On This Day in History

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.

1952:   KOREAN WAR. Maj. William H. Wescott destroys his fifth MiG in four weeks to become the war’s 12th ace.  His F-86 Saber Jet, “Lady Francis,” had also been flown by World War II/Korean War

1967:   Maj Gen Benjamin D. Foulois dies at Andrews AFB at the age of 87. He was the first person to fly an Army dirigible; first military observer on a cross-country flight, with Orville Wright;

1943:   The first class of women pilots graduates from US Army Air Force flight training (shown on their initial reporting date).

1991:   SECAF Donald B. Rice announces the winner of the Advanced Tactical Fighter competition. He selects the Lockheed/Boeing/General Dynamics F-22 with the Pratt and Whitney F-119 engine.