May 27, 1913
1913: Under General Order No. 39, Army officers who qualified as military aviators receive a Military Aviator’s Certificate and badge. At the time, 24 officers qualify.
May 24, 1972
1972: President Nixon and USSR Premier Kosygin sign an agreement in Moscow for use of outer space for peaceful purposes.
May 23, 2000
2000: Randolph AFB receives the first production-model T-6A Texan II. USAF’s new primary trainer would replace the T-37 and the Navy’s T-34 training aircraft.
May 22, 1906
1906: The U.S. government issues the Wright Brothers the first patent on their flying machine (after turning down two earlier submissions from them).
May 21, 1956
1956: Operation REDWING (Cherokee test). On Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, Maj David Crichlow flies the B-52 Barbara Grace to nearly 50,000 feet and drops an H-bomb, the first US H-Bomb air drop.
May 20, 1927
1927: Charles A. Lindbergh, a Captain in the Missouri National Guard’s 110th Observation Squadron, lands his Ryan Monoplane, the “Spirit of St. Louis,” in Paris on 21 May after the first nonstop solo flight
May 17, 1919
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, and continued until World War II.
May 16, 1947
1947: Over New York, 101 B-29s “theoretically” drop bombs in SAC’s first Maximum Effort mission.
May 15, 1975
1975: MAYAGUEZ INCIDENT. US military forces initiate combat actions to recover the SS Mayaguez and crew who had been seized by Khmer communist forces. This incident ends official American combat action in Southeast Asia.
May 14, 1979
1979: The last ANG C-121 type aircraft, an EC-121 “Coronet Solo” operated by the 193d Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron (Pennsylvania), retires from service and is flown to the Military Aircraft Storage and Disposition Center