This Day in Air and Space History

  1945: Gen Carl Spaatz sends Eighth Air Force bombers and P-51 escorts against Berlin to destroy the Luftwaffe. General Galland of the Luftwaffe later said, “Whenever our fighters appeared, the Americans hurled themselves at

  1999: Operation ALLIED FORCE. An F-15 shoots down two MiG-29s in aerial combat over Yugoslavia on the third day of the operation.

    1975: USAF organizes an airlift to evacuate 10,000 people a day from Da Nang, South Vietnam. Communist forces had surrounded and completely cut off this provincial city.

    1948: The Lockheed T-33 Tee Bird (the TF-80C) makes its first flight.

  1965: The Ranger IX lunar probe mission launches; it impacts within 4 miles of moon target area on 24 March. En route it sends back high-quality TV pictures from the moon.

  The C-17 Globemaster III fleet surpasses its millionth flight hour during a mission to evacuate injured US troops from Iraq to Germany. Colonel William O. Hill, the 172 AW Commander (Mississippi ANG) flies C-17

    1910: Orville Wright opens the Wright Flying School at Montgomery, AL. This site becomes Maxwell AFB.

  1945: After Germans shoot down Maj Pierce W. McKennon near Berlin, his wingman Lt George D. Green lands near him, dumps out his dingy and parachute, lets McKennon get in, and then sits in

  1983: Thru 28 Mar SAC successfully demonstrates sea interdiction capability with three AGM-84 Harpoon missile launches from a B-52.

  2003: The Air Force Flight Test Center  accelerates dual-door separation testing of the F-117A; results are sent immediately to the AOR and are employed at the onset of Operation Iraqi Freedom.