On This Day in History

1960:    Capt Joseph W. Kittinger Jr. jumps from 102,800 feet over NM; reaches speeds over 600 mph during 13:08 min descent.

1973:    LAST SEA COMBAT MISSION. All US bombing in Cambodia ends after eight years; an A-7D from 354 TFW flies the last combat mission in SEA.

1912:    Sgt. Vernon Burge receives rating as the U.S. Army’s first enlisted pilot.

1950:    KOREAN WAR. C-119 Flying Boxcars begin airlifting trucks from Tachikawa AB to Taegu.

1961:    An F-105 lifts the largest load ever carried aloft by a single-engine aircraft in dropping over seven tons of conventional bombs on a target.

1945:    Maj Charles W. Sweeney, flying the “Bockscar” B-29, drops a second atomic bomb, called “Fat Man,” on Nagasaki.

1955:    Over Edwards AFB, the X-1A rocket research plane explodes on its B-29 carrier and is jettisoned to destruction. NACA pilot Joe Walker escapes safely.

1990:    Operation DESERT SHIELD. In response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, the US military deploys to protect Saudi Arabia from Iraqi aggression and to liberate Kuwait.

1955:    China releases crew of Special Ops B-29 “The Stardust 40”, captured on 13 Jan 1953 and held longer than any other POWs in Korean War.

1981:    Directed by President Reagan, USAF air traffic controllers man civilian airport facilities in the US to replace striking civilian controllers.