June 30, 1917
Lt. Col. William "Billy" Mitchell relieved Maj. Townsend F. Dodd as Aviation Officer, American Expeditionary Force.
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June 30, 1928
The U.S. won the Gordon Bennett International Balloon Race for the third successive time at Detroit. In the two-day event, Capt. William E. Kepner and Lt. W. O. Eareckson, the pilot and aide, won the trophy permanently after the 460-mile flight.
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June 30, 1965
The XB-70 flew at a speed of Mach 2.85 at an altitude of 68,000 feet. In a 104-minute flight, covering 2,035 miles, the aircraft flew for 50 minutes at twice the speed of sound.
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June 30, 1966
Continental Air Command announced the greatest record of productive airlift in the history of Air Force Reserve flying units. Reservists flew 14,234 missions in 83,097 flying hours to airlift 20,522 tons of cargo and 58,722 passengers in fiscal 1966.
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June 30, 1967
First production model of the F-4E Phantom (USAF version), featuring a multiple barrel 20mm cannon in addition to missile armament, made its initial flight at the McDonnell Douglas plant in St. Louis.
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June 30, 1968
The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, the U.S. Air Force's newest and largest aircraft, makes its first flight.
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June 30, 1970
During fiscal 1970, the Air Force Reserve supported Military Airlift Command's airlift requirements in Southeast Asia by flying 419 missions to deliver 4,900 tons of cargo.
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June 30, 1970
After U.S. ground operations ceased in Cambodia, air strikes continued in interdiction efforts against North Vietnamese sanctuaries under Operation Freedom Deal.
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June 30, 1971
Strategic Air Command's 340th Bomb Group at Carswell AFB, Texas, received the last FB-111 fighter-bomber.
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June 30, 1973
Deputy Secretary of Defense William C. Clements Jr. canceled the Subsonic Cruise Armed Decoy program.
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June 30, 1975
The last Hound Dog missiles were removed from alert.
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June 30, 1975
The U.S. Air Force retired its last Douglas C-47A Skytrain to the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Douglas Aircraft delivered the first aircraft nicknamed the "Gooney Bird" in 1941.
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June 30, 1977
President James E. Carter terminated the B-1 bomber program to produce the air-launched cruise missile.
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June 30, 1982
Rockwell International rolled out the Space Shuttle Challenger.
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June 30, 1983
The 401st Tactical Fighter Wing flew the last F-4D Phantom training sortie in Europe.
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June 30, 1985
At Vandenberg AFB, Calif., Air Force Systems Command conducted the final Peacekeeper test launch from an above ground pad.
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June 30, 1992
Air Mobility Command withdrew the last nuclear artillery shells, Lance missile warheads, and naval depth bombs from overseas to support President George H. W. Bush's Nuclear Forces Initiative of Sept. 7, 1991.
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June 30, 1993
Wurtsmith AFB, Mich., closes after being an active military installation since 1924.
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June 30, 1994
U.S. Air Forces in Europe ends its presence in Berlin, 46 years after the beginning of the Berlin airlift, with the inactivation of Detachment 1, 435th Airlift Wing.
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June 30, 1995
During Operation Quick Lift, 27 C-5s and 53 C-141s airlifted 4,742 British and Dutch military personnel and 1,504 tons of cargo to Croatia to support this U.N action through Aug. 10.
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June 30, 1996
Four KC-135R tankers from the 905th Air Refueling Squadron at Grand Forks AFB, N.D., flew to a forward location to join an Air Expeditionary Force of 34 aircraft (four tankers and 30 fighters). The AEF provided land-based air forces to augment U.S. forces already supporting Operation Southern Watch. The deployment also gave the U.S. Air Force an opportunity to work and train with coalition partners in the Persian Gulf region.
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July 1, 1941
The Air Corps Ferrying Command sent its first air transport flights from Bolling Field, D.C., to Scotland via Montreal and Newfoundland. Using modified B-24 Liberator bombers with seats in the bomb bay, the "Arnold Line" (after Gen. Henry H. Arnold) made six round trips to Scotland monthly. Lt. Col. Caleb V. Haynes flew the first flight.
