On This Day in History

1944: A Noorduyn C-64 Norseman carrying famed bandleader, Maj Glenn Miller, disappears over the English Channel. Miller, pilot John Morgan, and Lt Col Norman Baessell were flying to Paris, France, from Twinwood Farm airfield in […]

1988: W. Stuart Symington, the first Secretary of the Air Force, dies at his home in New Canaan, Connecticut.

1956: Operation SAFE HAVEN. After a revolt against Soviet rule in Hungary expels Russian occupation forces, the Soviets send in reinforcements to restore order. But before the Soviet-backed Hungarian government closes the borders, some 200,000

    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