T.

Fuller, reconnaissance systems officer, fly an SR-71 Blackbird

at a speed of 2,092.29 mph over a 1,000-kilometer (621 .4

mile) course in the vicinity of Edwards AFB. In this flight, they

set three closed-circuit records: (1) world absolute speed; (2)

world jet speed with 1,000-kilogram (2,200 pounds) payload;

and (3) world jet speed without payload.

28 July: Capt Eldon W. Joersz, pilot, and Maj George T.

Morgan, reconnaissance systems officer, flying their SR 71

Blackbird at a speed of 2,193.64 mph, set two records:

world absolute and jet speed over a 15/25-kilometer

straight course.

28 July : Capt Robert C. Helt, pilot, and Maj Lang A. Elliot,

reconnaissance systems officer, fly their SR-71 Blackbird to

a height of 85,069 feet over the test range at Edwards AFB

and establish both world absolute and jet records for

altitude in horizontal flight.

1-2 August: Two USAF UH-1 Iroquois helicopter crews save

81 persons stranded by a flash flood in Colorado's Big

Thompson Canyon.

79
Soviet Union on 15 November.

16 September: The United States officially returns Eniwetok

Atoll, site of the first U.S. hydrogen bomb explosion, to its

former inhabitants.

29 September: The first of two groups of ten women-pilot

candidates enter undergraduate pilot training at Williams

AFB, Arizona, the first time since World War II that women

could train to become pilots of military aircraft.

29 November: Responding to an earthquake disaster, MAC

airlifts supplies and support equipment to various locations

in Turkey.

8 December: The maiden flight of the full-scale development

version of the F-16 Fighting Falcon is accomplished at Fort

Worth, Texas.

80

equipment and 495 passengers into Niagara Falls, New

York, for snow cleanup operations.

18 February: The space shuttle makes its first captive flight

atop the carrier aircraft, a modified Boeing 747.

1 March: The first three F-111Fs arrive in Europe and are

assigned to the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing at RAF

Lakenheath, United Kingdom.

10 March: The first woman navigator candidates report to

Mather AFB to begin undergraduate navigator training.

23 March: TAC's first E-3A Sentry aircraft arrives at Tinker

AFB, Oklahoma. The Sentry is an AWACS aircraft.

26 March-11 April: During Exercise Team Spirit '77, 548

aircraft from U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps,

and Republic of Korea air force fly approximately 6,400

sorties.

30 March: Following the collision of a KLM 747 and a Pan

Am 747 at Tenerife, Canary Islands, MAC C-130 Hercules

and C-141 Starlifter aircraft transport more than 50 crash

victims to McGuire AFB, New Jersey; Kelly AFB; Travis AFB;

and El Toro Naval AS, California .

2 May: 1st Lt Christine E. Schott becomes the first woman

undergraduate pilot training student to solo in the T-38 talon.

19 May: Capt James A. Yule is awarded the Mackay Trophy for

gallantry and unusual presence of mind while participating in a

flight as an instructor pilot of a B-52 Stratofortress aircraft.

19 June: A MAC C-5 Galaxy flies nonstop from ChicagoO'Hare Airport to Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow carrying

a 40-ton superconducting magnet, the first time a C-5 has

82
4 August: The last T-33 Shooting Star leaves the Air

Force Flight Test Center for retirement at Davis-Monthan

AFB.

15 August : An Air Force Reserve Wing deploys two C-130B

Hercules aircraft to California where they make 38 fireretardant drops on four major forest fires.

2 September: The first class of women pilots graduates at

Williams AFB.

3 September: The last of USAF stocks of Agent Orange from

the Vietnam War are incinerated at sea, west of Johnston

Island .

30 September: The first C-141 Starlifter transatlantic mission

without a navigator aboard is flown from Charleston AFB,

South Carolina, to Rota Naval Station, Spain. The mission

uses the Delco inertial navigation system.

12 October: The first class of five USAF women navigators

graduates, with three of the five assigned to MAC aircrews .

30 November: Control of Tachikawa AB is returned to the

government of Japan.

6 December: As part of USAFE's survivability program, the

first contingency launch and recovery airfield is completed at

Hahn AB.

14)71;

January: A MAC C-141 Starlifter aircraft carries U.S .

Department of Energy people and equipment to Edmonton,

Alberta, Canada, to aid in the search for radioactive remains

83
of a Soviet satellite that reentered the earth's atmosphere

and disintegrated over the Canadian wilderness .

24 January: TAC deploys eight F-15 Eagle aircraft from

Langley AFB to Osan AB. This is the first operational

training deployment of the F-15s to the Western Pacific.

22 February: The first test NAVSTAR global positioning

satellite successfully launches into orbit.

25-26 February: A MAC C-141 Starlifter transports 12 burn

specialists from Newark, New Jersey, to the Waverly,

84

May-June: After Katangan rebels invade Zaire's Shaba

province from Angola, one C-5 Galaxy and 42 C-141 Starlifters

airlift 931 tons of cargo and fuel and 124 passengers to Zaire to

support Belgian and French operations there.

20-23 May: Lt Col Robert F. Schultz and crew and Capt

Todd H. Hohberger and crew overcome the hazards of

fatigue, limited en route support, crippling mechanical

problems, and adverse operational conditions in a hostile

area during delivery of supplies to Zaire. The C-5 crews will

receive the Mackay Trophy for their achievement.

12 July: After 25 years of service to the nation, the last

Boeing KC-97L Stratofreighter is retired to the Military

Aircraft Storage and Disposition Center.

14-16 August: As part of the flood relief operations, a C-141

Starlifter delivers 26 tons of supplies to Khartoum, Sudan.

86
to USAFE arrive at RAF Bentwaters/Woodbridge, United

Kingdom, for service with the 81st Tactical Fighter Wing.

24 August: Nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer leaking from a Stage

I booster disables Titan II launch complex 533-7, assigned

to the 381st Strategic Missile Wing, McConnell AFB. The

escaped oxidizer kills two people and also severely damages

the ICBM that is housed within the complex.

26 August: The Laotian government in Vientiane returns

the remains of four U.S. servicemen killed in the Vietnam

War, the first such gesture by Laos.

16 September: 1st Lt Patricia M. Fornes with the 381st

SMW is the first woman officer to stand Titan II alert.

23 October: Two UH-1N Iroquois helicopters and one O-2A

aircraft of the 24th Composite Wing fly flood-assistance

missions in Costa Rica.

22 November: A C-141 Starlifter transports six medical

specialists and their equipment from Boston,

Massachusetts, to Algiers, Algeria, to aid the critically ill

president of Algeria.

28 November: MAC C-141 Starlifter aircraft transport 911

bodies from the mass suicide at Jonestown, Guyana, to, the

military mortuary at Dover AFB.

30 November: The last Boeing Minuteman III ICBM is

delivered to the USAF at Hill AFB, Utah.

9 December: As a result of political tensions and disturbances

in Iran, MAC, using C-5 Galaxy and C-141 Starlifter aircraft,

moves approximately 900 dependents from Teheran to

locations in Europe and the United States.

87
Trophy for professional competence and aerial skill in

rescuing 28 Taiwanese seamen from a sinking cargo ship.

31 March: MAC aircraft fly the first of 15 missions to aid in

activities following the 28 March accident at the Three-Mile

Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania.

3-5 April: Two C-141 Starlifter aircraft move 21 tons of

relief supplies to Nandi International Airport, Fiji, after

Typhoon Meli batters the islands.

13 April : To aid undernourished and starving people, a

C-141 Starlifter delivers 20 tons of vegetable seeds to

Kamina, Zaire.

19-20 April: Following a major earthquake that struck the

Adriatic coast of southern Yugoslavia and Albania, MAC

delivers 139 tons of supplies and equipment to Titograd

International Airport, Yugoslavia.

2-3 May: Two E-3A Sentry aircraft fly the first AWACS

training mission over the central region in Europe.

1 June: The Community College of the Air Force moves from

the Lackland Training Annex, Texas, to Maxwell AFB.

1 June: In support of SAC air tanker operations, USAFE

activates RAF Fairford, United Kingdom. The base becomes

fully operational with the arrival of two KC-135 Stratotanker

aircraft on 12 September 1979 .

5 June: President Carter approves full-scale development of

the MX missile.

8-16 July: SAC conducts its first Global Shield '79, at the

time the most comprehensive nuclear war plan exercise ever

conducted .

88
Cops base at out uj, Japa

2-21 December: In the aftermath of Typhoon Abby, MAC

transports 250 support personnel and 650 tons of food,

water purification equipment, and other supplies to the

Marshall Islands International Airport, Majuro Atoll.

191;0

2-4 January: The Portuguese government requests U.S.

assistance for victims of an earthquake on Terceira Island

in the Azores. Two C-141s of the 437th Military Airlift Wing

provide 700 tents and 1,000 blankets for the homeless .

10-11 January: After Cyclone Claudette hits the Indian Ocean

island of Mauritius just before New Year's day 1980, a C-141

from the 86th Military Airlift Squadron flew 17 tons of

emergency supplies to the island . This humanitarian mission

provided relief for thousands of homeless and destitute

persons.

31 January: Construction workers inadvertently damage the

aviation fuel pipeline between Clark AB and Subic Bay in the

Philippines, causing the loss of approximately 50,000 gallons.

25-28 February: F-15s out of Clark AB intercept two Soviet

Bear D and two Soviet Bear F aircraft after they penetrate

the Philippine air defense interceptor zone.

26 February: PACAF hosts and participates in the first

multinational exercise, Rimpac '80, that includes Japan.

The exercise is held in Hawaiian waters.

12-14 March: Two B-52s from the 644th Bombardment

Squadron and the 410th Bombardment Wing fly nonstop

89
mission. An aircrew from the 443d Military Airlift Wing flies

it nonstop from Beale AFB to RAF Mildenhall in 11 hours,

12 minutes with only one aerial refueling.

7 April : Reacting to the Iranian seizure of the U.S. Embassy in

Teheran, DOD orders all Iranian military trainees to leave the

United States by 1200 hours on 11 April. Numerous Iranians

enrolled in Air Training Command academic courses are

expelled.

18 April : The Western Test Range building at Vandenberg

AFB adds a $3 million Data Transfer Center to support the

space shuttle, missile testing, and the global positioning

system (GPS) navigational satellite network.
May: 2d Lt Mary L. Wittick is the first woman to enter the

Air Force undergraduate helicopter pilot training program in

Class 81-05.

18 May-5 June: Following eruptions of the Mount Saint

Helens volcano in northwest Washington state, ARRS,

Military Airlift wings, and the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance

Wing conduct humanitarian relief efforts that include

reconnaissance by two SR-71 Blackbirds .

28 May: For the first time, 97 women are among those

receiving commissions as second lieutenants in graduation

ceremonies at the United States Air Force Academy.

10 July-3 October: Operation Proud Phantom is the first

tactical deployment in Egypt by the U.S . Air Force. The

exercise begins with the arrival of 12 F-4Es in Cairo, Egypt,

flown from Moody AFB.

28-30 July: A flight of four F-4E Phantoms from the 3d

Tactical Fighter Wing, Clark AFB, flies to Tengah AB,

Singapore. This is the first visit by USAF tactical aircraft to

Singapore since the city-state achieved independence in

1965.

30 July-1 August: The 146th and 433d Tactical Airlift

Wings respond with three C-130s and 10,500 gallons of fire

retardant chemicals to quell seven brush fires near Palm

Springs, California, in the San Bernardino National Forest.

The airlift permits firefighters to bring the fire under control

within three days .

7-16 August: The U.S. Air Force Southern Air Division flies

61 tons of relief equipment and a 107-person clean-up crew

to assist the victims of Hurricane Allen in Haiti and Saint

9 1
provide meteorological support during orbital flight tests.

10 September: An HH-3E from Osan AB rescues 229 people

from the swirling waters of the Sea of Japan after Typhoon

Orchid struck the eastern coast of South Korea southeast of

Osan.

18 September: An explosion destroys the 308th Strategic

Missile Wing's Titan II launch complex 374-7 in Little Rock,

Arkansas. One Air Force maintenance person is killed .

20 September: PACAF sponsors visits by two F-15s and an

E-3A to New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand to

demonstrate these new aircraft.

1 October: Operation Elf is initiated with four E-3As

deployed to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to protect Saudi air space

during the Iran-Iraq War.

3 October: Piloting an HH-3 Jolly Green Giant helicopter,

Capt John J. Walters and two pararescuemen rescue 61

passengers and crew aboard the burning Dutch luxury liner

Prinsendam 120 miles south of Yakutat, Alaska. Captain

Walters wins the Mackay Trophy for his bravery.

12-23 October: On 10 October an earthquake registering

7.2 on the Richter scale and centered in the region of El

Asnam, Algeria, kills some 6,000 people and leaves more

than 100,000 homeless. The 322d Airlift Division, the

436th, 437th, and 438th Military Airlift Wings; and the

435th Tactical Airlift Wing transported more than 400 tons

of relief supplies and 87 passengers on behalf of the

Algerian victims.