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July 1, 1946
Maj. Woodrow P. Swancutt from the 509th Composite Group flew the B-29 "Dave's Dream" to Bikini Atoll, where he dropped a Nagasaki-type atomic bomb from 30,000 feet on 73 ships during Operation Crossroads. He sank five and heavily damaged nine ships.
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July 1, 1946
The first presidential airplane, a C-118 Liftmaster, "The Independence," arrived at Washington National Airport. A military version of the Douglas DC-6, the four-engine Liftmaster could carry 20,200 pounds for 2,000 miles, and it could carry up to 76 troops.
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July 1, 1949
Lockheed's F-94 Starfire prototype first flew.
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July 1, 1950
The 374th Troop Carrier Wing airlifted the first troops from the U. S. Army 24th Infantry Division in Japan to Pusan.
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July 1, 1957
The 704th Strategic Missile Wing, the U.S. Air Force's first ballistic missile wing, activated at Cooke AFB, to maintain an Atlas D alert force and train crews for duty with the missile.
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July 1, 1959
The U.S. Air Force (Tactical Air Command) used the C-130 aircraft as a paratrooper jump platform for the first time.
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July 1, 1959
Strategic Air Command inactivated its first missile wing, the 704th Strategic Missile Wing at Vandenberg AFB, Calif.
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July 1, 1960
Strategic Air Command began testing an airborne command post, a modified KC-135, in ground alert operations at Offutt AFB, Neb.
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July 1, 1960
Strategic Air Command activated the 394th Missile Training Squadron at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., to train combat crews for the Minuteman missile.
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July 1, 1961
The North American Air Defense Command begins operation of a space detection and tracking system designed to provide electronic cataloging of man-made space objects.
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July 1, 1962
Strategic Air Command activated its first Minuteman 1B squadron, the 66th Strategic Missile Squadron, at Ellsworth AFB, S.D.
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July 1, 1964
Strategic Air Command activated its last and 13th Minuteman 1B squadron, the 400th Strategic Missile Squadron at Francis E. Warren AFB, Wyo.
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July 1, 1964
The first jet-augmented KC-97L became operational.
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July 1, 1965
TIROS X, the first weather satellite paid for by the U.S. Weather Bureaus, launched into a north-south polar orbit from Cape Kennedy, Fla., to report on hurricane situations in the Caribbean and Atlantic.
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July 1, 1966
Secretary of the Air Force Harold Brown presented the Gen. Thomas D. White Space Trophy to Lt. Col. Edward H. White, the first astronaut to walk in space. The trophy is awarded annually to the Air Force officer or unit making the foremost contribution to U.S. progress in aerospace.
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July 1, 1966
The U.S. Air Force started aeromedical flights from Saigon to the U.S. via Japan. This route reduced flight time by 24 hours.
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July 1, 1970
At Pease AFB, N.H., the 509th Bombardment Wing became the first operational ready unit equipped with FB-111 aircraft.
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July 1, 1971
Selfridge AFB, Mich., is turned over by the Aerospace Defense Command to the Air National Guard. It is the first major active U.S. Air Force base to come under control of the Air Guard.
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July 1, 1974
Aerojet-General received a follow-on contract for the Titan III.
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July 1, 1975
Air National Guard air refueling units began support Strategic Air Command operations.
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July 1, 1976
Strategic Air Command transferred its drone reconnaissance program from the 100th Strategic Reconnaissance at Davis Monthan AFB, Ariz. to Tactical Airlift Command. Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical Division built the small unmanned remotely piloted jet powered drones that were launched from DC-130 aircraft and recovered in mid-air by CH-3 recovery helicopters. All Strategic Air Command drones, six DC-130s and seven CH-3 recovery helicopters were transferred.
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July 1, 1979
General Dynamics and Boeing began competitive tests to determine which company would receive the air-launched cruise missile contract.
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July 1, 1982
At Shaw AFB, S.C., Tactical Air Command formally accepted the F-16.
