On This Day in History

1962:    ECHO I satellite launches from the Air Force Cape Canaveral launch Complex 17 aboard a Thor-Delta rocket. After two years in orbit, the Echo I satellite establishes that inflatable structures could function in […]

1944:    MEDAL OF HONOR. For valorous actions while leading 33 B-26 Marauders against a railroad bridge on the Seine River, Capt Darrell R. Lindsey is awarded a Medal of Honor posthumously. Citation: http://www.cmohs.org/recipient-detail/2845/lindsey-darrell-r.php

  1967:    McGuire AFB receives the last C-141, the “Garden State Starlifter,” to be delivered to a MAC base from Lockheed.

1990:    Operation DESERT SHIELD. In response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, the US military deploys to protect Saudi Arabia from Iraqi aggression and to liberate Kuwait.

1945:    Flying his “Enola Gay” B-29 from Tinian Island, Lt Col Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. and his crew drop the atomic bomb “Little Boy” on Hiroshima. This photo shows the officers on the mission, with

1950: MEDAL OF HONOR. Maj Louis J. Sebille, the 67th Fighter Bomber Squadron Commander, dies near Hamchang, Korea, when he crashes his severely damaged F-51 into an enemy position. Major Sebille posthumously received the first

  1987:    The 552d Airborne Warning and Control Wing from Tinker AFB completes its 5,000th mission for the Elf One deployment to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Elf One began on 1 October 1980, shortly after the

1943:    Operation TIDAL WAVE-Ploesti Raid. Among the most costly missions in World War II, with over 50 aircraft and 650 airmen lost. Five Medals of Honor were received for Ploesti, three posthumously, more than for

1952:    PROJECT HOP-A-LONG. Two Military Air Transport Service Sikorsky UH-19b helicopters complete the first trans-Atlantic helicopter flight. They touch down five times en route between Westover Field and Prestwick, Scotland.

  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.