On This Day in History

1912:    Sgt. Vernon Burge receives rating as the U.S. Army’s first enlisted pilot.

1950:    KOREAN WAR. C-119 Flying Boxcars begin airlifting trucks from Tachikawa AB to Taegu.

1961:    An F-105 lifts the largest load ever carried aloft by a single-engine aircraft in dropping over seven tons of conventional bombs on a target.

1945:    Maj Charles W. Sweeney, flying the “Bockscar” B-29, drops a second atomic bomb, called “Fat Man,” on Nagasaki.

1955:    Over Edwards AFB, the X-1A rocket research plane explodes on its B-29 carrier and is jettisoned to destruction. NACA pilot Joe Walker escapes safely.

1990:    Operation DESERT SHIELD. In response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, the US military deploys to protect Saudi Arabia from Iraqi aggression and to liberate Kuwait.

1955:    China releases crew of Special Ops B-29 “The Stardust 40”, captured on 13 Jan 1953 and held longer than any other POWs in Korean War.

1981:    Directed by President Reagan, USAF air traffic controllers man civilian airport facilities in the US to replace striking civilian controllers.  

1987:    The 552d Airborne Warning and Control Wing from Tinker AFB completes its 5,000th mission for the Elf One deployment to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Elf One began on 1 October 1980, when the war between

1943:    Operation TIDAL WAVE-Ploesti Raid. Five Medals of Honor were received for Ploesti, three posthumously, more than for any other mission in WW II: Baker, Hughes, Jersterd, Johnson, and Kane.