17 October: The Secretary of Defense directs the U.S. Army

to take over operations at Wheeler AFB although ownership

a~
g

mission in a chemical environment for a sustained period.

The training exercise is held at Hahn AB.

12-25 November: Rapid Deployment Force elements of

USAFE represent the first joint overseas exercise in Egypt

when they participate in Operation Bright Star.

20 November: The first F-111 Pave Tack-modified aircraft

arrives at the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing, RAF Lakenheath,

United Kingdom. The F-111 Pave Tack system provides a

24-hour high- and low-altitude weapons delivery capability.

21 November: Responding to a fire at the 26-story MGM

Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, all the 20th and 302d

Special Operations Squadrons, as well as Detachment 1 of

the 57th Fighter Weapons Wing, rescue 310 persons.

23 November-2 December: In the wake of a severe earthquake

in the Naples area of southern Italy, USAFE provides logistical

assistance, including 300 tons of tents, blankets, and medical

supplies through the auspices of MAC. In close proximity to

the disaster, the 2181st Communications Squadron at Monte

Vergine, Italy, provides relief to the local communities that

sustained damages.

25 November: The 26th Tactical Fighter Training Aggressor

Squadron flies its final T-38 sortie. Replacing the four T-38

Talons after they are returned to the Air Training Command

are F-5E and F-5F aircraft.

25-29 November: The outbreak of 11 major fires in a

125-square-mile area covering four counties east of Los

Angeles, California, brings to the disaster scene units of

MAC and the Air Force Airlift Readiness Center. Thirteen

93
Community College of the Air Force at Maxwell AFB is

accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern

Association to award the Associate in Applied Science

degree .

1491;l

January-June: Operating from Corpus Christi, Texas, and

Little Rock, Arkansas, MAC C-130 Hercules deliver 500

tons of arms, ammunition, helicopters, and other war

materials worth $5 million to El Salvador. The operation

assists the Salvadorian government in its operations against

leftist guerrillas.

11 January: Boeing Company delivers the first two airlaunched cruise missiles to the 416th Bombardment Wing,

Griffiss AFB, for initial use in environmental testing and

maintenance training. Capable of delivering a nuclear

weapon to a target 1,500 miles away, the ALCM contains a

terrain-contour-matching feature allowing extremely low

altitude flight to avoid detection by enemy radar.

12 January: Terrorists destroy nine A-7D Corsair aircraft

assigned to the ANG 156th Tactical Fighter Group at Muniz

ANG Base, Puerto Rico.

18-25 January: Two MAC C-9 Nightingales transport 52

Americans held by Iran for 444 days to Rhein-Main AB.

After a four-day stay at the USAF hospital in Wiesbaden,

Germany, the former hostages return to the `United States

via a MAC VC-137.

23 January: Two helicopters from the 6594th Test Group

perform a pararescue-assisted hoist pickup of an injured

94
Greece, the 7206th Air Base Group at Hellenikon AB assists

relief efforts with emergency supplies and equipment.

12 March: The Aerospace Defense Command selects

Peterson AFB, Colorado, as the site for the backup facility to

the North American Aerospace Defense (NORAD) Command,

Cheyenne Mountain Complex. The facility will assume

command and control functions should the NORAD

Complex experience a failure during peacetime.

17 March: Douglas Aircraft Company delivers the first

KC-10A Extender tanker/cargo aircraft to SAC. Substantially

larger than the KC-135 tanker/cargo aircraft it supplements,

the Extender carries advanced equipment enabling it to refuel

awide variety of aircraft while delivering cargo overseas.

18 March: The arrival of 80 F-15 Eagles at the 18th Tactical

Fighter Wing completes the conversion of PACAF to the new

fighter-bomber. The 18th Tactical Fighter Wing transfers 79

F-4 Phantoms to other commands.

12-15 April: USAF space tracking and communications

systems operated by the Aerospace Defense Command and

the Air Force Communications Command support the space

shuttle's maiden flight .

14 June: Six F-15 Eagles from the 36th Tactical Fighter

Wing and one from the 32d Tactical Fighter Wing become

the first USAFE aircraft to participate in the TAC's Red Flag

exercise.

July: Heavy rains cause widespread flooding south of Osan

AB. USAF helicopters assigned to the 33d ARRS cooperate

with the Republic of Korea forces to rescue 118 people from

the rising waters.

95
aircraft. Built by Lockheed-California, this improved and

enlarged version of the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft can

conduct all-weather day and night operations at altitudes

exceeding 70,000 feet.

21 September: ARRS helicopters based at Clark AB

cooperate with the U.S. Navy and Philippine authorities to

rescue 18 of 97 crew members from the grounded Philippine

navy destroyer Datu Kalantiaw. This event increases the

total for individuals rescued by ARRS to 20,000 during 35

years of service.

1 October: Air Training Command begins a special program

at Mather AFB to train German weapon system officers for

duty in the second seat of the Tornado fighter-bomber, a twoseat, swing-wing aircraft similar to the F-111 fighter-bomber.

2 October: Reversing President Carter's decision to end the

B-1 Lancer program, President Ronald Reagan announces

that the Air Force will build and deploy 100 of these

aircraft. President Reagan also announces that the M-X

missile will initially be deployed in existing missile silos.

2 October: Deputy Secretary of Defense Frank P. Carlucci

orders the inactivation of the Titan II weapon system. This

decision ends several years of controversy surrounding the

viability and safety of the United States's largest ICBM.

14 October: The TAC deploys two E--3A Sentry AWACS

aircraft to Egypt to help ensure calm after the assassination

of Prime Minister Anwar Sadat.

21 October: The Euro-North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Joint Jet Pilot Training Program begins at Sheppard AFB.

Modeled after the undergraduate pilot training program

96
provide worldwide support of tactical air strike forces .

23 November: During the Bright Star '82 exercise, eight

B-52 bombers assigned to the strategic projection force

establish a record for the longest nonstop B-52 bombing

mission. Flying a distance of 15,000 miles with three midair

refuelings in 31 hours from air bases in North Dakota, the

bombers deliver their conventional munitions on a simulated

runway in Egypt.

31 December: Following the arrival of training models in

mid-September, the first operational F-16 assigned to

USAFE arrives at the 50th Tactical Fighter Wing, Hahn AB.

191;2

26 January: Maj Gen Michael Collins (USAF Reserve), one of

the three crew members on the Apollo XI mission to the

moon, flies his last mission as a reserve officer in an F-16

Fighting Falcon aircraft at Edwards AFB.

28 January: The first of 76 C-5 Galaxy aircraft to receive

new wings is delivered to Lockheed-Georgia. Modification of

these aircraft is expected to cost $1 .4 bilion .

24 February: The airborne early warning force at

Geilenkirchen NATO AB, Germany, receives its first of 18

authorized E-3A Sentry aircraft.

3 March: The initial flight of six A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft

arrives at Suwon AB, South Korea. The Republic of Korea

will build more than 50 facilities totaling over 700,000

square feet to support the A-10 beddown project, known as

Commando Vulcan.

97
g 

ssotat cudes a daeueg

of a B-52 Stratofortress aircraft.

14 June: The 313th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Hahn AB,

becomes the first F-16 Fighting Falcon operationally ready

squadron in USAFE.

21 June: SAC's tanker operations attain another level of

success with an aerial refueling 750 miles north of the South

Pole. While establishing the record for the southernmost

in-flight refueling, the KC-10A Extender transfers 67,400

pounds of aviation fuel during the rendezvous in support of

MAC resupply operations in Antarctica, the largest amount

ever.

1 July: USAFE activates the first of six ground-launched

cruise missile (GLOM) wings to be stationed in Europe, the

501st TMW, at RAF Greenham Common, United Kingdom.

2 July : SAC phases out its first Titan II missile, removing

from alert the missile assigned to Site 9 at the 570th

Strategic Missile Squadron, Davis-Monthan AFB.

6-13 July: A C-130 Hercules aircraft airlifts 113 tons of

sorghum and vegetable oil to refugees in Africa during the

Chadian civil war.

15 July: SAC launches its 1,500th missile from Vandenberg

AFB. The tests at Vandenberg date from 15 December 1958.

30 August: The F-5G (later, F-20) Tigershark makes its first

flight at Edwards AFB.

2 September: B-1B prototype no . 4 lands at Farnborough,

England. Its 11 .4-hour nonstop flight from Edwards AFB

marks the first landing of a B-1 aircraft at a site other than

Edwards AFB.

98
airlaunched cruise missile operational test.

23 September: Headquarters USAF activates Space

Command, later to be designated Air Force Space Command.

14-19 November: The 527th Tactical Fighter Training

Aggressor Squadron deploys three F-5 Tiger aircraft to

Eskisehir AB, Turkey, for its first dissimilar air combat

tactics training with the Turkish air force .

16 November: The space shuttle Columbia completes its

first operational flight (and fifth overall) when it lands on

runway 22 at Edwards AFB. With a crew of four, it becomes

the first spacecraft ever to ferry more than three people into

space.

16 December: The 416th Bombardment Wing at Griffiss

AFB places the first air-launched cruise missile on alert.

24-30 December: MAC airlifts 87 tons of supplies (tents,

blankets, medical supplies, and generators) to earthquake

victims in the Yemen Arab Republic. The earthquake struck

on 13 December.

l4)I;3

1 January: United States Central Command is activated at

MacDill AFB, Florida, as a unified command. This will be

Gen H. Norman Schwarzkopfs command in Desert Storm in

January 1991 .

February: A C-141 Starlifter transports 15 tons of communications equipment from the United States to Lagos, Nigeria, to

restore disrupted services when a fire destroys a telecommunications center .

99
deployed in Europe.

2 February: F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot training begins at

Luke AFB.

3 February: In an effort to modernize America's retaliatory

capability, SAC completes retrofitting 300 Minuteman III

ICBMs with new reentry systems.

1 March: MAC activates the Twenty-third Air Force at Scott

AFB, Illinois, to provide combat rescue, special operations,

weather reconnaissance, atmospheric sampling, security

support for missile sites, training of USAF helicopter and

HC-130 crewmen, and pararescue training.

1 March: The 1st Special Operations Wing is reassigned

from TAC to MAC. Hurlburt Field, Florida, is also reassigned

from TAC to MAC.

15-28 March: SAC successfully demonstrates three launches

of AGM-84 Harpoon missiles from B-52 Stratofortresses at

the Pacific Missile Test Range, Kwajalein Atoll. The command

is exploring its ability to perform sea interdiction missions.

1 April-1 May: USAF transfers 31 SAC units and four

installations to Space Command, which takes over missile

warning and space surveillance systems.

1-8 April : An American C-130 Hercules transport aircraft

airlifts at least 34 tons of shelters, medical supplies, electric

generators, and floodlights from Panama to victims of an

earthquake in southwestern Colombia.

5-10 April: Up to 20 inches of rain falls over southeastern

Louisiana, flooding the state penitentiary and 40,000 homes.

Four USAF C-141 Starlifter aircraft airlift 83 tons of tents,

cots, field kitchens, and other relief cargo.

100
jg

26 June-1 July: Three USAF C-130 Hercules aircraft transport

170 tons of food, medicine, and other relief supplies to the

victims ofaflood in northwestern Peru.

4 June: At Hill AFB F-105 Thunderchiefs stage a final flyby to

mark the phasing out of the last AFRES Thunderchief

squadron.

1 July: A provisional USAF support squadron is activated at

Riyadh AB, Saudi Arabia, as a war rages between Iran and

Iraq, posing a threat to nearby Saudi Arabia and its oil-rich

neighbors in the Persian Gulf.

24 July-6 August: Two USAF UH-1 helicopters transport

medical personnel and ten tons of food and medical

supplies to the victims of a flood in western Ecuador.

1 August: Six minutes after Air Force One lands at Andrews

AFB with President Ronald Reagan aboard, a microburst

with winds of 120 knots strikes the base, causing $465,000

worth of damage.

August: Three C-123 Providers of the 907th Tactical Airlift

Group spray insecticide over 11 Minnesota counties to

counter an encephalitis epidemic.

7 August: Aterrorist bomb, possibly planted by antinuclear

activists, explodes at the Officers Club at Hahn AB.

10 August: Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger

directs the Air Force to deploy 100 Peacekeeper missiles in

Minuteman silos.

15 August-15 September: Twelve C-141 Starlifter missions

transport 185 tons of cargo to Chad in Africa as part of a

security assistance program.

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flies 85 C-141 Starlifter, 24 C-5 Galaxy, and four C-130

Hercules missions to transport about 4,000 tons of supplies

from the United States to American marines in Lebanon.

5 September: A KC-135 Stratotanker crew led by Capt

Robert J. Goodman saves an F-4E Phantom and its crew

over the Pacific. The KC-135 refuels the F-4E four times

and tows it with a refueling boom. The crew receives the

Mackay Trophy for the most meritorious flight of the year.

28 September: The Air Force designates the new EF-111A

tactical electronic jamming aircraft as the Raven.

1 October: The last B-52D Stratofortresses are retired. This

is the aircraft that flew most of the Arc Light bombing

missions over Vietnam.

4-5 October: Four CH-3 helicopters of the 302d Special

Operations Squadron transport 57 residents of the

Maricopa area of Arizona to higher ground during a flood.