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July 1, 1985
U.S. Air Forces in Europe activated its first ground launched cruise missile wing, the 501st Tactical Missile Wing, at Royal Air Force Greenham Common, England.
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July 1, 1985
The 7th Bombardment Wing at Carswell AFB, Texas became the first unit to receive the air-launched cruise missile, modified for use on B-52H Stratofortess bombers.
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July 1, 1985
A C-141 Starlifter from the 438th Military Airlift Wing flew 39 passengers that were released from the hijacked Trans World Airlines flight 847 on June 30 by two Shiite Muslins. These survivors were flow from Damascus to Rhein-Main AB, Germany.
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July 1, 1988
The U.S. and the Soviet Union agreed to destroy their intermediate-range missile stockpiles in the Intermediate range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Each side sent inspectors to conduct on-site inspections of production facilities. During Phase I, C-5s and C-141s flew Soviet inspectors to the U.S. and carried American inspectors to the ports of entry in the Soviet Union to inaugurate a continuing mission.
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July 1, 1992
Continuing reorganization, the Air Force inactivates Air Force Logistics Command and Air Force Systems Command, replacing them with the Air Force Materiel Command.
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July 1, 1993
Twentieth Air Force, which is responsible for day-to-day operation of the nation's ICBM force, transfers from Air Combat Command to Air Force Space Command. Air Training Command is redesignated the Air Education and Training Command, to which Air University, now ceasing to be a major command, is assigned. Air Combat Command transfers Vandenberg AFB, Calif., to U.S. Air Force Space Command, which activates the Fourteenth Air Force to perform missile warning, space surveillance, and launch and satellite control.
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July 1, 1994
The Kansas Air National Guard's 184th Bomb Group became the first guard unit to receive B-1B Lancers.
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July 1, 1994
The U.S. Air Force transferred the responsibility for intercontinental ballistic missiles from Air Combat Command to Air Force Space Command.
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July 1, 1994
During Operation Desert Storm, the last F-15E Strike Eagle left the Persian Gulf region. The aircraft went to the area in August 1990 at the start of Desert Shield.
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July 2, 1926
Congress established the Distinguished Flying Cross and made the award retroactive to April 6,1917.
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July 2, 1943
Lt. Charles Hall, 99th Fighter Squadron, became the first U.S. African American pilot to shoot down an Axis plane, a German Focke-Wulf 190 over Sicily, Italy.
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July 2, 1944
Using Fifth Air Force air support, the 158th Regimental Combat Team (Task Force Cyclone) landed on Noemfoor Island, Schouten Islands, off the north coast of Dutch New Guinea. The Royal Air Force's Number Two Works Wing started construction on Kamiri airstrip at once. The next day, 54th Troop Carrier Wing C-47s dropped the 1st Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment over the airfield. Infantry from the 158th Royal Construction Team secured Kornasoren Airfield on July 4. The airdrome at Kamiri received its first fighter group on July 16, the Kornasoren field on July 25.
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July 2, 1952
The U.S. Air Force announced that the Lockheed F-94C Starfire was first fighter to be armed solely with rockets.
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July 2, 1955
The biggest troop airlift in history to date began at Donaldson AFB, S.C., when 3,900 paratroopers moved from the U. S. to Japan and 3,100 from Japan to the U. S.
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July 2, 1964
Strategic Air Command received its first KC-35B airborne command post.
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July 2, 1964
The final Polaris A3 missile of the program launched from Cape Kennedy, Fla. Its 2,500 mile flight was the 41st in a program that began in 1962.
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July 2, 1967
An U.S. Air Force Titan III-C booster launched from the Eastern Test Range inserted six satellites-three Initial Defense Communications Satellite Program satellites, a scientific capsule, a gravity-measuring device, and an antenna test satellite--into orbit. These IDCSP satellites combined with 15 others launched on June 16, 1966 and Jan.18, 1967 to complete the Pacific link of the DoD's IDCSP system. This system was designed to provide reliable, full-time radio communications between Washington D.C. and Vietnam.
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July 2, 1969
Aerospace Rescue and Recovery forces in Southeast Asia completed their 2,500th save when they evacuated three wounded men from the Mekong Delta.
