May 9, 1978
1978: McDonnell Douglas delivers the 5,000th F-4 Phantom built to the Air Force. This date is disputed: some sources say May 24th.
1978: McDonnell Douglas delivers the 5,000th F-4 Phantom built to the Air Force. This date is disputed: some sources say May 24th.
MACKAY TROPHY. An AC-119K gunship attacks a heavily defended road section in SEA. Despite losing 15 feet of the aircraft’s right wing and an aileron, the crew continues the battle and then returns to base. For
1942: Through 8 May, the Battle of Coral Sea featured the first naval engagement fought by aircraft, as the opposing ships made no contact.
1973: The 1972 Mackay Trophy goes to three Vietnam aces: Captains Richard S. “Steve” Ritchie, Charles B. DeBellevue, and Jeffery S. Feinstein.
Lieutenants John Macready and Oakley Kelly 1923: MACKAY TROPHY and Distinguished Flying Cross. Lts. Kelly & Maccready fly 1st nonstop transcontinental flight, NY-San Diego, 2,520 miles in 26:50:03 seconds
MEDAL OF HONOR: A B-17 bomber, with Sgt Maynard H. Smith as gunner, comes under intense enemy fire while returning from a mission to enemy-occupied Europe. Smith, on his first mission, elects
April 26, 1966: F-4C crew Major Paul Gilmore and 1Lt William Smith, shoots down a MiG-21 over N. Vietnam, 1st to be destroyed in combat. Shown here with their McDonnell F-4C Phantom II, (vnmilitaryhistory.net)
1942: Gen Henry H. Arnold establishes a new numbered Air Force, which later becomes Eighth Air Force. The Eighth sustains over 26,000 deaths in World War II, greater than the US Marines.