On This Day in History

1970:    MACKAY TROPHY. An AC-119K gunship attacks a heavily defended road section in SEA. Despite losing 15 feet of the aircraft’s right wing and an aileron, the crew destroys three enemy supply trucks and then […]

1949:    Henry H. Arnold is named General of the Air Force.  He had been made a five-star general of the Army in December 1944 and is thus the only person to hold the rank in two services.

2006:   The last operational C-141 Starlifter (Tail No. 66-0177) lands at Wright Field for donation to the National Museum of the USAF. The landing ends 42 years of ops in the active-duty USAF, ANG, and

1987:   The last Titan II missile came off alert at Little Rock AFB, marking the close of a quarter century of uninterrupted service.

1968:   Gen Carl Spaatz (USAF retired) receives the Thomas D. White National Defense Award for 1968.

  1960:    Soviet air defenses shoot down a U-2 flying from Pakistan to Norway, capturing CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers.

1999:    The NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB unveils the X-34, a technology demonstrator for a reusable space launch vehicle.

  1975: Operation FREQUENT WIND. Through 30 April, USAF, Marine, and Navy helicopters airlift 6,000-plus people in the final evacuation of Saigon. This was the first major operation involving flights of USAF helicopters from an

  1993:    SECDEF Les Aspin announces that women would be allowed to serve in combat roles. This policy change allowed female pilots to fly USAF combat aircraft.

  1995:    AFSPACE declares its GPS satellites fully operational. This system provided accurate geo­graphical coordinates.