On This Day in History

1953: KOREAN WAR ENDS. UN and Communist representatives sign an armistice at Panmun­jom. When it ended, US pilots enjoyed a 10-1 edge in air-to-air combat. Air Force casualties number 1,729.

  1990: The landing of SAC’s Boeing EC-135 Looking Glass Airborne Command Post at Offutt AFB ends 29 years of continuous operation with over 250 million miles of accident-free flying.

1948: The Military Air Transport Service deploys men and equipment to establish an Airlift Task Force in Germany to relieve Berlin. Maj Gen William H. Tunner commands the Task Force operations under USAFE’s operational control.

  1991: A 445th Military Airlift Wing C-141 delivers nearly 20 tons of medical supplies to Ulan Bator, Mongolia to overcome a critical shortage. This mission was the first USAF flight to Mongolia.

  1994: The last F-16 Fighting Falcon leaves the 86th Fighter Wing at Ramstein AB for Aviano AB, Italy. This action ends USAFE fighter operations at Ramstein. (Stock Photo)

1969: APOLLO XI/FIRST MAN ON THE MOON. Astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr., fly the lunar module Eagle to the Sea of Tranquility, where Armstrong took the first step on the moon.

  1962: Maj Robert White flies X-15 No. 3 with the XLR-99 rocket engine on the first space flight by a manned aircraft: Altitude 58.7 miles (314,750 ft.), speed in excess of Mach 6 (3,784 mph).

1971 – Brig Gen Jeanne Holm becomes 1st female general officer in the US Air Force. She is pinned by Secretary of the Air Force Robert C. Seamans, Jr. and Lt Gen Robert J. Dixon,

    1958: Operation BLUE BAT. After the Iraqi government falls, tensions increase in Lebanon. This strain leads Lebanon’s President to seek US security assistance. TAC dispatches its Composite Air Strike Force BRAVO to the

  1974: Gen Carl “Tooey” Spaatz, the first USAF Chief of Staff, dies at Walter Reed General Hospital at age 83. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.