This Day in Air and Space History

  2007: WAR ON TERROR. Air Mobility Command passes a major milestone when one of its aircraft flies the command’s one millionth sortie since 11 September 2001. A C-17 from McChord AFB flies the landmark

1966: Lockheed delivers the first HC–130P to the Air Rescue and Recovery Service. The HC-130P included a drogue system to permit aerial refueling of helicopters. (1968 photo in SEA) https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-iry-fullyhosted_003&hsimp=yhs-fullyhosted_003&hspart=iry&p=hc-130P#id=6&vid=3382d9bcaacabf82b62fb96b09cbab6d&action=view

1967: Operation EAGLE THRUST. Through 29 December, MAC uses 413 C-141 and C-130 sor­ties to complete the longest distance airlift of combat troops from the US to a war zone to date. The planes move

2004: In its final flight, NASA’s B-52 #008 launch vehicle, the oldest plane in the USAF inventory, carries the X-43A mounted on a Pegasus booster into the air. The X-43A breaks its 4,780 MPH record

1971: Mariner IX, launched on 30 May 1971, goes into an elliptical orbit around Mars, and its first photographs are broadcast live by national television.

1921: FIRST AIR-TO-AIR REFUELING. Wesley May, with a 5-gallon can of gasoline strapped to his back, steps from the wing of a Lincoln Standard to the wing skid of a JN-4 and climbs to the

1943: Fifth and Thirteenth Air Forces make their first joint attack on Rabaul, along with Navy carrier planes.

1942: Through 13 November, the 33rd Fighter Group flies 100 P-40s from the carriers USS Chenango and HMS Archer to land at Port Lyautey airfield, Morocco.

MEDALS OF HONOR received for valorous service this date: 1944: 1Lt Donald J. Gott and 2Lt William E. Metzger (same B-17 crew) Gott citation: https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/donald-j-gott Metzger citation: https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/william-e-metzger-jr 1967: Capt Lance P. Sijan Sijan citation:

  1909: The French government awards Orville and Wilbur Wright the Legion of Honor at its New York consulate.