On This Day in History

1948: MACKAY TROPHY. An arctic storm forces a C-47 Skytrain to land on the Greenland ice cap, stranding the crew of seven. In a rescue attempt using a B-17 and a towed glider, five more […]

  1987: The US and Soviet Union sign the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty to remove all intermediate range nuclear missiles (620 to 3,415 miles) from Europe. Following the agree­ment, the USAF inactivates six Ground Launched

  1941: The Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and bring America into WW II. Two waves of Japanese fighters sink four U.S. battleships and damaged nine others. Overall, the surprise at­tack kills 2,390 personnel, including 193

  1963: Maj Robert W. Smith pilots the NF-104A Aerospace Trainer, with its ballistic controls (atti­tude control nozzles on the wing tips, nose, and tail) and a 6,000-pound thrust rocket engine, to 120,800 feet above

1963: President Lyndon B. Johnson designates National Air and Space Administration and other facilities at Cape Canaveral as the John F. Kennedy Space Center.  

1965: Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, the first Deputy Administrator of the National Air and Space Administra­tion, dies at the age of 67. He was an internationally renowned scientist-engineer, whose career began with the airplane. He

1951: KOREAN WAR. F-86 pilots from the 4th Fighter Interceptor Group en­gage 44 enemy aircraft, destroying 12 and dam­aging 3 others. Maj George A. Davis Jr., 334 FIS, a former WWII ace, achieves Korean War

1951: The USAF announces the production of the first all-jet heavy bomber, the Boeing XB-52.  

1968: MEDAL OF HONOR. While flying a UH-1F helicopter, 1Lt James P. Fleming twice exposes his aircraft to intense hostile fire while rescuing a special forces reconnaissance patrol near Due Co, Vietnam, receiving the Medal