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July 2, 1982
Fairchild Republic Company selected to develop the T-46A, next generation trainer.
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July 2, 1982
A Titan II (site 570-9) belonging to the 570th Strategic Missile Squadron at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz. came off alert for testing. It became the first Titan II to inactivate under a phase out program.
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July 2, 1984
The inactivation of a second Titan II unit, the 381st Strategic Missile Wing at McConnell AFB, Kan. began earlier in the year. The wing's first site came off alert on July 2.
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July 2, 1987
Rockwell international received a $155.2 million contract to build AC-130U gunships.
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July 2, 1993
Air Mobility Command integrated tanker and airlift forces under 15th and 21st Air Forces.
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July 2, 1998
Air Mobility Command flew 10 C-5 and two C-141 missions to assist Federal Emergency Management Agency firefighting efforts in Florida. The airlifters delivered more than 300 people and 740 tons of equipment to NAS Jacksonville and Patrick AFB, Fla. during Operation Phoenix Flame. Active duty, reserve, and guard units supported efforts to fight wildfires in about 200,000 acres of Florida.
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July 3, 1915
Lt. Byron Q. Jones became the first Army officer to deliberately loop and stall an aircraft at San Diego.
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July 3, 1949
The U.S. Air Force gave the B-29 "Enola Gay," the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, to the Smithsonian Institute.
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July 3, 1950
Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg ordered the 22nd Bomb Group to deploy with their B-29s to the Far East for conventional bombing operation against North Korea.
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July 3, 1958
A Boeing 707 Stratoliner set a commercial speed record by flying 1,550 miles from Mexico City to Los Angeles in three hours, nine minutes.
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July 3, 1970
Military Airlift Command's first C-5A Galaxy, assigned to the 437th Military Airlift Wing, left Charleston AFB, S.C., on its first mission outside the Continental United States. The Galaxy made a 10-day tour of Pacific Air Forces bases to provide a first-hand explanation of its unique capabilities to MAC officers and Airmen. The C-5A stopped at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, Andersen AB, Guam, Clark AB, Philippines, Cam Ranh Bay, Kadena and Yokota ABs in Japan, and Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, before returning to Charleston on July 13. In the states, the C-5 also visited Dover and Travis AFBs, on its 21,500-nautical-mile-tour.
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July 3, 1992
The U.S. European Command launches Operation Provide Promise to provide relief flights to Bosnia-Herzegovina. Eventually the U.S. Air Force delivers tens of thousands of tons of food, medical supplies, and other humanitarian cargo to Bosnia.
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July 3, 1996
Majors Gavin L. Ketchen and Richard Vanderburgh from the 509th Bomb Wing flew the 12th operational B-2 Spirit from the Northrop Grumman plant at Palmdale, Calif., to Whiteman AFB, Mo.
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July 4, 1952
The first mass flight of jet fighters to be supported by aerial refueling, as well as the first flight by large members of jet fighters from the United States to Japan, flew westward through July 17. In the operations, KB-29Ps provide 118 air refuelings to the 59 F-84G Thunderjets from the 31st Fighter Expeditionary Wing at Turner AFB, Ga. Col. David C. Schilling led the flight from Turner on July 4 and landed at Yokota AB, Japan, on July 16 and 17. They flew the 10,895 miles with only seven stops. The KB-29 refuelings occurred over the U.S. and before Hawaii. Military Air Transportation Service aircraft also carried wing support members to Japan.
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July 4, 1973
An Air Force Reserve HU-16, assigned to the 301st Aerospace Recovery Squadron at Homestead AFB, Fla., set a world's altitude record for twin-engine amphibious aircraft. The plane flew to 32,833 feet and exceeded the old record by 4,000 feet.
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July 4, 1974
The 555th or "Triple Nickel" Tactical Fighter Training Squadron was reassigned to Luke AFB, Ariz., and named as the Air Force's first F-15A squadron.
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July 4, 1982
The Space Shuttle Challenger flown on a modified Boeing 747 to Kennedy Space Center. Meanwhile, the Columbia made its first landing on a concrete runway on its last test flight with nearly 500,000 spectators, including President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan.
