On This Day in History

1972:    Operation LINEBACKER II. President Nixon halts the bombing of North Vietnam north of the 20th parallel. Peace talks resume in Paris on 8 January.

1951:    KOREAN WAR. Far East Air Forces aircraft flies 900 sorties, the largest number of the month, to damage or destroy locomotives, rail cars, buildings, vehicles, and gun positions.

1972:    Operation LINEBACKER II. President Nixon halts the bombing of North Vietnam north of the 20th parallel. Peace talks resume in Paris on 8 January.

1943:    For extraordinary heroism this date, radio operator TSgt Forrest Vosler receives the Medal of Honor. Citation: http://www.cmohs.org/recipient-detail/3041/vosler-forrest-l.php  

1945: President Truman urges establishment of the Department of Defense with an air arm equal to the Army and Navy. www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/218/special-message-congress-recommending-establishment-department-national

1972:    Operation LINEBACKER II: President Nixon orders this 11-day all-out bombing campaign against targets in Hanoi and Haiphong, one of the most heavily defended areas of the world. Altogether, the USAF completes 714 B-52 and

1903:    Orville Wright makes the first sustained, controlled power airplane flight in the Kill Devil Hills, near Kitty Hawk. In the fourth, and longest flight of the day, flown by Wilbur, the Wright Flyer flies

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