On This Day in History

1947:     Aboard the VC-54C “Sacred Cow,” which becomes Air Force-1, President Truman signs the National Security Act of 1947 separating the Air Force from the US Army.

1908:   Lt Thomas E. Selfridge, flying as a passenger with Orville Wright, dies when the Wright Flyer crashes at Fort Myer during performance testing. This event was the world’s first fatal airplane accident. Wright also

1951:      For valorous service this date Capt John S. Walmsley, Jr. receives the Medal of Honor posthumously. Citation: https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/john-s-walmsley-jr

1918:   Thru 15 September Colonel William “Billy” Mitchell leads 1,481 planes in the St. Mihiel offensive, the greatest air battle of World War I.

  1943:      The 52nd Troop Carrier Wing uses 80+ troop transports to drop 1,200 paratroopers within Allied lines on Italy’s Salerno Beach, with no losses of planes or men. These reinforcements help stop the Axis

2011: President George W. Bush initiates a war on terrorism and homeland-defense efforts with combat air patrols within the US under operations NOBLE EAGLE and ENDURING FREEDOM.

1942:      The Secretary of War forms the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron, under the leadership of Nancy Harkness Love. In October, female pilots begin ferrying aircraft from production sites to airfields in the US.

1918:   Several planes carry 18 troops from Chanute Field to Champaign, IL to make 1st demonstration of troop transport by air in US.

1985:   Exercise BRAVE DEFENDER. Thru 14 September, the British hold their first off-post national ground defense exercise, with the United States Air Forces in Europe participating. 

1923:   Army bombing tests off Cape Hatteras, NC sink the condemned naval vessels USS New Jersey and USS Virginia, showing vulnerability of naval ships to aerial attack.