On This Day in History

1975: The USAF retires its last Douglas C-47B Skytrain (Gooney Bird) to the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB. Douglas Aircraft delivered the first aircraft in 1941.

1972: MEDAL OF HONOR. For heroic and valorous service this date, Capt Steven L. Bennett, a forward air controller,  receives the Medal of Honor posthumously. Citation: http://www.cmohs.org/recipient-detail/3230/bennett-steven-l.php

1927: MACKAY TROPHY/DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS. Lts Lester J. Maitland and Al­bert F. Hegenberger fly the first nonstop flight from Oakland to Wheeler Field, Honolulu. They fly 2,407 miles in 25:50  by using the directional beacons

1996: Terrorists bomb Khobar Towers near King Abdul-Aziz AB, Saudi Arabia, killing 19 Air Force personnel and injuring 300 others. It is the worst terrorist attack against American military personnel since the 1983 bombing of

1997: Operation PROVIDE COMFORT/NORTHERN WATCH. EF-111A Ravens from the 429th Electronic Combat Squadron (ECS) at Cannon AFB leave Turkey for home after nearly 2,100 days of deployment to support the two operations.

1944: MEDAL OF HONOR. 2Lt David R. Kingsley, 97th Bombardment Group, Fifteenth Air Force, receives a Medal of Honor for putting his own parachute on his wounded tail-gunner (whose chute had been damaged). Kingsley thereby

1982: After passing its Operational Readiness Inspection, Hahn Air Base, Germany’s 50th Tactical Fighter Wing, 313th TFS becomes the first F-16 operationally ready squadron in USAFE.

  1954: USAF directs the Air Research Development Center to create a Western Development Division under Brig Gen Ber­nard A. Schriever to accelerate the Atlas ICBM program.

  1965: The 1st Air Commando Squadron, 34th Tactical Group, Bien Hoa AB receives the Presidential Unit Citation. This is the first USAF unit so honored since the Korean War.

  1993: At Minot AFB, Lt Col Patricia Fornes becomes the 740th Missile Squadron commander. She is the first woman to command a combat missile unit. Her father, Lt Col Glenn L. Fornes, also commanded