On This Day in History

1948:    Orville Wright dies in Dayton, Ohio. He was 76.

1915:    The first 20 aviation mechanics are designated after passing specified exams.

1986:    CHALLENGER DISASTER. The Space Shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after launch, killing Astronauts Francis R. Scobee, Navy Cmdr Michael J. Smith, Dr. Judith Resnik, Dr. Ronald E. McNair, Air Force Lt Col Ellison S.

1949:  The United States Air Force adopts the shade 84 blue uniforms. Several years pass before the US Army Air Force uniforms phase out.

1951:    KOREAN WAR/OPERATION THUNDERBOLT. Generals Earl E. Partridge  and Matthew B. Ridgway reconnoiter the front lines in a T-6 prior to their 25 January dawn counter-attack on Red Chinese forces. To sustain this offensive, in

2002:    A KC-10 arrives at Dulles with John Walker Lindh, a 20-year-old American accused of joining Al Qaeda and fighting in Afghanistan against US forces. A US Park Police helicopter takes Lindh to a detention

  1991:    DESERT STORM: F-111F Aardvarks initiate “smart bomb” attacks against hardened aircraft shelters at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq. The attacks are so successful that Iraqi fighters start flying to Iran to escape destruction.

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