6 October: Three B-52G Stratofortress bombers are

modified to carry the AGM-84 Harpoon antiship missile .

23 October-9 December: After a terrorist bomb explodes at

the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, MAC and

AFRES cargo and aeromedical evacuation aircraft transport

239 dead and 95 wounded Americans to the United States

and Europe for burial and medical treatment.

25 October-2 November : In Operation Urgent Fury,

American military forces invade the Caribbean island of

Grenada to evacuate Americans threatened by a coup and

to restore political stability. During the deployment phase,

MAC and AFRES C-5 Galaxy, C-141 Starlifter, and C-130

Hercules aircraft fly 496 missions to transport 11,389

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passengers and 7,709 tons of cargo. SAC tankers and TAC

fighters, as well as ANG EC- 130Es, also support the

operation.

25 October-23 November 1984: During Urgent Fury, the

military operation to protect American citizens on Grenada,

Lt Col James L. Hobson Jr . leads a flight of MC-130

Hercules aircraft to successfully complete an airborne

assault on Point Salinas. After dropping paratroopers at the

exact planned time over target in a hail of 7 .62 mm and 23

mm antiaircraft fire, Colonel Hobson dives the aircraft to

100 feet (air ground level) and departs the area. For his

actions in assuming the assault lead from a disabled

aircraft, Colonel Hobson receives the Mackay Trophy.

27 October: B-52 Stratofortresses deploy to Spain for the

first time.

1-5 November: Four C-141 Starlifters and six C-130

Hercules transport 234 tons of tents, blankets, stoves, food,

and clothing to the victims of a 30 October earthquake in

northeastern Turkey.

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6 December: The National Transonic Tunnel, a wind tunnel

to test ultra-fast aircraft, is dedicated at Langley AFB.

23 December: The 390th Electronic Combat Squadron

attains initial operational capability as the first EF-111A

Raven unit.

1 1144

1 January: The Space Command assumes resource management of the GPS.

21 January: While conducting the first free-flight test of the

antisatellite missile from an F-15 Eagle carrier, the missile

deploys a dummy miniature-vehicle emulator.

28 January: The first F-16 Fighting Falcon is accepted by

the AFRES at Hill AFB.

31 January: The AGM-81A Firebolt target vehicle sets a world

speed and altitude record during its seventh development test

and evaluation flight : Mach 4.1 and 103,000 feet.

3 February: The first USAFE EF-111A Raven electronic

combat aircraft arrives at the 20th Tactical Fighter Wing,

RAF Upper Heyford, United Kingdom.

23 February: The first F-15C Eagle is received by the TAC.

The Eagle replaces the F-4 Phantom as the USAF's

air-superiority fighter.

24 February: MAC flies two C-141 Starlifter missions from

Larnaca, Cyprus, to Cherry Point, North Carolina, to

support the withdrawal of U.S. Marines from Lebanon, as

part of the multinational peacekeeping force.

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6 April : The first Learjet C-21A aircraft is accepted by the

375th Aeromedical Airlift Wing on a contractual basis. It is

the first of 80 Learjet aircraft delivered to the Air Force as

replacements for the aging CT-39 Sabreliner aircraft.

11 April: The 375th Aeromedical Airlift Wing accepts its first

contract Beech Aircraft Corporation C-12F. USAF will

procure 40 new C-12Fs to be used for operational support

airlift.

19 April : Ground-breaking ceremonies are held at Site III of

the phased array, sea-launched ballistic missile warning

system, Pave Paws, at Robins AFB.

16 May: MAC C-141 Starlifters deliver 22 tons of medical

supplies to Afghan refugees at Peshawar, Pakistan.

25 May: A MAC C-141 Starlifter transports the body of the

Unknown Soldier of the Vietnam War for interment at

Arlington National Cemetery.

15 June: A MAC C-130 Hercules flies 4.5 tons of pumps

and other equipment from Dyess AFB, Texas, to Kansas

City, Missouri, to assist flood-fighting efforts in critical

areas of northwest Missouri.

15 June: The first Peacekeeper with a Mark-21 test reentry

vehicle is flight-tested at Vandenberg AFB.

20 June: After completion of a two-year operational test and

evaluation program, Boeing transfers the first KC-135R

Stratotanker aircraft to SAC's 384th Air Refueling Wing. The

KC-135R, a KC-135A modified with CFM-56 engines,

off-loads more fuel and is cheaper to operate and is quieter

than the KC-135A.

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of continuous operation.

July: The first Harpoon (AGM-84) antiship missile is delivered

to the 69th Bombardment Squadron, 42d Bombardment

Wing, Loring AFB.

31 July: The 570th Strategic Missile Squadron, DavisMonthan AFB, is inactivated. Simultaneously, the 390th

Strategic Missile Wing, Davis-Monthan AFB, becomes the first

Titan II wing to be inactivated.

8 August: The first USAFE C-23 Sherpas enter USAF

service in the European distribution system.

7 August-2 October: MAC supports the deployment of U.S.

minesweeping assets to the Red Sea in response to Egyptian

and Saudi Arabian concerns over mysterious underwater

explosions that damaged ships.

19-20 August: Two C-141 Starlifters from the Twenty-second Air

Force evacuate 382 American military and civilian personnel

from Johnston Island in the face of Typhoon Kell . The atoll is

located 715 miles from Hawaii. Storm winds in excess of 115

mph rip over the island, and waves crest to over 40 feet.

28 August: A C-5 Galaxy arrives at Florennes AB, Belgium,

with the first shipment of support equipment for GLCMs.

29 August: The last USAFE OV-10 Broncos depart

Sembach AB, Germany, for George AFB after a decade of

operations in Europe.

2-3 September: Rescue units, including the 38th ARRS, log

148 saves in Korea during flood relief operations.

4 September: The first production Rockwell B-1B Lancer

bomber rolls out at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California .

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18-20 October: The Air Force Rescue Coordination Center

coordinates search and rescue missions, resulting in 47

saves during conditions of heavy snow, low temperatures,

and high winds in Colorado and New Mexico.

23-24 October: One H-3 Jolly Green Giant helicopter from

the 31st ARRS and a C-130 Hercules transport from the

374th Tactical Airlift Wing, Thirteenth Air Force, rescue

nine persons trapped by fire on the roof of the Pines Hotel,

Baguio, Republic of the Philippines, and transport 48 people

injured to Clark AB for treatment. Victims were attending

the 40th anniversary of Gen Douglas MacArthur's return to

the Philippines during World War II at Leyte.

25 October: F-4E Phantoms participate in USAFE's 86th

Tactical Fighter Wing's first joint, live-fire missile exercise with

the U.S. Navy at the Salto di Quirra, off the east coast of

Sardinia.

2 November: Fire erupts at McConnell AFB after liquid fuel

is unloaded from a Titan II missile. The incident jeopardizes

the Titan 11 deactivation schedule.

19 November: Two MAC C-141 Starlifters deliver six

motor vehicles and a quantity of small arms ammunition

to the U.S . Embassy at Bogota, Columbia, after drug

dealers threaten the safety of American personnel in that

country.

20 November: President Reagan approves formation of a

new unified command, the United States Space Command.

1 December: The C-5A Galaxy enters service with the

AFRES at Kelly AFB.

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and recover the remains of the deceased miners, who had

succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning or smoke inhalation .

22 December-8 March 1985: Eight C-141 Starlifters carry

over 212 tons of food, tents, water tanks, and medical

supplies from Italy to Kassala, Sudan. This American relief

effort is in response to the needs of 100,000 Ethiopian

refugees fleeing from famine in Niger and Mali in the Sahel

region of Africa .

1 J1;

January: Headquarters SAC and Ogden Air Logistics Center

determine that the 2 November 1984 fire at Launch

Complex 532-7, 381st Strategic Missile Wing, McConnell

AFB, was caused by a leakage preventable by procedural

changes. This finding enables Titan II deactivation to

proceed according to schedule.

1 January: Lt Col David E. Faught, a 97th Bombardment

Wing instructor pilot, prevents the loss of a KC-135

Stratotanker and saves the lives of seven fellow crewmen.

The aircraft's nose gear refuses to extend, and after 13

hours in the air attempting to fix the problem, Colonel

Faught lands the aircraft with only minor equipment

damage and no personal injuries . He receives the Mackay

Trophy for his actions.

4 January: Maj Patricia M. Young becomes the first woman

commander of an Air Force Space Command unitDetachment 1, 20th Missile Warning Squadron.

5 January: A MAC C-141 Starlifter transports a Sikorsky

S-70 helicopter to La Paz, Bolivia, to assist in the search for

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tarpaulins, plastic sheeting, and water trailers to Viti Levu

Island, Fiji, to supply relief for victims of Typhoon Eric . The

typhoon devastated Viti Levu, leaving 3,000 people

homeless.

28 January: Two H-3 Jolly Green Giant helicopters rescue

ten shipwrecked Korean fishermen. The survivors are

airlifted to Kunsan AB for medical treatment.

3 February: MAC C-141 Starlifters transport 500 tents

from Howard AB, Panama, to central Argentina after an

earthquake destroys the homes of nearly 12,000 people.
pp

Drug Enforcement Agency officials in confiscating 1,800

pounds of cocaine worth $320 million.

15 March: A MAC C-5 Galaxy delivers over 1,000 rolls of

plastic sheeting used to create protective shelters for victims

of an earthquake that ravaged coastal and interior regions

of central Chile on 3 February 1985.

25 March: The Secretary of the Air Force announces changes in

the combat-exclusion policy for women. Henceforth, women

can serve as forward air controllers, fly and crew various

models of the C-130 Hercules, and work in munitions storage

facilities .

5 April : Two C-141 Starlifters and one C-130 Hercules aircraft

from MAC transport 10.9 tons of fire-fighting equipment,

21,000 gallons of fire retardant, and 190 fire fighters to fight a

blaze covering over 7,000 acres in the mountains of western

North Carolina . Strong winds and drought conditions

accelerate the fire to cover more than six counties of the state.

5-20 April: MAC provides helicopter support for Operation

Bahamas and Turks, a joint United States-Commonwealth

of the Bahamas operation to intercept drugs destined for

the United States.

20 April: B-52 Stratofortress crews complete initial training

for Harpoon antiship missile operations.

29 April-17 May: USAFE units assigned at Spangdahlem AB

participate in Salty Demo, the first integrated basewide

effort to measure all facets of an air base's ability to survive

attacks and generate postattack sorties.

21 June-25 July: Three C-123K Provider aerial-spraycapable transports respond to the grasshopper infestation of

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30 June: AFSC conducts the final Peacekeeper test launch

from the above-ground launch pad at Vandenberg AFB.

1 July: The 7th Bombardment Wing, Carswell AFB,

becomes the first unit to receive air-launched cruise

missiles modified for use on B-52H Stratoforxess bombers.

1 July: AC-141 Starlifter from the 438th Military Airlift Wing

transports 39 passengers released from Trans World Airlines

flight 847, which was hijacked on 30 June by two Shiite

Moslems . Upon arrival at Rhein-Main AB from Damascus, the

survivors are greeted by Vice President George Bush.

2-10 July: C-141 Starlifters transport 285 fire fighters and 460

tons of flame retardant to help suppress forest fires in Idaho

and California. C-130 Hercules aircraft fly 200 sorties,

dropping fire retardant over an area exceeding 1 .5 million

acres.

7 July: The first operational B-1B Lancer is accepted by

SAC and the 96th Bombardment Wing at Dyess AFB.

15 July: Two 42d Bombardment Wing B-52 Stratofortresses

simulate Harpoon launches as part of United States Atlantic

Command's exercise Readex '85-2. This event marks the first

full operational test and evaluation of the Harpoon antiship

missile.

30 July: The U.S. Air Force Bomarc (CQM-10B) aerial

Target Drone Program ends.

12-15 August: A C-5A Galaxy from the 436th Military Airlift

Wing responds to a State Department request to assist over

2 million flood and famine victims in Western Sudan and

deliver 35 tons of equipment, including three helicopters.

11 1
13 September: The first antisatellite intercept test takes

place when an air-launched antisatellite weapon successfully destroys a resident space object, the Solwing scientific

satellite.

21-30 September: Airlift units fly 375 tons of cargo to

Mexico City following massive earthquakes.

11-12 October: A C-141 Starlifter of the 438th Military

Airlift Wing flies the 11 released American survivors from

the hijacked Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro from Cairo,

Egypt, to Newark, New Jersey.

15 October: The first flight of the T-46A Next Generation

Trainer occurs at Edwards AFB.

16 October: Two H-3 Jolly Green Giant helicopters,

supported by two refueling-capable HC-130 Hercules

aircraft, rescue 33 shipwrecked survivors of the Philippine

ship Marcos Faberes.

1 November: The Dutch approve deployment of USAFE

LLCMs at Woensdrecht, the Netherlands.

4 November: Air Force Rescue Coordination Center coordinates missions that save 47 lives during flood-relief operations

in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia.

15-18 November: USAF airlifts 50 tons of relief supplies to

Colombia after a volcano erupts.

