On This Day in History

1970: With the acceptance of the 80th Air Defense Group facility at Fortuna Air Force Station ND, the Aerospace Defense Command’s Backup Intercept Control (BUIC) III radar system becomes fully operational.

1944: Operation CARPETBAGGER. American and Royal Air Force planes drop arms and sup­plies to French, Belgian, and Italian partisans for the first time.

1929: THE QUESTION MARK. Through 7 January, to test inflight refueling and crew and aircraft endurance, Maj Carl A. Spaatz and crew fly the Question Mark, a modified Fokker C2-3 with a Wright 220 HP

  1948: Allied aircraft log the 100,000th flight of the Berlin Airlift.

1972: Operation LINEBACKER II. President Nixon halts the bombing of North Vietnam north of the 20th parallel. Peace talks resume in Paris on 8 January.

1994: Two 56th Rescue Squadron helicopter crews from Keflavik AB save eight Dutch mariners from a sinking vessel near the coast of Iceland.

  1944: MEDAL OF HONOR. Brig Gen Frederick W. Castle leads some 2,000 heavy bombers against German airfields. On the way an engine fails, and his unescorted B-17 becomes a target to enemy fighters. After

  1965: Operation BLUE LIGHT. Through 23 January, the Military Airlift Command transports the 3d Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, from Hawaii to Pleiku, South Vietnam, to offset communist forces in the area. The movement includes

2006: The 437th Airlift Wing and the 315th Airlift Wing (Air Force Reserve Associate) at Charleston AFB, S. C., fly a 20-ship formation of C-17 Globemaster IIIs, the largest C-17 formation to date ever from

    1944: Gen Henry H. Arnold becomes General of the Army (5 stars) and the first airman to hold this rank.