On This Day in History

  1981:   IRANIAN HOSTAGE RELEASE. Iran releases 52 American hostages held in the American Embassy in Tehran after 444 days. They are flown on an Air Algeria 727 to Algeria, where two C-9As take them […]

1991:   War begins in the Persian Gulf. Operation Desert Shield becomes Operation Desert Storm. More than 1,200 combat sorties are flown, and 106 cruise missiles are launched against targets in Iraq and Kuwait during the

1951:   Six Convair B-36s from the 7th Bomb Wing at Carswell AFB make their first appearance in Europe at Lakenheath, England, after a 7,000-mile flight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3AG-JsjoyA

  1948:   Gen Hoyt S. Vandenberg, Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force, approves the development of satellite components and satellites.

1971:    The USAF contracts Boeing to produce the Short-Range Attack Missile for the FB-111, B-52, and proposed B-1.

  1944:    MEDAL OF HONOR. For valorous service this date, Lt Col James H. Howard receives the medal. He becomes the lone fighter pilot to receive the Medal in the European theater. The Medal is

1994:    HH-60G Pave Hawk from 56th Rescue Squadron at Keflavik, Iceland rescues six sailors off the coast; crews receive the 1994 Mackay trophy.

1973:    Secretary of the Air Force Robert C. Seamans, Jr. picks Fairchild’s A-10 and General Electric’s TF-34 engine as winners of A-X competition.

1973:    LAST AERIAL VICTORY. In their F-4D Phantom 65-0796, Capt Paul D. Howman and 1Lt Lawrence W. Kullman shoot down a MiG southwest of Hanoi with a radar-guided AIM-7 missile. This shootdown was the last

2002:    A 437th Airlift Wing C-17 arrives at Guantanamo Bay with the first materials to build a prison for Taliban and Al Qaeda detainees (Camp Delta).