On This Day in History

1971:    The USAF contracts Boeing to produce the Short-Range Attack Missile for the FB-111, B-52, and proposed B-1.

  1944:    MEDAL OF HONOR. For valorous service this date, Lt Col James H. Howard receives the medal. He becomes the lone fighter pilot to receive the Medal in the European theater. The Medal is

1994:    HH-60G Pave Hawk from 56th Rescue Squadron at Keflavik, Iceland rescues six sailors off the coast; crews receive the 1994 Mackay trophy.

1973:    Secretary of the Air Force Robert C. Seamans, Jr. picks Fairchild’s A-10 and General Electric’s TF-34 engine as winners of A-X competition.

1973:    LAST AERIAL VICTORY. In their F-4D Phantom 65-0796, Capt Paul D. Howman and 1Lt Lawrence W. Kullman shoot down a MiG southwest of Hanoi with a radar-guided AIM-7 missile. This shootdown was the last

2002:    A 437th Airlift Wing C-17 arrives at Guantanamo Bay with the first materials to build a prison for Taliban and Al Qaeda detainees (Camp Delta).

1996:    Operation Provide Promise, regarded as the longest sustained humanitarian airlift in history, officially ends. USAF flies 4,597 of the 12,895 sorties. A commemorative flight takes place on Jan 9.

1949:    Representative Carl Vinson of Georgia, generally known for his support of the Navy, introduces a bill to speed guided missile research and to create a 70-group Air Force.

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.

  1929:    THE QUESTION MARK. Through 7 January, to test in-flight refueling and crew and aircraft endurance, Maj Carl A. Spaatz and crew fly the Question Mark, a modified Fokker C2-3 with a Wright 220