On This Day in History

1984: FIRST SPACEWALK BY AN AMERICAN WOMAN. During the sixth Challenger Space Shuttle mission, astronauts record several firsts, including the first walk in space by an American woman (Kathryn D. Sullivan, Mission Specialist).

  1918: The Army’s pilotless aircraft, the Kettering “Bug,” with preset controls, begins flights at Dayton. In later years it is called a guided missile.

(Stock photo) 1947: The first flight of North American’s prototype F-86 Sabre (XP-86) at Muroc Dry Lake. See video of first flight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M68-Y9dGQcs

1949: Operation VITTLES. The last flight took place to end the Berlin Airlift; the main effort ended earlier. Tonnage and passenger reports vary but show that over 2,343,301.5 tons of supplies were carried on 277,000+Allied

1964: President Lyndon B. Johnson presents aviation’s highest honor, the 1963 Robert J. Collier Trophy, to Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson of Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, who designed and developed the A-11 (SR-71). Ten days earlier, Johnson

1918: MEDAL OF HONOR. While on a voluntary patrol, Lt Edward V. Rickenbacker attacks sev­en German aircraft near Billy, France. Despite the odds, he dives on them, shoots one of the Fokkers out of control

2004: Operation PROVIDE HOPE. A C-17 from McChord AFB delivers medicines and medical supplies worth $15 million to Bishkek IAP in the Kyrgyz Republic. It was the largest humanita­rian shipment to the republic since it

1987: An  F-14 of Navy VF-74, based on the USS Saratoga, accidentally shoots down a USAF RF-4C from the 26th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing  at Zweibrucken AB, Germany, over the Mediterranean during NATO exercise Display Determination

1942: The Boeing B-29 Superfortress makes its first flight at Boeing Field. (Photo shows delivery of the 1,000th B-29 at the Boeing Wichita plant, Feb 1945).

1947: On July 26, 1947, aboard the VC-54C “Sacred Cow” which becomes Air Force-1, President Truman signs the National Security Act of 1947. This separates the USAF from the US Army, effective September 18, 1947.