IV 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1349 
Congratulating the United States Air Force on the occasion of its 75th 
anniversary. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 14, 2022 
Mr. GARAMENDI (for himself, Mr. TURNER, Mr. KINZINGER, and Ms. CASTOR 
of Florida) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Armed Services 
RESOLUTION 
Congratulating the United States Air Force on the occasion 
of its 75th anniversary. 
Whereas the United States Air Force celebrates its 75th 
birthday on September 18, 2022; 
Whereas the military has always been a leader in techno-
logical innovation, with aviation roots in the aerial bal-
loons used in the Civil War, inspired to powered flight by 
the patent issued to the Wright brothers, and then evolv-
ing to space capabilities; 
Whereas the storied history of the Air Force spans milestones 
over the past century and around the world, with notable 
landmarks and advances breaking new boundaries; 
Whereas the Air Force is a strong champion of joint oper-
ations and the support necessary between military 
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branches to effectively sustain modern combat, and has 
led the exploration and expansion into space operations; 
Whereas, in May 1908, Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge became 
the first officer to fly solo in an aircraft for a distance 
of more than 240 feet in the ‘‘White Wing’’ in 
Hammondsport, New York; 
Whereas, on March 19, 1910, the Wright Brothers Flying 
School opened in Montgomery, Alabama, as a civilian 
flight school in a location that eventually became Maxwell 
Air Force Base; 
Whereas, on September 14, 1944, Colonel Floyd B. Wood, 
Major Harry Wexler, and First Lieutenant Frank 
Reckord became the first crew to deliberately fly into a 
hurricane to collect scientific data, bringing back findings 
that the eye of a hurricane has strong upward currents 
and the perimeter has a strong down current; 
Whereas, on October 14, 1947, merely a month after the Air 
Force was officially created as a separate service, Air 
Force Captain Charles ‘‘Chuck’’ Yeager broke the sound 
barrier in level flight for the first time; 
Whereas, in 1948 and 1949, the Air Force embarked on ‘‘Op-
eration Vittles’’, now known as the Berlin Airlift, to 
transport more than 1.7 million tons of supplies and 
62,000 passengers into the isolated, Western-controlled 
section of Berlin during the 15 months of the largest hu-
manitarian airlift operation in history; 
Whereas, on May 3, 1952, Air Force Lieutenant Colonels Jo-
seph Fletcher and William Benedict became the first pi-
lots to land an aircraft at the North Pole, along with 
navigator First Lieutenant Herbert Thompson and crew 
members Staff Sergeant Harold Turner and Airman 
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First Class Robert Wishard, as they carried out scientific 
observations of ocean depth and gravity field strength in 
the polar area; 
Whereas, in December 1958, the Air Force launched the first 
communications satellite, which President Dwight Eisen-
hower used to broadcast a Christmas message, the first 
time a human voice was heard from space; 
Whereas, in October 1962, at the beginning of the Cuban 
Missile Crisis, U–2 pilots Major Richard Heyser and 
Major Rudolf Anderson, Jr., flew exceedingly difficult re-
connaissance missions over Cuba to prove that the Soviet 
Union was constructing missile sites; 
Whereas, on June 18, 1981, the F–117 Nighthawk, the 
world’s first stealth combat aircraft, flew for the first 
time, representing a new age of innovative design and 
construction for fighter and attack aircraft; 
Whereas, on April 27, 1994, the Air Force officially declared 
the satellite network of the Global Positioning System 
operational, marking the start of a new age of useful 
military electronics that had applicability to civilian lives; 
Whereas, on August 30, 2005, the Air Force, Air Force Re-
serve, and Air National Guard dedicated more than 
8,000 airmen to begin Hurricane Katrina relief oper-
ations, efforts that expanded to include the evacuation of 
almost 27,000 displaced persons, medical evacuations of 
2,600 patients, and the airlift of 11,500 tons of relief 
supplies; 
Whereas the Space Force was established on December 20, 
2019, ushering in a new age of a military service focused 
solely on pursuing superiority in the space domain; 
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