6 December : SAC completes equipping its first fully

operational KC-10 Extender squadron with 19 aircraft at

Barksdale AFB, Louisiana.

12 December: MAC C-130 Hercules and C-141 Starlifters

perform 26 airlift missions to transport the remains of

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19116

8 January: MAC accepts delivery of its first C-5B Galaxy at

Altus AFB, Oklahoma.

8 January: The first overseas meteorological data system

circuit is accepted at Eielson AFB, Alaska. This event marks

the initial milestone in the replacement of obsolete weather

teletype systems with more modern equipment in Alaska,

Europe, and the Pacific.

28 January: The space shuttle Challenger and its sevenperson crew are lost in an explosion shortly after lift-off

from John F. Kennedy Space Center. NASA suspends the

U.S .-manned space program until the cause can be

identified and corrected.

18-22 February: The 129th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery

Group and the 41st ARRS employ four H-3 Jolly Green

Giant helicopters, two HH-53 helicopters, and three C-130

Hercules aircraft to assist flood victims of the Russian River

and Yuba River valleys of northern California . The airmen

rescue 33 flood victims and supply over 3,000 sandbags to

Army troops responding to the disaster site .

25-26 February: Following a disputed election in the

Republic of the Philippines, the 31st ARRS flies five H-3

Jolly Green Giant helicopters to the presidential palace in

Manila and evacuates President Ferdinand Marcos and 51

other persons from the palace to Clark AB. Subsequently,

U.S. aircraft fly Marcos and his family to Andersen AFB and

then to Hickarn AFB.

3 March: TAC's first OT-38 Talon replaces the Cessna O-2

aircraft at Shaw AFB, South Carolina.

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5 March: Capt Marc C. Felman and his KC-10 Extender

crew perform an emergency refueling in mid-Atlantic of

Marine A-4M aircraft during a Coronet East deployment, an

action for which they will receive the Mackay Trophy for the

most meritorious flight of 1986.

25 March: For the first time, an all-woman crew, assigned to

the 351st Strategic Missile Wing, Whiteman AFB, Missouri,

stands Minuteman missile alert.

5-6 April: Four C-141 Starlifters and one H-3 Jolly Green

Giant helicopter of the 63d Military Airlift Wing transport

large amounts of fire-suppressant foam and airlifts burn

victims from Osan AB after the explosion of a 700,000-

gallon tank of jet fuel. Burn victims are helicoptered from

Osan to Seoul for medical treatment.

14-15 April : The U.S. forces launch Operation Eldorado

Canyon, a retaliatory bombing raid in response to terrorist

activities supported by Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi.

Twenty-eight KC-10 Extenders and KC-135 Stratotankers

depart the RAF bases at Fairford and Mildenhall, England,

followed shortly by 24 F-111 Ravens from the British base

at Lakenheath, England. As the F-111 strike force is

bombing its Libyan targets, KC-10s refuel it six times, in

complete radio silence, before returning to England.

15 April: One of five rocket bombs launched from an oilbase

location lands inside the perimeter of Yokota AB. It causes

minor property damage but does not injure any base

personnel.

18 April: A Titan 34D space booster explodes shortly after

lift-off from Space Launch Complex Four at Vandenberg

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19 June: All USAF Rapier surface-to-air missile units in

Europe become operationally ready.

19-28 July: Twenty-four C-141 Starlifters and eight C-130

Hercules aircraft fly 32 missions during Operation Southern

Haylift, supplying 535.9 tons of donated hay (more than

19,000 bales) to drought-stricken farmers in seven

southeastern states . The operation helps save hundreds of

cattle and with them the livelihoods of a great many southern

livestock farmers.

27 July: A C-9 Nightingale flies Father Lawrence Jenco,

who was released as a hostage by Muslim extremists in

Lebanon, from Damascus to USAFE Medical Center at

Rhein-Main AB.

27-29 August: A C-130 Hercules from the 50th Tactical Airlift

Squadron airlifts 250 tents to villagers of northwestern

Cameroon, West Africa, when a cloud of carbon dioxide

bubbles up from the depths of Lake Nyos. Over 2,000

inhabitants of this volcanic region seek refuge at villages

located away from the lake.

1 September: The last Cessna O-2 aircraft of the TAC is

sent to storage at Davis-Monthan AFB.

5 September: A USAFE C-141 Starlifter flies Americans

injured in a hijacking attempt at Karachi Airport, Pakistan,

to Frankfurt, Germany, for medical attention at U.S .

military hospitals.

18-20 September: Two C-5 Galaxies of the 436th Military

Airlift Wing transport 93 tons of medical supplies and food to

Luzon, Republic of the Philippines, under the terms of the

Denton Amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1985.

11 5
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yp

devastates the island . The 54th Weather Reconnaissance

Squadron piggybacked their traditional Christmas "gift

drop" for Saipan's children with the relief supplies.

10 December: AHC-130 Hercules, along with a UH-60 Black

Hawk, a CH-3 Jolly Green Giant, and an MH-53 helicopter,

rescue 19 survivors aboard the Norwegian ship Geco Alpha, a

300-foot seismograph research vessel that has caught fire

about 30 miles from Destin, Florida. Survivors are transported

to Eglin AFB for medical evaluation and treatment.

18-20 December: Two H-3 Jolly Green Giant helicopters

from the 31st ARKS rescue 13 survivors of the Philippine

inter-island ship, the Asuncion Cinco, from the South China

Sea, about 95 miles southwest of Manila. Those rescued

receive medical treatment at Cubi Point AS, Republic of the

Philippines, for medical treatment.

22 December: The Peacekeeper ICBMs deployed in modified

Minuteman silos achieve initial operational capability when

the tenth Peacekeeper is placed on alert at Warren AFB.

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islands. In addition, U.S. humanitarian aircraft search the area

around Vanuata for shipwrecked survivors.

16 February: The Joint Military Medical Command activates at

San Antonio, Texas, and is staffed by both Air Force and Army

personnel.

5 May: SAC removes the last active Titan II missile from alert

duty at Little Rock AFB, Arkansas, ending the operational life

of the nation's largest ICBM.

6 May: The 43d Electronics Combat Squadron, 66th

Elec-tronic Combat Wing, from Sembach AB takes possession

of its first EC-130H Compass Call aircraft.

4 July-17 September: Detachment 15 of the Air Force Plant

Representative Office and the B-1B Special Project Office

establish world and national speed, distance, and payload

records in B-1B aircraft . They will receive the Mackay

Trophy for their achievements.

17 July: Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC) rolls out the

first enhanced MH-53J helicopter equipped with Pave Low

III, a night and adverse weather navigational. system, at

Pensacola Naval AS, Florida.

22 July-21 December: The Air Force provides tanker support

to Navy fighter aircraft during Operation Earnest Will over

the Persian Gulf. The naval aircraft protect Kuwaiti convoys

from Iranian attack during the war between Iran and Iraq.

31 August-9 September: Eight C-130 Hercules and a large

number of C-141 Starlifters fly 2,511 tons of fire retardant

and a contingent of fire fighters to the coastal areas of

Oregon and California to combat forest fires blazing across

970 square miles of forest, brush, and scrub land.

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sharpshooters to suppress Cuban detainee rioting at several

U.S . federal correction centers.

24 November: A B-1B Lancer bomber records the first

success of an air-launched cruise missile.

5 December: Six C-130 Hercules aircraft of the 374th

Tactical Airlift Wing move more than 34 tons of relief

supplies, including clothing and rice, to victims of Typhoon

Nina on the island of Luzon, Republic of the Philippines.

The wing also incorporates its annual toy "Christmas drop"

for the storm victims' children with the relief supplies.

8 December: The United States and the USSR sign the

Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. The treaty

pledges the two nations to remove Pershing II, GLCMs, and

SS-20 intermediate-range (620-3,415 statute miles) missiles

from Europe. The agreement will result in the inactivation of

six GLOM wings in Europe: the 303d TMW, RAF Molesworth,

United Kingdom; the 38th TMW, Wuescheim AS, Germany;

the 487th TMW, Comiso AS, Italy; the 485th TMW, Florennes

AB; the 486th TMW, Woensdrecht AB, the Netherlands; and

the 501st TMW, RAF Greenham Common, United Kingdom.

19111;

1 January: SAC changes Minuteman and Peacekeeper ICBM

crew assignment policy to permit mixed male/female crews in

Minuteman and Peacekeeper missile launch facilities .

Heretofore, SAC has segregated male and female crews .

20 January: The 100th and final B-1B Lancer bomber rolls off

the assembly line at Rockwell's aircraft plant in Palmdale,

California .

11 9
Marshall Islands to repair housing and restore electrical

power damage caused by Typhoon Roy.

17-18 March: USAF transport aircraft carry some 3,200 U.S.

soldiers to the Republic of Honduras to support Exercise

Golden Pheasant. The deployment is requested by the

Honduran government after Sandinista forces from Nicaragua

invade their country.

April : SAC tankers give extensive refueling support to U.S.

Navy aircraft attacking Iranian warships and offshore oil

platforms in the Persian Gulf.

April: Eight C-5 Galaxies and 22 C-141 Starlifters of MAC

transport 1,300 security specialists from the United States to

the Republic of Panama to counteract the political instability

that threatens the safety of several thousand U.S. citizens .

17 April-23 July: Capt Michael Eastman and his C-5 Galaxy

transport crew are the first U.S . airmen to land at

Semipalatinsk, Republic of Kazakhstan, USSR. They deliver

sensitive verification equipment for monitoring nuclear tests

under existing international agreements. Captain Eastman

receives the Mackay Trophy for successful execution of this

mission.

May: The 60th Military Airlift Wing transports 73 tons of relief

supplies by a C-5 Galaxy from Kadena AB to Islamabad,

Pakistan, to refugees fleeing the civil war in nearby

Afghanistan. USAF aircraft also fly Afghans requiring medical

attention from Pakistan to hospitals in Europe or the United

States .

2 June and 10-11 August: Fighting between rebels and

government forces in southern Sudan drives hundreds of

thousands of people seeking food and shelter to refugee

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camps. At the request of the Sudanese government, the

60th and 436th Military Airlift Wings fly humanitarian

missions . These units furnish more than 70 tons of plastic

sheeting for shelters, in addition to food and other supplies.

August : USAF MAC C-5 Galaxies airlift a 500-member

United Nations peacekeeping force from the United States to

Turkey and Iraq to monitor a cease-fire agreement between

these two countries.

1 August : The 177th Fighter Group retires the last three

F-106 Delta Darts from the active USAF inventory of on-line

aircraft. Two of the F-106s are "A" models and one is a "B"

model.

22 August-6 October: Thirteen separate fires burn in more

than half of Yellowstone National Park's 2.2 million acres

over portions of Wyoming and Montana. Active and Reserve

MAC aircraft transport more than 4,000 firefighters and

nearly 2,500 tons of fire-fighting equipment to the scene of

the disaster. Aircraft are fitted with Forest Service modular

airborne fire-fighting equipment that sprays fire retardant

chemicals at low altitudes.

25-31 August: A civil war in Somalia results in large-scale

requirements for medical treatment of people fleeing to

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location.

September: USAF E-3A Sentry AWACS aircraft and fighter

escorts fly sorties over the South Korean Olympic Games in

Seoul to deter North Korean aggression.

10-15 September: The 60th, 62d, 63d, and 436th Military

Airlift Wings fly at least 100 tons of relief supplies and a

field hospital to the victims of a flood in Bangladesh. The

flood inundates three-fourths of the country and almost all

of the capital city of Dhaka, killing 1,200 people and making

28 million inhabitants homeless .

29 September: The long stand-down of the U.S. manned

space program in the wake of the Challenger tragedy of 28

January 1986 ends with the launch of the space shuttle

Discovery.

25 October: The 31st ARRS uses two HH-3 Jolly Green

Giant helicopters to rescue 27 stranded residents following

a flood caused by Typhoon Ruby at Marikina, Republic of

the Philippines, near Manila. The four-flight mission takes

eight airborne hours to accomplish this effort .

9 November: In response to a State Department request, a

C-5 Galaxy of the 709th Military Airlift Squadron transports

a mobile dental clinic and two ambulances to Niamey,

Niger, on a humanitarian mission.

10 November: USAF reveals the F-117A Stealth fighter to

the public for the first time. Manufactured by Lockheed,

using radar-absorbent materials and a radical new design,

the F-1 17A can evade radar detection.

16-30 November: After a destructive influx of locusts, the

60th, 63d, 437th, and 438th Militaryv Airlift Wings fly 442

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Airlift Squadron of an ambulance to Douala, capital of

Cameroon, and 31 pallets of medical equipment to

N'Djamena, capital of Chad-70 tons in all for both countries.

9 December: The United States offers disaster relief to the

Soviet government, which Mikhail Gorbachev accepts . Over

an eight-week period, MAC units transport more than 311

tons of relief cargo to victims of an earthquake in Yerevan,

Armenia, the USSR. This operation sets a precedent

because previously the USSR had prohibited direct U.S.

flights to its cities without Soviet personnel aboard as

observers.

