On This Day in History

1942:    The first women enter US AAF flight training at the Houston Municipal Airport; the unit is designated the 319th Army Air Force Flying Training Detachment.

1921: FIRST AIR-TO-AIR REFUELING. Wesley May, with a 5-gallon can of gasoline strapped to his back, steps from the wing of a Lincoln Standard to the wing skid of a JN-4 and climbs to the

1918: The armistice ending World War I is declared. During the conflict, the Army Air Service drop 138 tons of bombs and had verified credits for 765 aircraft and 76 balloons destroyed.

1942: Through 13 November, the 33rd Fighter Group flies 100 P-40s from the carriers USS Chenango and HMS Archer to land at Port Lyautey airfield, Morocco.

  MEDALS OF HONOR received for valorous service this date:   1944: 1Lt Donald J. Gott and 2Lt William E. Metzger (same B-17 crew)            Gott citation: https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/donald-j-gott            Metzger citation: https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/william-e-metzger-jr 1967: Capt Lance

  1942: Thru 11 Nov, Army and carrier-based airplanes support the invasion of North Africa, and American troops land on French-held territory. Colonel Demas T. Craw volunteers to negotiate an armistice between the US and

    1943: The 56th Fighter Group (P-47s) becomes the first Eighth Air Force fighter group credited with 100 enemy aircraft destroyed.  

2003: NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB begins Block 2 testing on two Boeing X-45A Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles. This program added communications links for flight coordination from other locations, and the ability

1959: The Air Force successfully transports an ICBM by air for the first time by flying an Atlas D on a C-133B from San Diego to Francis E. Warren AFB. (Photo date unknown)

1944: MEDAL OF HONOR. While on a mission over Meresberg, Germany, a bomber sustains three hits from anti-aircraft shells. A severely wounded navigator, Lt Robert E. Femoyer, re­fuses morphine to keep his head clear so