On This Day in History

1968:    SIEGE OF KHE SANH. 35,000 Communist forces begin an extended siege of two Marine infantry battalions and an artillery battalion at Khe Sanh, Vietnam. Earlier, on 16 January, C-130s had airlifted another Marine infantry […]

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 to

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

1991:   Operation Secret Squirrel. The 2d Bomb Wing at Barksdale sends B-52Gs at 0636 local time to Iraq; they launch 35 cruise missiles on 17 January at the start of Desert Storm.

1950:   General of the Air Force Henry H. Arnold dies of a heart ailment at Sonoma, CA.

1944:    MEDAL OF HONOR. For valorous service this date, Lt Col James H. Howard receives the medal. Citation: http://www.cmohs.org/recipient-detail/2795/howard-james-h.php

2002:    Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. A  C-17 departs Kandahar with the first 20 Taliban and Al Qaeda prisoners on a trip to Guantanamo Bay. The C-17 stops briefly at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, where the prisoners were

1943:    First flight of the Lockheed C-121 (XC-69) Super Constellation.

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