On This Day in History

1953: The XC-99, the world’s largest plane to date, makes its first transatlantic flight from Kelly AFB to Frankfurt, Germany, with 60,000 pounds of cargo. For size comparison, The XC-99 is shown in flight c. […]

1972:  The first director of the F-15 Joint Test Force, Lt Col Wendell Shawler becomes the first USAF pilot to fly the F-15.

2003: A C-9A Nightingale (No. 68-10959) assigned to the 375th Airlift Wing at Scott AFB performs the last scheduled C-9 aeromedical evacuation mission.

1983:          Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger directs the USAF to deploy 100 Peacekeeper missiles in Mi­nuteman Silos.

1945: Maj Charles W. Sweeney, flying the “Bockscar” B-29, drops a second atomic bomb, called “Fat Man,” on Nagasaki. Later in his career, Sweeney becomes the commander of the Massa­chusetts ANG. He dies on 16

1945: Flying his “Enola Gay” B-29 from Tinian Island, Col Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. and his crew drop the atomic bomb “Little Boy” on Hiroshima. This photo shows the officers on the mission, with Tibbits

1950: MEDAL OF HONOR. Maj Louis J. Sebille, the 67th Fighter Bomber Squadron Commander, dies near Hamchang, Korea, when he crashes his severely damaged F-51 into an enemy position. Major Sebille posthumously received the first

1942: The US begins work on its top secret Manhattan Project to develop an atomic bomb. The photo shows the Hanford B Reactor, the first full-size weapons-grade plutonium production reactor in the world.

1968: The modified XV-5A (now the XV-5B Verifan aircraft) makes its first vertical and hovering flights.