On This Day in History

1942: The US begins work on its top secret Manhattan Project to develop an atomic bomb. The photo shows the Hanford B Reactor, the first full-size weapons-grade plutonium production reactor in the world.

1968: The modified XV-5A (now the XV-5B Verifan aircraft) makes its first vertical and hovering flights.

1971: The last F-100 leaves Vietnam for the CONUS. Its departure ends a combat employment which began in 1964 and produced 360,283 combat sorties with 243 aircraft losses.

1995: The 11th Reconnaissance Squadron is activated at Nellis AFB in preparation of the squadron to operate Predator unmanned drones. It is the first such unit in the Air Force.

1943: MEDAL OF HONOR. Flight Officer John C. “Red” Morgan receives the medal for saving his B-17 and crew. Lt Gen Ira Eaker does the presentation. Citation: http://www.cmohs.org/recipient-detail/2899/morgan-john-c.php. On 6 March 1944, the German’s shoot

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)