On This Day in History

1972:    LINEBACKER I: 8th Tactical Fighter Wing F-4s drop precision-guided munitions on the Paul Doumer Bridge in Hanoi, closing it to traffic. For a recap on this and other bridge attacks during the Vietnam […]

1961:   The 379th Bomb Wing at Wurtsmith AFB, MI., receives SAC’s first B-52H (number 60-0001, shown here later at Barksdale AFB). It was known as Memphis Belle IV.

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 was made a five star general of the Army in December 1944, and is thus the only person to hold the rank in two services.

1942:   Through 8 May, the Battle of Coral Sea features the first naval engagement fought by aircraft, as the opposing ships made no contact with their opponents.  

1973:   The 1972 Mackay Trophy goes to three Vietnam aces: Captains Richard S. “Steve” Ritchie, Charles B. DeBellevue, and Jeffery S. Feinstein.  

1957:   The USAF accepts its first F-101A Voodoo.

1943:   B-17 gunner Sergeant Maynard H. Smith receives the MEDAL OF HONOR for heroic service on this date saving his crew members’ lives.  http://www.cmohs.org/recipient-detail/3004/smith-maynard-h.php

1917:   In World War I, Maj William “Billy” Mitchell becomes the first American officer to fly over the German lines, as an observer in a French aircraft.

1991:   A C-141 delivers 15 tons of blankets for Kurdish refugees in the first airlift mission into Iran since 1979.