12 December: The 33d ARKS saves 11 passengers afloat in a

life raft from the sunken ship, Selina, in the Pacific Ocean

between the Philippines and Japan. The survivors receive

transport to Clark AB for examination and treatment.

Late December: A C-141 Starlifter of the Twenty-first Air

Force flies from the eastern United States to Nairobi, Kenya,

carrying six tons of parachutes to be used as tents by

homeless refugees in southern Sudan.

1491149

7-20 January: Two C-130 Hercules of the 167th Tactical

Airlift Group fly U.S. medical personnel and supplies to

Liberia in support of Medfly '89, a joint-service humanitarian

effort to train medical personnel, inoculate Liberians against

disease, and treat their ailments .

Early February: Two C-141 Starlifters of the 63d Military

Airlift Wing provide 20 tons of insecticide to Dakar, Senegal,

to combat locust swarms.

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Malabo, Equatorial Guinea; and N'Djamena, Chad, as an

act of humanitarian relief for the destitute population .

17 April: Lockheed delivers the 50th and last C-5B Galaxy

transport to the U.S. Air Force .

9-11 June: MAC units fly four tons of medical supplies and a

U.S. burn specialist to alleviate the suffering of victims of a

rail disaster at Ufa on the Trans-Siberian Railroad about 750

miles southeast of Moscow. As a pair of trains carrying some

1,200 passengers pass each other, a liquid-gas pipeline

explodes and causes one of the trains to derail and crash into

the other. Approximately 850 passengers are either killed or

injured, making it the worst rail disaster in history.
6 July: 

p

Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, to Gen James

H. Doolittle, USAF, retired, at the White House. General

Doolittle led the famous World War II raid on Tokyo.

Late July-7 August: A raging fire spreads through

thousands of acres of forest in southwestern Idaho near

Boise, in eastern Oregon, and in eastern California near

Van Nuys. MAC aircraft transport nearly 1,000 firefighters

and 850 tons of fire-fighting equipment and medical

supplies to the scene. Other USAF aircraft spray 3,350 tons

of chemical fire retardant on the conflagration from low

altitude .

16-25 August: PACAF hosts the first Pacific Air Chiefs

Conference attended by representatives from Australia,

Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei.

The conference promotes regional cooperation and security

by enhancing each nation's air power.

19 September: One hundred twenty-eight aircraft of MAC

and the Eighth Air Force provide relief to victims of

Hurricane Hugo. Winds of 125 mph along with torrential

rains and high seas destroy the homes of tens of thousands

of inhabitants of the Lesser Antilles and South Carolina. A

critical absence or shortage of food, water, and electricity

brings about the transportation of some 2,000 people and

4,330 tons of supplies.

1 October: Gen Hansford T. Johnson, USAF, becomes the

first Air Force Academy graduate to become a four-star

general.

3 October: USAF receives the last of 37 Lockheed U-2R

high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft.

125
cargo, including two fully assembled Bell UH-IN helicopters.

This is the first time an aircraft so large has landed on the

ice continent. The crew of the 60th Military Airlift Wing at

Travis AFB carries out the mission.

17 October: Units of MAC respond to a devastating

earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale in the San

Francisco Bay, California, area . They deliver more than

250 tons of relief equipment and transport some 100

passengers.

14 December: For the first time, MAC allows women to serve

as crew members on C-130 and C-141 airdrop missions .

This marks the entry of women into combat crew roles.

20 December: Operation Just Cause witnesses the use of

the Lockheed F-1 17A Stealth fighter-bomber in combat

operations for the first time . Two Stealth fighters of the 37th

Tactical Fighter Wing release their 2,000-pound

laser-guided bombs in the vicinity of the Panama Defense

Forces's barracks located on the Rio Hato military

reservation .

20 December: An AC-130H aircrew of the Air Force Special

Operations Command accurately attacks the Panamanian

Defense Forces headquarters compound, the most heavily

defended target of the Just Cause operation. Subsequently,

U.S. forces are able to occupy key strategic military

positions in Panama.

20 December : In Operation Just Cause, MAC units

transport 9,500 airborne troops from Pope AFB to Panama

in less than 36 hours, making it the largest night-combat

airdrop since the Normandy invasion of 1944 .

126
pp

are the 114th and 180th Tactical Fighter Groups, the 193d

Special Operations Group, and the 105th, 136th, 139th,

146th, 166th, and 172d Tactical Airlift Groups.

29-31 December: Two C-130 Hercules of the 435th Tactical

Airlift Wing and the 37th Tactical Airlift Squadron transport

31 tons of medical supplies to Bucharest, Romania, for

treatment of civilians wounded in a violent anticommunist

revolution. The fighting subsides with the victory of the

anticommunist rebels and the subsequent execution of

President Nicolas Ceaucescu.

19JO

31 January: After more than 11 years, the ANC's rotational

deployments to defend the Panama Canal, known as

Operation Coronet Cove closes . The ANG flew more than

13,000 sorties, totaling 16,959 hours, since the operation

began in 1979.

February : Units of the 436th Military Airlift Wing and the

463d Tactical Airlift Wing make flights to Monrovia, Liberia,

providing assistance for hundreds of people displaced by a

civil war. The airlifters transport 30 tons of relief supplies.

February-March : Aircraft of the 60th and 63d Military Airlift

Wings deliver 410 tons of relief supplies and 149 construction workers from nearby islands to Western and

American Samoa to assist residents' recovery from the

ravages of Typhoon Ofa.

23 February-6 March: Units of the 435th Tactical Airlift Wing

fly 11 tons of medical equipment and relief supplies, as well

127
y

June: Secretary of the Air Force Donald B. Rice releases

Global Reach-Global Power, a transitional strategic

planning framework for the Air Force following the Cold

War.

Late June-Early July: The Painted Cave fire begins in the

forest north of Santa Barbara, California. It eventually

burns 4,900 acres and destroys 450 homes. At least ten

C-130 Hercules, flown by crews from MAC units, deliver

fire-suppressant chemicals, fire fighters, and fire-fighting

equipment to the disaster area. The aircraft also sprays the

fire from the air.

12 July: The U.S. Air Force accepts delivery of the last of 59

Lockheed F-117A Stealth fighter-bombers.

17 July-1 August: An earthquake measuring 7.7 on the

Richter scale strikes Baguio, in the Philippines, only 45

miles from Clark AB. The 60th, 62d, and 438th Military

Airlift Wings, as well as the 374th Tactical Airlift Wing,

deliver 582 tons of relief supplies and transport 2,475

passengers to the disaster area to assist the injured and the

homeless.

24 July: Following the end of the Cold War, nearly 30 years

of continuous airborne command-post operations and over

250 million hours of accident-free flying cease when the

SAC commander in chiefs EC-135C Looking Glass lands.

Looking Glass aircraft are airborne nuclear, command and

control posts.

August-December: Air Force Space Command (AFSPACECOM)

establishes the first space system infrastructure to directly

support a military conflict. Created to assist allied forces in

128
and build up allied military strength for the liberation of

Kuwait should diplomacy fail to dislodge the Iraqi army.

7 August: In response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, 24

F-15C Eagles of the TAC's 71st Tactical Fighter Squadron

make a 15-hour, 8,000-mile nonstop flight from Langley

AFB to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, with 12 in-flight refuelings .

8 August: The first USAF transport, a C-141 Starlifter, to fly

into the Gulf crisis zone lands in Dhahran. The crew are the

first USAF reservists to arrive in Saudi Arabia.

9 August: The Alaskan Air Command is redesignated as the

Eleventh Air Force and assigned to PACAF.

17 August: President Bush activates the Civil Reserve Air

Fleet for the first time since it was authorized in 1952. The

activation increases airlift availability for the Middle East.

20 August: More than 15,300 USAF reservists, approximately 22 percent of the total USAF Reserve force, volunteer

to serve in Operation Desert Shield.

22 August: By this date, Reserve volunteers of Operation

Desert Shield log more than 4,300 flying hours, transport 7

million tons of cargo, and provide travel for 8,150 persons.

23 August: The 89th Military Airlift Wing receives the first of

two Boeing VC-25A presidential transport aircraft at Andrews

AFB. The VC-25A is a modified 747-200B commercial

transport that replaces the VC-137C Air Force One.

23 August: Secretary of Defense Richard B. Cheney grants

the Air Force authority to call up reservists for active duty

in the Gulf crisis . Eventually the USAF calls more than

20,000 Air Force reservists to active duty.

129
Flying Tigers, by issuing a 40-cent stamp that features his

portrait.

8 September: Marcelite Jordan Harris becomes the first black

woman to hold the grade of brigadier general in the U.S. Air

Force. A specialist in aircraft maintenance, General Harris

becomes Air Training Command's director of technical

training .

17 September: Secretary Cheney removes Gen Michael J.

Dugan as Air Force chief of staff for unauthorized comments

to the media in SaudiArabia during Operation Desert Shield .

18-28 September: The 436th and 438th Military Airlift Wings

transport 107 pallets of tents, cots, and blankets, as well as

360 passengers, to Jordan for the relief of some 100,000

foreign workers from Kuwait. More than 600,000 individuals

eventually flee to Jordan after the invasion by Iraq.

1-2 December: Two MH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters of the

38th Air Rescue Squadron at Osan AB rescue 22

shipwrecked sailors from a grounded Panamanian vessel

located approximately six miles west of Kunsan AB.

29 December: The 169th Tactical Fighter Group is the first

ANG unit to deploy to the Persian Gulf region for Operation

Desert Shield .

l *9J1

1991 : Air Force Chief of Staff Gen Merrill A. McPeak

designates the year 1991 as the "Year of Organization."

Restructuring the Air Force to accommodate post-Cold War

force reductions, he decreases the number of units,

130
eliminates divisions, and introduces the "one base, one

wing, one boss" concept.

17 January: The Gulf War begins at 0300 hours with

coalition air attacks against Iraqi targets; Operation Desert

Shield becomes Operation Desert Storm. During the first 14

hours of the new operation, coalition aircraft fly more than

1,200 combat sorties against targets in Iraq and Kuwait.

17 January: B-52G Stratofortress crews from the 2d Bomb

Wing of the Eighth Air Force, SAC, fly from Barksdale AFB

to the Iraqi combat zone, launch 35 cruise missiles against

targets in Iraq, and return to Barksdale. This event marks

the longest bombing mission in history.

17 January: Constituting less than 2.5 percent of all coalition

aircraft, F-117A Stealth fighter-bomber crews attack more

than 31 percent of Iraqi strategic targets during the first day

of the Gulf War.

17 January: C-130s begin airlifting elements of the Army

XVIII Airborne Corps from eastern Saudi Arabia to Raffia,

on the Saudi-Iraqi border. Flying more than 300 sorties a

13 1
Iraq. A-10 Thunderbolt Its of the Reserve 706th Tactical

Fighter Squadron fly more than 1,000 combat sorties

against enemy targets . Even though some aircraft sustain

combat damage, no Reserve aircraft is lost and no reservist

is killed in combat operations during the Gulf War.

18 January: USAF aircraft based at Incirlik, Turkey, begin

flying strike missions against targets in northern Iraq to

prevent reinforcement of enemy forces in Kuwait.

21 January: Capt Paul T. Johnson in his A-10 Thunderbolt

11 aircraft locates a U.S. Navy fighter pilot who had ejected
y

on the refinery at Al Ahmadi, Kuwait, which closes oil

manifolds opened by Iraqi forces . Their attack stops the flow

of crude oil into the Persian Gulf.

27 January : Coalition aircraft attain air supremacy in the

Gulf War after ten days of aerial combat.

6 February : Reserve Capt Robert R. Swain of the 706th

Tactical Fighter Squadron scores the first-ever A-10

Warthog air-to-air kill by shooting down an Iraqi helicopter .

13 February: F-117 Stealth fighter-bombers bomb a

communications center, the Al Firdas bunker, in downtown

Baghdad, unaware of its function as a civilian shelter.

Several hundred civilians are casualties . As a consequence,

coalition air authorities control combat missions in the

capital city more tightly.

21 February: At the request of the U.S. State Department, a

C-141 Starlifter of the 438th Military Airlift Wing flies 55

tons of relief supplies to Freetown, Sierra Leone, to alleviate

economic hardship .

24 February: Ground offensive against Iraq begins . Within

100 hours, coalition ground forces, coupled with continued

air attacks, totally overwhelm the Iraqi ground troops.

Between 24 and 28 February, USAF flies 3,000 combat

(reconnaissance, close air support, interdiction) sorties.

25 February: USAF F-16 Fighting Falcons attack Iraqi forces

surrounding a nine-man Army Special Forces team. The

attack permits Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters to

rescue the team.

28 February : The Gulf War ends at 0800 hours with a

coalition-declared cease-fire. Overall, during the entire Gulf

133
days of aroundtheclock operations, USAF flew 59

percent of the nearly 110,000 combat sorties. U.S. aerial

strength of approximately 1,990 aircraft comprised 75

percent of total coalition air power.

28 February: During the execution of Desert Shield/Desert

Storm, AFSPACECOM's satellite systems relay 85 percent of

the theater's communications; provide meteorological data

critical to weapon selection and attack plans; detect all

short-range ballistic missile launches and relayed data to

Army antimissile batteries; and assist the navigation of

ground forces maneuvering in desert terrain.

