On This Day in History

2005:   After five decades of service, USAF and Lockheed Martin launch the last Titan IV B rocket from Vandenberg, its 200th launch.

1962:   The military leadership discusses actions in response to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Air Force Reserve mobilizes eight troop carrier wings and six aerial port squadrons.

1918:   Brig Gen William “Billy” Mitchell briefs General John J. Pershing, Commander of the American Expeditionary Forces, on a plan to airdrop elements of 1st American Infantry Division behind German lines. General Pershing tentatively approves

  1943:   Lockheed receives a contract to produce the XP-80 Shooting Star, the first true American jet-propelled fighter.

1970:   TROPIC MOON. From Ubon Royal Thai AFB, the 13th Bomb Squadron flies its first night interdiction combat mission in Vietnam with the B-57G. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fu7bIYOJOlY

1944:   Lt Chuck Yeager earns “ace-in-a-day” recognition as he is credited with five aerial victories in a single engagement.

1910:   Former President Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first President to fly in an aircraft, as a passenger with Archibald Hoxsey in a Wright biplane at St. Louis.

1972:   Competitive flight tests between the YA-9 and YA-10 begin.

1918:   More than 250 bombers and 100 pursuit planes drop 32 tons of bombs in the cantonment district between La Wavrille and Damvillers.

1940:   The Royal Air Force forms 71 (Eagle) Squadron, the first of three Fighter Command squadrons composed principally of volunteer US pilots flying with the RAF. On 29 September 1942, pilots in this unit form