On This Day in History

    1954: On a rocket-propelled sled run, Lt Col John P. Stapp attains 632 MPH (equal to Mach 1.7 at 35,000 feet) and decelerates to zero in 1.4 seconds. He experiences the greatest G-force […]

1998:           President William J. Clinton presents a fourth star to Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., the first black USAF general and the leader of the “Tuskegee Airmen” in World War II.

1941: Following Pearl Harbor, the Japanese attack American bases in the Philippines. Japanese fighters destroy more than 100 US combat aircraft on the ground, including 17 B-17s and 55 P-40s, while killing 80 airmen and

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 airmen

1996: At Hill AFB an F-16 Fighting Falcon logs the five millionth hour of flying time for the F-16 fleet. Captain Kurt Gallegos of the West Coast F-16 Demonstration Team flies the Falcon. Major Mike

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

1942: BEGINNING OF THE “HUMP” AIRLIFT. Air Transport Command activates its India-China Division to provide airlift support to the Chunking government and American airmen fighting in China. The airlift from bases in India over an

1907: At Hammondsport, NY, the Curtiss Motor Vehicle Company becomes the first airplane compa­ny formed in the US.

1933: The Army accepts Martin’s first production-model B-10 bomber. It was the first all-metal monoplane bomber with an internal bomb bay, retractable gear, rotating gun turret, and enclosed cockpit. It flew faster than pursuit aircraft

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