March: MAC C-5 Galaxies transport relief supplies to Kuwait

following the seven-month occupation and destruction by

Iraqi forces .

March-July: Forty-two C-5 Galaxies and three C-141 Starlifters

of the 60th and 436th Military Airlift Wings transport more

than 1,000 tons of fire-fighting equipment and some 100

firefighters to the Kuwait City area to extinguish more than

500 oil well fires set by the retreating Iraqi forces .

1 March-31 December: MAC C-5s transport 150 tons of relief

supplies to Bucharest, Romania, to assist the government in

overcoming a critical economic situation and restoring

stability in the face ofviolent street demonstrations .

8 March: The first Martin Marietta Titan IV propelled by a

heavy-lift space booster is launched from Vandenberg AFB.

Augmenting the space shuttle, the Titan IV has two

upper-stage options that enable it to carry several critical

military payloads.

Early April : Two 436th Military Airlift Wing C-5 Galaxies

carry 200 tons of medical supplies to Lima, Peru, after the

134
outbreak of a cholera epidemic that afflicted nearly 150,000

people and killed more than 1,000.

5 April-15 July: More than a million Kurds flee Iraq under

pressure from Saddam Hussein's forces . To alleviate the

Kurdish distress, MAC units fly 7,000 tons of relief supplies

to northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, and western Iran.

12 April: F-15 Eagle alert crews from a forward operating

base at Galena Airport, Alaska, make their first interception

of a Soviet AN-74 Coaler aircraft.

18 April: USAF completes the first successful flight test of

the Martin Marietta/Boeing ICBM (small version) . The flight

trajectory was 4,000 miles from Vandenberg AFB to the

Pacific Island target area at the Kwajalein Missile Range.

10 May-13 June: A tropical cyclone bearing winds of 150

mph strikes the coast of Bangladesh and creates 20-foot

tidal waves. Units of the Military Airlift Command and

Special Operations transport more than 3,000 tons of relief

supplies (including helicopters) and 510 passengers to

Dhaka, Bangladesh .

135
of food, farm equipment, and medical supplies.

8 June-2 July: The eruption, more than 100,000 feet high, of

Mount Pinatubo on the island of Luzon, the Philippines, covers

Clark AB and two other U.S. military bases with two feet of

volcanic ash. USAF evacuates more than 15,000 military

personnel and civilian workers and their families, and provides

during Operation Fiery Vigil more than 2,000 tons of humanitarian cargo for the thousands of Filipinos who are homeless,

require medical attention, and lack food and clothing.

25 June: Due to drought-induced food shortages in Kenya,

the 60th Military Airlift Wing delivers 80 tons of food rations

to Nairobi.

July-August: MAC units transport 170 tons of food to

Tirana, Albania, to offset shortages when the communist

government collapses at the end of the Cold War. This is the

first time since 1946 that the Albanian government allows

U.S. personnel into the country.

7 July: After a drought and the accompanying food shortage

aggravated by civil war, the 436th Military Airlift Wing

delivers a 70-ton cargo of food and miscellaneous relief

supplies to N'Djamena, Chad.

22 July: The 730th Military Airlift Squadron of the 445th

Military Airlift Wing delivers nearly 20 tons of medical

supplies to Ulan Bator, Mongolia, to overcome critical

shortages. This is the first humanitarian mission flown to

Mongolia by the U.S. Air Force.

6-9 August: MAC units transport 75 tons of blankets and

medical supplies to Shanghai, China, where floods in

central and eastern China have caused more than 1,000

fatalities and have left hundreds of thousands homeless.

136
operate from the same small, austere airfields as does the

C-130 Hercules transport.

15 September: The first prototype of the T-1 Jayhawk flies at

Edwards AFB. Similar to the Beechjet 400A corporate

transport, the Jayhawk is intended for specialized

undergraduate pilot training .

27 September: President Bush orders termination of SAC's

alert, initiated in October 1957. The next day the alert forces

cease operations, heralding the successful conclusion of the

Cold War.

27 September-3 October : A mutiny of soldiers joined by

rebellious civilians in Kinshasa, Zaire, endangers the lives
g

pp

of medical supplies and eight ambulances to Ulan Bator.

The collapse of the Soviet Union has severed Outer

Mongolia from its traditional source of medical supplies.

23 October: Military airlift units transport 146 tons of

medical supplies and relief cargo to Kiev, the Ukraine, to

relieve stresses to the economy and the public health

system associated with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

November: The MAC performs its 100th humanitarian

mission. It is in relief of Afghan refugees fleeing to Pakistan.

From early March 1986, MAC has transported 1,000 tons of

relief cargo, utilizing C-5 Galaxies and C-141 Starlifters.

1 November: After the crash of a Canadian C-130 Hercules in

Greenland, a Twenty-second Air Force C-5 Galaxy from

Elmendorf AFB loaded with a 36-member search and rescue

team from the Alaskan ANG, and two MH-60G Pave Hawk

helicopters fly to Thule, Greenland. The American airmen

locate the crash scene some 300 miles from the North Pole

and rescue 13 survivors.

14 November: A C-5 Galaxy of the 436th Military Airlift

Wing carries 50 tons of medical and relief supplies to

Freetown, Sierra Leone, to alleviate the economic hardships

and deprivations of the populace.

26 November: The lowering of the American flag at Clark AB

signals the closing of the largest overseas U.S . Air Force

base in the world as well as the end of more than 90 years

of U.S. presence there.

6 December: Tropical Cyclone Zelda batters the Marshall

Islands with high winds, heavy rain, and rough seas . The

834th Airlift Division responds with six C-130 Hercules

138
economic disintegration of the Soviet Union.

21 December: The Rockwell AC-130U Spectre gunship flies

for the first time. The new-generation gunship combines

increased firepower, reliability, and accuracy with the latest

target-location technology .

1 9t>

17 January: In a move to modernize its fleet of training

aircraft, the Air Force accepts the first production model

T-lA Jayhawk.

20-25 January: In response to a State Department request, a

60th Airlift Wing C-5 Galaxy airlifts 36 pallets of medical

supplies weighing 56 tons from Japan to Mongolia, where

health care resources are insufficient .

30 January: AFSPACECOM assumes control of Defense

Department satellites and the operation and management of

the Air Force Satellite Control Network.

6 February: Four C-130 Hercules aircraft of the 435th

Tactical Airlift Wing transport food and medical supplies

from American air bases in Germany to Lithuania, which

in late 1991 had secured independence from the Soviet

Union.

10-26 February : Provide Hope I, a humanitarian airlift

operation, delivers thousands of tons of food and medical

supplies to the Commonwealth of Independent States,

former republics of the recently dissolved USSR. USAF flies

65 C-5 Galaxy and C-141 Starlifter missions in support of

the operation.

139
since World War II .

15 March-18 April: USAF C-5 Galaxy and C-130 Hercules

aircraft transport more than 165 tons of food, medical

supplies, clothing, blankets, and other cargo to eastern

Turkey for the relief of earthquake victims.

19 March : Two USAF F-15 Eagles intercept two Russian

Tu-95 Bear bombers off the Alaskan coastthe first such

sighting since the breakup of the Soviet Union.

24 March: The last USAF fighter aircraft to be stationed in

Spain departs, ending a 26-year span of service in that

country.

24 March: The U.S. joins 24 other nations in signing the

Open Skies Treaty, which allows unarmed aerial

reconnaissance flights over any signatory nation.

April : After an outbreak of oil fires, five USAF C-141

Starlifter aircraft deliver tons of fire-fighting equipment to

Uzbekistan, a former Soviet republic.

1 April: A 437th Airlift Wing C-141 Starlifter drops 115

barrels of aviation fuel to a floating U.S.-Russian ice station

in Antarctica to be used in its scientific research

helicopters.

7 April: The United States recognizes the independence of

Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and Slovenia, which declare

independence from Serb-dominated Yugoslavia. Serb

rebellions in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina precipitate a

protracted civil war.

18 April: USAF C-141 Starlifter cargo aircraft begin airlifting

humanitarian relief supplies, such as food, medicine, and

blankets, to Sarajevo, capital of the new republic of

140
yp

g

transport troops, police, and their equipment to southern

California.

3-4 May: Following a military coup in west Africa, a USAF

C-141 Starlifter and a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft

airlift 350 endangered foreign nationals, including

Americans, from Sierra Leone.

7-8 May: The Command Band of the AFRES marches in a

parade in Moscow, becoming the first U.S . military band to

visit the Russian capital.

Mid-1992 : The last EC-135 aircraft ceases Looking Glass

operations.

1 June : In a major reorganization, the U.S . Air Force

inactivates SAC, TAC, and MAC. It also activates Air

Combat Command (ACC) and Air Mobility Command (AMC),

comprising most of the resources of the inactivated

commands.

1 June : DOD activates a new unified command, the United

States Strategic Command, composed of Air Force and Navy

elements. The last commander of SAC, Gen George L.

Butler, becomes the first commander of the United States

Strategic Command.

30 June: AMC completes the withdrawal of U.S. stockpiles

overseas of nuclear artillery shells, Lance missile warheads,

and naval depth charges in support of President George

Bush's Nuclear Forces Initiative .

1 July: Continuing reorganization, the Air Force inactivates

AFLC and AFSC, replacing them with the Air Force Materiel

Command (AFMC) .

14 1
as a show of force to Iraq.

12 August-7 October: USAF C-130s fly missions in support of

Operation Provide Transition in Angola. In preparation for

Angola's first democratic elections, the aircraft transport

demobilized soldiers to their homes after 16 years of civil war.

18 August: Operation Southern Watch, which forbids Iraqi

flights south of 32 degrees north latitude, begins.

21 August-28 February 1993: After drought and civil war

produce mass starvation in Somalia and forces thousands

of people to enter refugee camps, USAF aircraft fly more

than 3,000 missions transporting over 23,000 tons of food,

water, medicine, and other relief supplies. This is called

Operation Provide Relief.

25 August-28 October: After Hurricane Andrew hits southern

Florida with sustained winds of 140 mph, humanitarian

airlift flights transport 13,500 relief workers and more

than 21,000 tons of relief supplies on 724 missions .

Catastrophic hurricane damage forces Homestead AFB to

close permanently.

31 August-Early September: AUSAF C-141 airlifts 70 children

suffering from cancer in the wake of the Chernobyl nuclear

plant accident in the former USSR from Minsk, Byelorussia,

to Brussels, Belgium, for specialized medical treatment.

1-25 September: After Typhoon Omar hits Guam with

150-mph winds and 16-inch rains, USAF transports 750

relief workers and almost 2,000 tons of supplies to the

western Pacific island.

12 September-18 October: Following Typhoon Iniki, which

devastates Kauai in the Hawaiian archipelago with 130-mph

142
p

evacuate 96 Americans from Liberia because of a civil war

there.

25 October: A USAF C-141 Starlifter evacuates Americans

and other foreign nationals from Tajikistan because of civil

disturbances in the former Soviet republic.

4-11 November: Five USAF aircraft, four C-5 Galaxies, and

one C-141 Starlifter transport 236 tons of flour from the

United States to Armenia to relieve food shortages after the

collapse of the Soviet Union and its centralized economy.

30 November: Two 62d Airlift Wing C-141s collide in midair

and crash in Montana during a nighttime air refueling

mission.

6-20 December: After a flood in Pakistan, six USAF C-5

Galaxy missions airlift 415 tons of engineering vehicles and

equipment to Islamabad.

9 December-3 May 1993: Operation Restore Hope supports

United Nations peacekeeping efforts in Somalia. AMC flies

more than 1,000 airlift missions, carrying more than 50,000

passengers and 40,000 short tons of cargo . AFRES crews fly

190 sorties, carrying 1,076 passengers and more than

1,500 tons of cargo.

15 December: England AFB; Eaker AFB, Arkansas; and

George AFB close.

16 December: On a night flight, a 668th Bomb Squadron

B-52 loses two engines when one explodes and damages its

neighbor. At about the same time, two more engines on the

same side of the aircraft flame out. Frantically maneuvering

with all four engines on the left side of the aircraft shut

down, the crew is able to restart the two flamed-out engines

143
3 January: Presidents George Bush of the United States and

Boris Yeltsin of Russia sign the second Strategic Arms

Reduction Treaty (START II), the most far-reaching nuclear

arms reduction pact in history. The agreement calls for the

United States and Russia to eliminate all ICBMs carrying

multiple, independently targetable reentry vehicles and

reduce the number of nuclear weapons carried by their

bombers.

13 January: AMC begins airlifting forces to southwest Asia in

support of Southern Watch II to enforce a no-fly zone in

southern Iraq near the borders of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

13 January: President Bush orders punitive air strikes

against 32 Iraqi missile sites and air defense command

centers after an Iraqi troop foray across the newly demarcated

border with Kuwait and active Iraqi surface-to-air missile

sites are discovered south of the 32 degrees north latitude.

13 January: USAF Maj Susan Helms, a member of the space

shuttle Endeavour crew, becomes the first U.S . military

woman in space.

