On This Day in History

1996:    At Hill AFB an F-16 Fighting Falcon logs the five millionth hour of flying time for the F-16 fleet. Captain Kurt Gallegos of the West Coast F-16 Demonstration Team flies the Falcon. Major Mike […]

1942:    BEGINNING OF THE “HUMP” AIRLIFT. Air Transport Command activates its India-China Division.

1907:    At Hammondsport, the Curtiss Motor Vehicle Company becomes the first airplane company formed in the US.

1975:    FIRST RED FLAG. The first annual exercise occurs at Nellis AFB to provide realistic training for combat aircrews.

2001:    Operation SWIFT FREEDOM. C-17s land in Afghanistan on an airstrip about 80 miles south of Kandahar to deliver Navy Seabees.

1972:    The US Geological Survey completes a map of Mars–the first detailed map of another planet–from 1,500 of 7,000 photos taken by Mariner IX, which was launched on 30 May 1971.

1969: Arnold Engineering and Development Center completes testing on the General Electric TF39 turbofan engine, destined for the C-5 Galaxy.

1952:    MEDAL OF HONOR. Maj Charles J. Loring deliberately crashes his damaged aircraft into enemy gun emplacements. receives Medal of Honor posthumously. Citation: http://www.cmohs.org/recipient-detail/3150/loring-charles-j-jr.php

1994:    Project SAPPHIRE. Thru 23 Nov, three C-5s from the 436 AW carry 1,300 pounds of highly enriched uranium from Kazakhstan to Dover AFB to protect it from use in terrorism.

1964:    MACKAY TROPHY/DRAGON ROUGE RESCUE MISSION. Pope C-130 crews receive trophy for airlift and extraction, freeing hostages in the Congo.