On This Day in History

1972:   President Nixon and USSR Premier Kosygin in Moscow sign an agreement for use of outer space for peaceful purposes.

1968:   433rd Tactical Fighter Squadron’s Satan’s Angels use a Paveway Laser Guided Bomb (LGB) in combat for the first time. Modified F-4Ds fitted with laser illuminators designate the target.

1934:   Capt (later Maj Gen) Westside T. Larson receives the 1933 Mackay Trophy for developing instrument takeoff and landing procedures on land and sea, and instrument flying over water. He is shown here in WWII

1957:   Maj Robinson Risner flies Lindbergh’s transatlantic route in an F-100 named Spirit of St. Louis II in 6 hours 40 minutes (as compared to the original 33 1/2 hours 30 years earlier).

1980:   MOUNT ST. HELENS Eruption. The USAF Rescue Coordination Center at Scott AFB manages 568 sorties thru 5 June that save 101 lives. 

1919:   The Director of the Air Service orders the use of the national star insignia on all service planes; This order is implemented in August.    

1947:   Over New York, 101 B-29s “theoretically” drop bombs in SAC’s first maximum effort mission.

1918:   Pilots in the Army Aviation Section (Signal Corps) start the government’s first permanent airmail route from Washington to New York.

1973:   From Kennedy Space Center, a two-stage Saturn V launches Skylab 1 into orbit, where its two Solar Array System wings fail to deploy. These were partially repaired on subsequent missions. Skylab was America’s first

1942:   President Roosevelt orders the Air Medal to be established for any military person who accomplishes meritorious achievement in aerial flight.