On This Day in History

1923: The first airways lighting occurs when 18- and 36-inch electric arc beacons are used to light 42 landing fields between Chicago and Cheyenne. They were visible for 50 miles.

1948:    The Berlin Airlift corridor is equipped with flight aids to ensure continuance of airlift operations in the coming winter.

1943:    8AF sends over 300 B-17s on raids of Schweinfurt and Regensburg, losing 60; leadership re-evaluates the need for fighter escort.

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.