On This Day in History

1992:    MACKAY TROPHY. At night, a B-52 from the 668th Bomb Squadron (Griffiss AFB) loses two engines when one explodes and damages another. Two other engines on the same side of the air­craft flame out. […]

2001:    President George W. Bush informs Russia that the US would withdraw from the 1972 ABM Treaty to develop and implement a missile defense system.

  1944:    MEDAL OF HONOR: Maj Richard I. Bong, with 38 aerial victories, receives the medal from General MacArthur in ceremonies in the Philippines. Citation: http://www.cmohs.org/recipient-detail/2646/bong-richard-i.php

  1956:    Operation SAFE HAVEN. After a revolt against Soviet rule in Hungary expelled Russian occupation forces, the Soviets send in reinforcements to restore order. But before the Soviet-backed Hungarian government close the borders, some

1963:    SECDEF Robert S. McNamara cancels the X-20A Dyna-Soar Program and places the near-earth Manned Orbiting Laboratory project under USAF direction.

  1998:    President William J. Clinton presents a fourth star to Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., the first black USAF general and the leader of the “Tuskegee Airmen” in World War II.

2001: Operation NOBLE EAGLE. The 125th Fighter Wing (Florida Air National Guard) sends its F-15s to patrol the skies over the Kennedy Space Center for the Space Shuttle Endeavour launch. It was the first shuttle

  1942:    Ninth Air Force sends 24 B-24s to attack ships at the Naples docks in the first US Army Air Forces air strike against mainland Italy in World War II.

  1963:    President Lyndon B. Johnson designates National Air and Space Administration and other facilities at Cape Canaveral as the John F. Kennedy Space Center.