17 January: A USAF F-16 Fighting Falcon shoots down an

Iraqi MiG over northern Iraq.

18 January : In response to being fired on, Provide Comfort

F-4G Phantom Its attack surface-to-air missile sites in

northern Iraq. F-16 Fighting Falcons bomb an Iraqi airfield

after being shot at by antiaircraft artillery batteries.

18 January: The United States, the United Kingdom, France,

Canada, Germany, and other nations airlifting relief

supplies to Sarajevo, Bosnia, establish ajoint air operations

cell in Zagreb, Croatia.

144
after their ship had broken down in the mid-Pacific .

19 February: The 64th Flying Training Wing launches the

first student sortie in the new T-lA Jayhawk trainer

aircraft .

28 February : The 435th Airlift Wing begins the first Provide

Promise airdrop missions over parts of eastern Bosnia, a

haven for refugees who had fled their villages in the face of

advancing Serb forces .

13-14 March: After a gigantic blizzard called the storm of the

century swept over a third of the United States from the

Gulf of Mexico to New England, Air Force helicopters of the

301st Rescue Squadron rescue 93 flood victims in Florida.

31 March : The United Nations Security Council authorizes a

NATO-enforced no-fly zone over Bosnia to discourage the

use of warplanes in the Bosnian civil war. Operation Deny

Flight will begin on 5 April.

31 March: Myrtle Beach AFB, South Carolina, closes, and

flying operations cease at MacDill AFB.

April : USAF units in Alaska participate in the first joint

exercise with the Russian air force, a search and rescue

exercise in Siberia.

28 April : Secretary of Defense Les Aspin announces a new

policy that women will be allowed to serve in combat roles,

which permits women USAF pilots to fly combat aircraft.

17-29 May: Twenty-four C-5 Galaxy and C-141 Starlifter

missions transport United Nations troops and equipment to

Cambodia to oversee that country's first free elections since

1970 .

145
740th Missile Squadron at Minot AFB. She is the first

woman commander of a combat missile squadron.

29 June: The OC-135B Open Skies reconnaissance aircraft

is successfully tested at Wright-Patterson AFB. It will be

used under an international treaty that allows surveillance

over other treaty nations.

30 June: Wurtsmith AFB closes after being an active military

installation since 1924.

1 July: Air Training Command is redesignated the Air

Education and Training Command (AETC), to which Air University, now ceasing to be a major command, is assigned.

AETC activates the 392d Space and Missile Training

Squadron at Vandenberg AFB, combining missile and space

training that had been conducted by ACC and Air Training

Command squadrons at separate bases.

1 July: The Twentieth Air Force, which is responsible for

day-to-day operation of the nation's ICBM force, transfers

from ACC to Air Force Space Command.

1 July: The ACC transfers Vandenberg AFB to AFSPACECOM,

which activates the Fourteenth Air Force to perform missile

warning, space surveillance, and launch and satellite

control.

5-12 July: USAF cargo aircraft airlift American soldiers and

their equipment from Germany to Macedonia to help United

Nations forces prevent the spread of fighting in the former

Yugoslavia.

11 July-1 August: One of the worst floods in American

history inundates 16,000 square miles in eight Midwestern

states along the upper Mississippi and lower Missouri

Rivers. The Air Force responds by airlifting almost 800 tons

146
6 August: Dr. Sheila E. Widnall is 

y 

the Air Force, becoming the first woman armed services

secretary.

11-15 August: After a flood in Nepal washes out bridges,

three 436th Airlift Wing C-5 Galaxies airlift at least 190

tons of bridge components from England.

20 August: USAFE turns over RAF Woodbridge to the British.

27 September: Gen James H. Doolittle, who led the first air

raid on Tokyo and commanded the Eighth Air Force during

World War II, dies at the age of 96.

30 September: The following U.S. Air Force bases close:

Chanute AFB, Mather AFB, Williams AFB, Bergstrom AFB,

and Carswell AFB. Additionally, USAFE turns over RAF

Bentwaters to the British.

1 October: AFRES activates its first B-52 Stratofortress

unit, the 93d Bomb Squadron, at Barksdale AFB.

2-4 October: After earthquakes hit central India, two AMC

C-5 Galaxies airlift 1,000 rolls of plastic sheeting, 950 tents,

18,550 five-gallon water containers, 22 pallets of blankets,

and other relief supplies to Bombay.

3-4 October: Despite enemy fire and his own injuries, USAF

pararescueman TSgt Tim Wilkerson treats injured U.S.

Army Rangers during a battle in Mogadishu, Somalia. For

his heroism, he earns the Air Force Cross.

5-13 October: After a 15-hour pitched battle between U.S.

Army Rangers and forces loyal to Mohammed Farah Aidid in

Mogadishu, USAF C-5 Galaxy and C-141 Starlifter aircraft

transport 1,300 troops, 18 M-1 Abrams tanks, and 44

Bradley infantry fighting vehicles from the United States to

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AFRES and ANG

C-130 Hercules aircraft help dispense over 1,000 tons of

fire retardant.

November: Lt Col Betty Mullis becomes the first woman to

command an AFRES flying unit, the 336th Air Refueling

Squadron.

2-13 December: USAF Col Richard O. Covey pilots the space

shuttle Endeavour on a mission that repairs the $2 billion

Hubble Space Telescope.

8 December: The U.S. Air Force destroys the first of 450

LGM-30F Minuteman II missile silos scheduled for demolition

under the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

17 December: The first B-2 Spirit bomber arrives at

Whiteman AFB, Missouri. The B-2 is the first "stealth"

heavy bomber.

1 J9)4

January: Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria grant overflight

rights for F-16 Fighting Falcons deploying from Germany to

Turkey, saving them two hours of flight time . This is the

first flight of USAF fighters on an operational mission over

these countries since World War II .

4 January: A C-130 Hercules aircraft squadron composed of

AFRES and ANG personnel joins Operation Provide Promise

to deliver relief supplies to Bosnia. It is called "Delta

Squadron" and operates from Rhein-Main AB under the

435th Airlift Wing.

10 January : Crewmen from a 56th Rescue Squadron

HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter free six sailors from their

148
340,000 pounds of cargo, including fire trucks, generators,

and communications vans, to southern California .

25 January: AUSAF Titan II booster launches the unmanned

space probe Clementine I toward the moon. This is the first

American lunar mission since Apollo 17 in 1972.

30 January: The U.S. Air Force inactivates the 717th AB

Squadron and closes Ankara AS, Turkey.

February:. USAF aircraft deploy to France for the first time in

more than 20 years. The five KC-135 Stratotankers fly from

French bases to refuel aircraft patrolling airspace over

Bosnia-Herzegovina in Operation Deny Flight.

5 February: For the first time, an all-AFRES crew flies one of

the new C-17 Globemaster Ills . The crew comes from the

315th Airlift Wing's 317th Airlift Squadron.

5 February: After a mortar attack on Sarajevo's central

market that killed 68 people and wounded 200 more,

President Clinton sends a U.S . medical team and four

C-130 Hercules aircraft to Sarajevo to evacuate the

wounded to an Army hospital in Germany.

7 February: A Titan IV missile boosts the first Military

Strategic and Tactical Relay satellite into geostationary orbit.

10 February: Lt Jeannie Flynn, the first woman selected

for USAF combat pilot training, completes training in an

F-15E Eagle.

18 February: The last F-4G Wild Weasels in Europe leave

Spangdahlem AB for Nellis AFB.

25 February: In preparation for the closing of Bitburg AB in

Germany, F-15 Eagle aircraft of the 53d Fighter Squadron

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: The U.S. Air Force begins training students in 

T-3A flight screening aircraft that replaces the T-41

Mescalero. The Air Force has used the T-41 since 1964 to

screen prospective pilots for undergraduate pilot training.

March: The U.S. Air Force begins flight testing F-16 Fighting

Falcon launches of the AGM-84 Harpoon antiship missile at

Edwards AFB.

13 March: The first Taurus booster launches two military

satellites from Vandenberg AFB.

18 March: Norton AFB, California, closes after 52 years of

operation.

25 March : The last American military personnel depart

Mogadishu on a C-5 Galaxy, ending Operation Restore

Hope and American military involvement in Somalia.

31 March: The first two F-16 Fighting Falcons from

Ramstein AB arrive at Aviano AB. The next day, NATO

names Aviano a main operating base. It will become a key

airfield for operations over the former Yugoslavia.

April : The U.S. Air Force removes the last of 150 LGM-30F

Minuteman II missiles from Ellsworth AFB, implementing

part of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between the

United States and Russia.

6-12 April : In Operation Distant Runner, USAF airplanes

transport Americans and other foreign citizens from

Bujumbura, Burundi, to Nairobi, Kenya, when civil violence

forces them to leave Rwanda.

10 April : Two USAF F-16 Fighting Falcons strike a Bosnian

Serb command post near Gorazde in the former Yugoslavia

after Bosnian Serbs attack United Nations personnel in the

150
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Davis-Monthan AFB. B-52Hs continue to serve in the Air

Force .

6 May: 1st Lt Leslie DeAnn Crosby graduates from the

ANC's F-16 Fighting Falcon training course in Tucson,

Arizona, becoming the first AFRES woman fighter pilot.

7-9 May: After civil war erupts in Yemen, six USAF aircraft

evacuate 623 people, including 448 Americans, from Yemen

to SaudiArabia.

8 May: Five C-141 Starlifters begin flying humanitarian airlift

missions from Germany to Bosnia in support of Operation

Provide Promise, supplementing the earlier C-130 Hercules

flights. The C-141 Provide Promise flights will end on 26 July

after delivering 7,000 tons of cargo to Sarajevo.

11-17 May: Air Force C-141 Starlifter cargo aircraft deliver

239 tons of relief supplies from Turkey to Tanzania for

hundreds of thousands of Rwandan refugees who have fled

tribal warfare in Rwanda. Part of a joint operation called

Provide Assistance, this cargo includes 10,000 rolls of

plastic sheeting and 100,000 blankets.

22-30 June: AMC C-5 Galaxies and C-141 Starlifters

transport armored vehicles from Germany to Uganda for

United Nations forces deploying to Rwanda.

26 June: A 60th Military Airlift Wing C-5 Galaxy airlifts a

34-ton magnetic resonance imaging system to Chernobyl,

Ukraine, to help medical personnel treating victims of a

1986 nuclear accident.

30 June: USAFE ends its presence in Berlin, 46 years after

the beginning of the Berlin airlift, with the inactivation of

Detachment 1, 435th Airlift Wing.

151
July: The 507th Air Refueling Group airlifts 1,000 pounds

of supplies from Oklahoma to Georgia to relieve the

victims of flooding from Tropical Storm Alberto . Personnel

from Robins and Moody Air Force Bases also participate

in relief efforts.

1 July: The Kansas ANG's 184th Bomb Group becomes the

first ANG unit equipped with the B-lB Lancer.

21 July: A USAF C-141 Starlifter flying Operation Provide

Promise missions over Bosnia is hit by small arms fire near

Sarajevo . Despite more than 25 holes in the fuselage and

wings, the airplane returns safely to Rhein-Main AB. All

flights to Sarajevo are temporarily suspended.

21 July: USAFE fighter operations at Ramstein AB end when

the last 86th Fighter Wing F-16 Fighting Falcon departs for

Aviano AB.

24 July-6 October: USAF aircraft participate in Operation

Support Hope, flying humanitarian relief supplies to

Rwandan refugees in Zaire.

2 August: Two 2d Bomb Wing B-52 Stratofortresses set a world

record circumnavigating the earth during a global-power

mission to Kuwait. The 47-hour flight takes five aerial

refuelings.

3 August: USAF launches a research satellite from a B-52

Stratofortress, using a Pegasus rocket .

4 August: Brig Gen Susan L. Pamerleau becomes the first

woman commander of the Air Force Reserve Officer Training

Corps.

5 August: Two USAF A-10 Thunderbolt II jets destroy an

armored vehicle near Sarajevo after Serbs seize heavy weapons

152
gg

over each other's territory.

31 August-8 September: Russian, American, British, and

French military forces withdraw from Berlin after 49 years

in the continuing effort to end the Cold War.

31 August-1 0 September: In an operation called Safe Haven, the

Air Force and other military services transport Cuban and

Haitian refugees from overcrowded camps at the American base

at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Panama for temporary shelter.

September: A B-52 Stratofortress, a B-1B Lancer, and a

KC-10 Extender land at Poltava AB, the Ukraine. This is the

first time since World War II that American bombers land in

Ukraine. B-17 Flying Fortresses flew there 50 years earlier on

shuttle bombing missions against Nazi targets in eastern

Europe.

19 September: In a noncombat operation called Uphold

Democracy, U.S. military forces go to Haiti to restore the

country's democratically elected president and stem the flow

of Haitian refugees to the United States . The Air Force

provides airlift for the peaceful invasion.

29-30 September: USAFE vacates Soesterberg AB, the

Netherlands, and RAF Upper Heyford, United Kingdom,

marking further reduction of American air bases in Europe

after the Cold War.

