On This Day in History

1943: A flight of 10 P-47s land at Prestwick on 11 August, achieving the first, last, and only flight of single-engine fighters (recip engines) across the Atlantic in World War II. The flight’s pilots includes […]

1948: The Military Air Transport Service deploys men and equipment to establish an Airlift Task Force in Germany to relieve Berlin. Maj Gen William H. Tunner (Shown here as Brigadier General) commands the Task Force

1991: A 445th Military Airlift Wing C-141 delivers nearly 20 tons of medical supplies to Ulan Bator, Mongolia to overcome a critical shortage. This mission was the first USAF flight to Mongolia.

1910: Orville Wright makes experimental flights at Dayton with a wheeled chassis comprising a set of twin wheels attached to each skid. (Believed to be Frank Hermes on aircraft)

1969: APOLLO XI/FIRST MAN ON THE MOON. Astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr., fly the lunar module Eagle to the Sea of Tranquility, where Armstrong takes the first step on the moon.

1941: Capt Benjamin O. Davis reports to the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama with 12 black aviation cadets to begin flight training.

1940: Bombardier training at Air Corps schools begins at Lowry Field with the first class of bombardier instructors.

1973: LAST SEA COMBAT MISSION/VIETNAM SUMMARY. All US bombing in Cambodia ends after eight years of conventional operations. An A-7D from the 354th TFW flies the last combat mission. Altogether, USAF flies in the war

1943: Comiso Airfield is the first airfield recaptured in Sicily, by LT Gen Omar Bradley’s II Corps. Afterwards a German JU-88 lands amid US flak shots. The pilot climbs out, shakes his fist at the

1921: Brig Gen William “Billy” Mitchell’s Martin MB-2 and Handley Page bombers test the sinking of several ships off the Virginia Capes. The tests study the use of bombs on ships to sug­gest how ship