On This Day in History

1977:    Jimmy Carter becomes the first President to fly in the E-4A National Emergency Airborne Command Post in a flight from Andrews AFB, MD to Robins AFB, GA.

  1933:    The Army establishes four provisional air transport squadrons, one at each air depot, to haul equipment and materiel between airfields and the depots as well as transport troops on maneuvers. Major (later Major

1951:    KOREAN WAR/OPERATION THUNDERBOLT. Generals Earl E. Partridge and Matthew B. Ridgway reconnoiter the front lines in a T-6 prior to their 25 January dawn counterattack on Red Chinese forces. To sustain this offensive, in

2002:    A KC-10 arrives at Dulles with John Walker Lindh, a 20-year-old American accused of joining Al Qaeda and fighting in Afghanistan against US forces. A US Park Police helicopter takes Lindh to a detention

  1944:    Operation SHINGLE. To support the amphibious landings at Anzio, the Mediterranean Allied Air Force flies 1,200 sorties.

1991:    Operation DESERT STORM/AIR FORCE CROSS. Capt Paul T. Johnson in his A-10 Thunderbolt II finds a downed Navy fighter pilot, who had ejected in Iraqi territory. Johnson destroys a threatening Iraqi truck, allowing an

  2001:    Texas Governor and former Texas Air National Guardsman George W. Bush is inaugurated as Presi­dent of the US. He is the first former Air Guardsman to become President.

1991:    War begins in the Persian Gulf. Operation Desert Shield becomes Operation Desert Storm. More than 1,200 combat sorties are flown, and 106 cruise missiles are launched against targets in Iraq and Kuwait during the

  1991:    Operation Secret Squirrel. The 2d Bomb Wing at Barksdale AFB sends B-52Gs at 0636 local time to Iraq; they launch 35 cruise missiles on 17 January at the start of Desert Storm.

  1950:    General of the Air Force Henry H. Arnold dies of a heart ailment at Sonoma, CA.