June 19, 1944
1944: BATTLE OF THE PHILIPPINE SEA. Through 20 June, American pilots shoot down 476 Japanese aircraft in “The Marianas Turkey Shoot.” The US loses 130 planes.
June 16, 1936
1936: Seversky Aircraft receives a contract to build P-35s, the Army’s 1st single-seat fighter with a closed cockpit and retractable landing gear.
June 15, 1970
1970: A C-130 flies the final Blind Bat flare mission over the Barrel Roll area of Laos, then returns to Naha AB, Japan.
June 14, 1965
1965: Carl L. Norden, inventor of the Norden bombsight, dies. His device was widely used by American bombers in WW II.
June 13, 1943
1943: Eighth Air Force loses 26 of 60 bombers in a raid on Kiel, Germany, demonstrating the need for fighter escorts.
June 12, 1918
1918: The 96th Aero Squadron carries out the first American daylight-bombing mission in World War I from Amanty Airdrome.
June 9, 1967
1967: USAF starts evacuating 1,300 military and civilian Americans from Middle East due to Arab-Israeli War.
June 8, 1953
1953: The Thunderbirds – officially known as the 3600th Air Demonstration Flight – give their first performance, at Luke AFB, AZ, flying the F-84G.
June 7, 1912
1912: Capt Charles DeForest Chandler becomes the first person to fire a machine gun from an airplane in the US.
June 6, 1970
(courtesy Chicago Tribune, June 7, 1970) 1970: MAC Commander Gen Jack J. Catton flies the 1st C-5 for an operational wing from Lockheed Marietta to Charleston AFB.