On This Day in History

  1966: The ARRS observes its 20th anniversary. In this period, the Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service rescued more than 12,000 people throughout the world.

1958: Gen Otto P. Weyland accepts TAC’s first production F-105B Thunderchief from Republic at its Farmingdale plant in Long Island. (Third production model shown in photo)

  1973: SKYLAB 2 launches from Kennedy Space Center on a Saturn IB with Astronauts Charles Conrad, Jr., Paul Weitz, and Dr. Joseph Kerwin aboard. On 26 May, the astronauts meet with Skylab 1 during

1985: A MAC C-141 flies the body of the Unknown Soldier of the Vietnam War from Travis AFB to Andrews AFB prior to its interment at Arlington National Cemetery.

  2002:    The X-45A Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV), designated Blue, flies for the first time at Edwards AFB over an oval shaped track for 14 minutes at 7,500 feet and 195 knots. It was

1956:    Operation REDWING (Cherokee test). Over 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 air drop.

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 across

  1908:    Lt Thomas E. Selfridge, the first US Army officer to fly an airplane, flies the White Wing at Hammondsport. It was Dr. Alexander Graham Bell’s second Aerial Experiment Association plane, and it had

1980:    After Mount St. Helens erupts, a C-141 from the 63 MAW at Norton AFB, CA and a C-130 from the 62 MAW at McChord AFB WA fly above the stricken area to provide communications

1948: Air Materiel Command asks Boeing to develop an American aerial fueling system, the flying boom, to overcome problems with the British hose system used on B-29s.