May 31, 1956
1956: The 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Turner AFB GA receives the first USAF RB-57D (number 53-3973), the reconnaissance version of the British-designed B-57 Canberra.
May 29, 1966
1966: The Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service observes its 20th anniversary. In this period, the ARRS rescued more than 12,000 people throughout the world.
May 28, 1959
1959: A Rhesus monkey, Able, and a squirrel monkey, Miss Baker, are the first primates to be launched and recovered successfully from space. They were recovered after their nose cone hit in the Atlantic Ocean
May 27, 1913
1913: Under General Order No. 39, Army officers who qualified as military aviators receive a Military Aviator’s Certificate and badge. At the time, 24 officers qualify.
May 24, 1972
1972: President Nixon and USSR Premier Kosygin sign an agreement in Moscow for use of outer space for peaceful purposes.
May 23, 2000
2000: Randolph AFB receives the first production-model T-6A Texan II. USAF’s new primary trainer would replace the T-37 and the Navy’s T-34 training aircraft.
May 22, 1906
1906: The U.S. government issues the Wright Brothers the first patent on their flying machine (after turning down two earlier submissions from them).
May 21, 1956
1956: Operation REDWING (Cherokee test). On Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, Maj David Crichlow flies the B-52 Barbara Grace to nearly 50,000 feet and drops an H-bomb, the first US H-Bomb air drop.
May 20, 1927
1927: Charles A. Lindbergh, a Captain in the Missouri National Guard’s 110th Observation Squadron, lands his Ryan Monoplane, the “Spirit of St. Louis,” in Paris on 21 May after the first nonstop solo flight