30 September: The following Air Force bases close: Grissom

AFB; Loring AFB; Lowry AFB; Richards-Gebaur AFB,

Missouri; and Rickenbacker ANG Base, Ohio.

4 October: F-16 Fighting Falcons replace the last F-4 Wild

Weasel aircraft performing the suppression of enemy air

defense missions.

153
F-16 Fighting Falcon, and A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft .

14-16 October: Two C-17 Globemaster Ills transport

military equipment and supplies from Langley AFB to Saudi

Arabia in the Persian Gulf region in the aircraft's first

operational mission.

30 October: A C-141 Starlifter airlifts 20 tons of medical

supplies, blankets, and tarpaulins, from Kadena AB to

Vladivostok, Russia, to relieve the victims of a Siberian flood.

31 October-1 November: Two B-1B Lancer bombers fly

nonstop from Ellsworth AFB to a bombing range in Kuwait

and back. The 25-hour mission marks the first time B-1s fly

to the Persian Gulf.

6-8 November: Two USAF C-141 Starlifters transport 37

tons of plastic sheeting, blankets, and communications

equipment to Egypt after flash floods inundate as many as

70 villages .

21-23 November: USAF and NATO aircraft bomb Serb targets,

including an airfield and missile sites, in the former

Yugoslavia. NATO launches the raids in retaliation for a Serb

attack on Bihac. This is the largest NATO operation to date.

21-23 November: As part of Project Sapphire, C-5s

transport more than 1,300 pounds of highly enriched

uranium from the former Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan to

the United States to protect it from terrorists, smugglers,

and unfriendly governments.

17-21 December: A 94th Airlift Wing C-130 Hercules crew

delivers five pallets of clothing, furniture, books, beds, and

plastic windows, plus a refrigerator to Albania for orphan

shelters .

154
Gen Robert L. Rutherford, commander of AMC, approves use

of the new C-17 Globemaster III for routine missions.

19 January: C-130 Hercules transport planes from the

374th Airlift Wing at Yokota AB begin flying humanitarian

airlift missions to help the victims of an earthquake that

struck southwestern Japan on 17 January.

1-20 February: After riots at Cuban refugee camps in Panama,

USAF C-5 Galaxy, C-141 Starlifter, and C-130 Hercules

aircraft transport about 7,300 Cubans to Guantanamo Bay

Naval AS, Cuba, in Operation Safe Passage.

3 February: USAF Lt Col Eileen M. Collins becomes the first

woman space shuttle pilot.

3-10 February: Eight C-141 Starlifters transport 410 Nepalese

troops from Katmandu to Haiti for service with United

Nations peacekeeping forces .

5 March: As part of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty,

Russian weapons inspectors arrive at Malmstrom AFB to

monitor LGM-30F Minuteman II dismantlement.

10 March: The 11th Space Warning Squadron becomes the

first squadron able to warn battlefield commanders of

incoming theater ballistic missiles, such as Scuds fired by

Iraq during the Persian Gulf War.

16 March: A HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter crew from the

56th Rescue Squadron stationed at Keflavik, Iceland, saves

three Icelanders caught in a blizzard while skiing .

24 March: The last USAF Atlas E booster, a converted ICBM

from the 1960s, launches a satellite into polar orbit from

Vandenberg AFB.

155
19 April : A powerful car bomb explodes at a federal building

in Oklahoma City, killing 169 people, including 19 children,

and injuring more than 400 others. The Air Force responds

with an airlift of firefighters, urban search and rescue

teams, investigators, and medical personnel from all over

the United States to Oklahoma. Nearby Tinker AFB also

provides rescuers with vehicles, blood, rain gear, boots,

hard hats, flashlights, batteries, and bomb-sniffing dogs.

27 April: Air Force Space Command declares the GPS

satellite constellation fully operational. The system provides

accurate geographical coordinates.

8-11 May: ANG units rescue thousands of flood victims after

more than 22 inches of rain fall over parts of Louisiana in

less than two days.

10-17 May: After an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in

central Africa, a 349th Air Mobility Wing C-141 Starlifter

crew delivers more than a ton of medical supplies to Zaire.

During the same month, a 60th Airlift Wing C-5 Galaxy

takes a ton of medical supplies to Kinshasa, Zaire.

25-26 May: USAF aircraft participate in NATO attacks on

Serb military bunkers in Bosnia to halt Serb artillery

attacks against Sarajevo.

1 June: The United States and Portugal sign a treaty

allowing the United States to use Lajes Field in the Azores

for another five years. Lajes has become a major staging

base for USAF aircraft deploying to the Middle East.

2-3 June: Two USAF B-1B Lancer bombers fly around the

world in a record 36 hours, 13 minutes, 36 seconds, refueling

in flight six times. For flying the longest nonaugmented crew

sortie to date, the crew will receive the 1996 Mackay Trophy.

156
30 June-10 August: USAF C-5 Galaxies and C-141 Starlifters

airlift British and Dutch forces to Croatia to support the

United Nations in an operation called Quick Lift .

23 July: A 433d Airlift Wing C-5 Galaxy crew airlifts 28

pallets of medical supplies, blankets, clothes, furniture, and

a military ambulance to relieve economic suffering in

Byelorussia.

31 July: The last remaining LGM-30F Minuteman Il missile

wing, the 351st Missile Wing, is inactivated at Whiteman

AFB.

13 August: A 60th Air Mobility Wing C-5 Galaxy transports

75 tons of food from Germany to Croatia to feed victims of

the war in the former Yugoslavia.

17 August: The E-8C joint surveillance target attack radar

system QSTARS) aircraft begins flight tests . The sophisticated radar plane will replace experimental JSTARS aircraft

used during the Persian GulfWar.

20-21 August: A C-5 Galaxy flies 75 tons of food from

Ramstein AB to Zagreb, Croatia, for refugees of the civil war

in the former Yugoslavia.

25-29 August : C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft

participate in their first major exercise . Eleven C-17s from

the 315th and 437th Airlift Wings move almost 300 tons of

troops and equipment to Kuwait.

30 August : NATO aircraft, including USAF airplanes, begin

air strikes on Serb positions in Bosnia in support of the

United Nations. The operation is called Deliberate Force.

1 September: The SR-71 Blackbird, fastest aircraft in the

world, returns to active service . It was removed from the

157
1521 September: After Hurricane Marilyn devastated the

eastern Caribbean Sea, USAF, AFRES, and ANG cargo

aircraft airlift 996 tons of relief cargo and 85 passengers to

the Virgin Islands. This is the first disaster relief operation

employing C-17 Globemaster III aircraft.

22 September: After 53 years of operation, Griffiss AFB closes .

30 September: The 93d Bombardment Wing, first B-52 wing

in the SAC, inactivates after more than 47 years of

continuous service. At the same time, its home base at

Castle AFB closes . Also closing after more than 41 years, is

Plattsburgh AFB, New York, a former SAC base.

October: The first C-130J, an advanced-technology version

of the venerable Hercules transport, rolls out of its assembly

plant at Marietta, Georgia.

1 October: CMSgt Carol Smits becomes the first female

senior enlisted advisor of the AFRES.

4 October: Hurricane Opal damages Eglin AFB and Hurlburt

Field in Florida with winds over 110 mph. Most of the

aircraft escape damage by evacuating to other bases .

16-17 October: The 53d Weather Reconnaissance Squadron,

which had been monitoring the strength and movement of

Hurricane Roxanne in the Gulf of Mexico, searches for

survivors of a Mexican pipe-laying barge sunk by the

hurricane. One crew finds a survivor in a raft and radios his

position to the Coast Guard, which subsequently rescues 23

more of the 236 survivors.

28 October-18 December: In an operation called Vigilant

Sentinel, the Air Force first tests the air expeditionary force

concept. F-16 Fighting Falcons of the 20th Fighter Wing

and the 347th Wing deploy to Bahrain.

158
g

1996

4 January: Operation Provide Promise, the longest sustained

humanitarian airlift in history, officially ends, after

delivering 160,536 metric tons of relief cargo since July

1992. The U.S. Air Force flew 4,597 of the 12,895 sorties.

On 9 January there will be a commemorative final flight .

26 January: CMSgt Patricia M. Hoffman, the Air Force's most

senior-ranking enlisted woman, retires at Randolph AFB

with more than 30 years of service.

14 February: The joint surveillance and target attack radar

system E-8A flies its 50th mission in support of Operation

Joint Endeavor, a peacekeeping operation in the former

Yugoslavia . This surpasses the JSTARS record of 49

missions during Operation Desert Storm.

Late March : The last F-4 Phantom aircraft in the active duty

Air Force goes into storage at Davis-Monthan AFB. The F-4

has served the Air Force for more than 30 years.

29 March : The Tier III Minus Dark Star, a stealthy drone

designed for high-altitude, long-duration reconnaissance

missions over hostile territory, completes its first test flight

at Edwards AFB.

29 March: Vice President Albert Gore announces that the

United States will open the GPS, a constellation of Air Force

satellites, to full commercial access.

3 April : A 76th Airlift Squadron CT-43 transport airplane

crashes into a hillside near Dubrovnik, Croatia. Among the

159
15 April : Interservice undergraduate navigator training

becomes fully joint as Air Force student navigators and

student naval flight officers are combined at Randolph AFB

into a single class with a single syllabus. During the same

month, Air Force and Navy electronic warfare officer

training are combined at Pensacola Naval AS and the Naval

Technical Training Center at Corry Field, Florida.

17 April : Operation Uphold Democracy, which began in

September 1994 in Haiti, ends. Only one American soldier

was killed by hostile fire during the 18-month operation in

which U.S . military forces oversaw the dismantling of a

military dictatorship.

18 April : For the first time, C-17 Globemaster III aircraft

airlift huge MH-53J Pave Low special operations helicopters.

Two C-17s carry two of the helicopters from Sierra Leone in

Africa to England, saving time and refuelings .

30 April : USAF reveals the Tacit Blue test airplane that was

used secretly to test stealth technology until 1985. With a

56-foot wingspan, Tacit Blue aircraft furnished the

technology used to produce the B-2 Spirit bomber.

1 May: A German officer assumes command of a German

tactical training center at Holloman AFB. This is the first

time a foreigner has commanded a unit at an Air Force base

within the United States .

31 May: The U.S. Air Force awards contracts to produce 80

more C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft over the

course of seven years. Worth $16.2 billion, these military

contracts are the largest ever awarded. The 80 planes will

complete a fleet of 120 C-17s, which are replacing the Air

Force's aging fleet of C-141 Starlifters.

160
25 June: Terrorists bomb the Khobar Towers near King

Abdul-Aziz AB in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 Air Force

personnel and injuring some 300 other Americans. It is the

worst terrorist attack against American military personnel

since the 1983 bombing of a U.S. Marine barracks in

Beirut, Lebanon. The Americans are in Saudi Arabia as part

of Operation Southern Watch to deter Iraqi aggression

against Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

1 July: For the first time, an Air Force crew flies an EA-6B

Prowler off the deck of an aircraft carrier, the USS

Constellation, in the Pacific Ocean. The Navy's EA-6B will

replace the EF-111 as an Air Force radarjamming aircraft.

19 July-4 August: During the Centennial Olympic Games in

Atlanta, USAF personnel help provide security.

27 July: The Air Force hosts an F-111 retirement celebration

at a plant in Fort Worth, Texas, where the first Aardvark

rolled out over 30 years earlier. At about the same time, the

last F-111 unit in the Air Force, the 524th Fighter Squadron

at Cannon AFB, New Mexico, converts to F-16 Fighting

Falcons .

Late August: Four C-130s, two each from the 146th and 302d

Airlift Wings, fight severe forest fires in northern California .

2-3 September: As part of Operation Desert Strike, the U.S .

Air Force flies B-52 Stratofortresses to the Middle East and

launches 13 cruise missiles against military targets in Iraq.

This is in response to an Iraqi troop seizure of the city of

Irbil, located in an American-protected zone for Kurds.

3 September: The 11th Reconnaissance Squadron becomes

the first Air Force unit to operate the Predator, an

161
C-130 Hercules aircraft and crews from the 145th Airlift

Wing begin airlifting engineers, security police, generators,

mobile kitchens, and showers to the Raleigh and Wilmington

areas of North Carolina.

14 September: Air Force Special Operations forces help

provide security for the first elections in Bosnia since the

end of a civil war that erupted shortly after the republic

declared independence from Yugoslavia.

16-19 September: After hostile forces in northern Iraq drove

Kurds out of their villages, USAF chartered flights to airlift

2,134 refugees from the Middle East to Andersen AFB.

30 September: The Seventeenth Air Force inactivates after

more than 43 years of service with USAFE. Two other

numbered Air Forces remain in Europe.

21 November: Secretary of the Air Force Dr. Sheila Widnall

and Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen Ronald R.

Fogleman publicly release the Global Reach-Global Power

engagement strategic planning framework-a position

paper for Air Force power projection in the twenty-first

century.

162




The Cold War and Beyond

Chronology of the

United States Air Force,

1947-1997

Air University Press Team

ChiefEditor

Thomas Mackin

Copy Editor

Debbie Banker

Book and Cover Design

Steven C . Garst

Prepress Production

Linda C. Colson