On This Day in History

  1965:    The Early Bird satellite goes into operation as a public communications facility by shuttling TV programs across the North Atlantic.

    1960:    Soviet air defenses shoot down a U-2 flying from Pakistan to Norway, capturing CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers.

  1917:    In World War I, Maj William “Billy” Mitchell becomes the first American officer to fly over the German lines, as an observer in a French aircraft.

Operation FREQUENT WIND. Through 30 April, USAF, Marine, and Navy helicopters airlift 6,000-plus people in the final evacuation of Saigon. This was the first major operation involving flights of USAF helicopters from an aircraft carrier,

  1966:    F-4C crew Major Paul Gilmore and 1Lt William Smith shoot down a MiG-21 over North Vietnam, the first to be destroyed in combat.

  1967:    Maj Gen Benjamin D. Foulois dies at Andrews AFB at the age of 87. He was the first person to fly an Army dirigible; first military observer on a cross-country flight, with Orville

  1980:    Operation EAGLE CLAW. The attempt to rescue American hostages in Iran fails. A Navy RH-53 hovers into an Air Force EC-130 in a sandstorm, killing eight.

  1991:    Secretary of the Air Force Donald B. Rice announces the winner of the Advanced Tactical Fighter competition. He selects the Lockheed/Boeing/General Dynamics F-22 with the Pratt and Whitney F-119 engine.

  1981:    The 81st Tactical Fighter Wing, an A-10 Wing at RAF Bentwaters, UK,  sets a USAF record by generating 533 sorties in a single day.