On This Day in History

1945:    Flying his “Enola Gay” B-29 from Tinian Island, Lt Col Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. and his crew drop the atomic bomb “Little Boy” on Hiroshima. This photo shows the officers on the mission, with […]

1950: MEDAL OF HONOR. Maj Louis J. Sebille, the 67th Fighter Bomber Squadron Commander, dies near Hamchang, Korea, when he crashes his severely damaged F-51 into an enemy position. Major Sebille posthumously received the first

  1987:    The 552d Airborne Warning and Control Wing from Tinker AFB completes its 5,000th mission for the Elf One deployment to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Elf One began on 1 October 1980, shortly after the

1943:    Operation TIDAL WAVE-Ploesti Raid. Among the most costly missions in World War II, with over 50 aircraft and 650 airmen lost. Five Medals of Honor were received for Ploesti, three posthumously, more than for

1952:    PROJECT HOP-A-LONG. Two Military Air Transport Service Sikorsky UH-19b helicopters complete the first trans-Atlantic helicopter flight. They touch down five times en route between Westover Field and Prestwick, Scotland.

  1971: The last F-100 leaves Vietnam for the CONUS. Its departure ends a combat employment which began in 1964 and produced 360,283 combat sorties with 243 aircraft losses.

  1995:    The 11th Reconnaissance Squadron is activated at Nellis AFB in preparation of the squadron to operate Predator unmanned drones. It is the first such unit in the Air Force.

  1944:    Operation COBRA. 3,000 planes attack German posts near St. Lo, accidentally killing Lt Gen Lesley J. McNair, US Ground Forces Commander.

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.

1918:    The Director of the Army Air Service orders every flying field in the United States to have an air ambulance. This was based on the February 1918 efforts of Maj Nelson E. Driver, a