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July 4, 1982
The F-16E/XL completed its first flight at Carswell AFB, Texas.
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July 4, 1987
Four U.S. Air Force crewmembers took off in a B-1B from the Rockwell plant at Palmdale, Calif., for its initial acceptance flight. They set a speed and payload record off the Pacific Coast by traveling 1,080 natical miles with a 66,140-pound payload at 685 mph. Then through Sept. 17, two B-1Bs from Detachment 15, Air Force Plant Representative Office and System Program Office set 72 world and national speed, distance and payload records. For this achievement, the detachment won the Mackay Trophy.
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July 5, 1912
Capt. Charles Deforest Chandler, Lts. Thomas DeWitt Milling and Henry H. Arnold became the first qualified "Military Aviators." They received their badges on Oct. 6.
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July 5, 1952
A world record of 124 parachute jumps in one day set at Grand Prairie, Texas, by paratrooper Neal Stewart of Birmingham, Ala.
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July 5, 1962
Flying from Hill AFB, Utah to Springfield, Minn., Capt Chester R. Radcliffe, Jr. piloted a H-43B Huskie to a world distance record of 900 miles.
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July 5, 1974
The 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron moved without personnel or equipment from Udorn Royal Thailand Air Force Base to Luke AFB, Ariz. to become the first F-15 Eagle squadron in the U. S. Air Force.
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July 5, 1993
Air Mobility Command moved 334 U.S. Army soldiers and 850 short tons of equipment from Germany to Macedonia on 15 C-5, two C-141 and three C-130 missions to help the U.N. prevent the spread of fighting in the former Yugoslavia.
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July 6, 1908
The Signal Corps appointed the Aeronautical Board to conduct tests on dirigibles, balloons and airplanes being built under contract.
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July 6, 1915
Capt. V. E. Clark, the first air officer to graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a Doctor of Engineering reported to North Island, Calif.
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July 6, 1924
Maj. Henry H. Arnold set a new speed record by flying 500 miles between Rockwell Field, Calif. and San Francisco in four hours, 25 minutes.
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July 6, 1950
The Harmon International Aviation Awards Committee named James H. Doolittle the Aviator of the Decade, Jacqueline Cochran, the Outstanding Aviatrix, and Vice Admiral Charles E. Rosendahl the top aeronaut (lighter-than-air).
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July 6, 1950
Nine B-29s conducted the first strategic air attacks of the Korean War by bombing the Rising Sun oil refinery at Wonsan and a chemical plant at Hungman in North Korea.
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July 6, 1951
An Air Mobility Command KB-29M tanker, operated by a Strategic Air Command crew assigned to the 43d Air Refueling Squadron, conducts the first air refueling over enemy territory under combat conditions.
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July 6, 1953
U. S. Air Forces in Europe began an airlift of children from Berlin to West Germany for a summer vacation in German and American homes.
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July 6, 1961
An Atlas E launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., set a U.S. record by flying 9,050 miles and dropping a 1.5-ton payload on target, 1,000 miles southeast of Capetown, South Africa.
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July 6, 1982
A Military Airlift Command C-130 left Rhein-Main AB, Germany for Kano, Nigeria, with two crews, maintenance personnel, an airlift control element parts, rations, satellite communications, and water. After setting up an operating base, the aircraft flew to N'Dhanenam Chad, where the crews began alternating flights to Abe'che' and Faya-Largeau. In a week, the C-130 carried 113 tons of food supplies to Chadian civil war refugees.
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July 6, 1989
President George H. W. Bush presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, to retired Gen. James H. Doolittle at the White House. General Doolittle led the famous World War II raid on Tokyo.
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July 6, 2005
The 305th Air Mobility Wing at McGuire AFB received the 13th and last C-17, when Lt. Gen. Walter Buchanan III, the Ninth Air Force and U.S. Central Command Air Forces commander at Shaw AFB delivered the C-17 from the Boeing in Long Beach, Calif. The first C-17 had been delivered to the 305th on Sept. 24, 2004.
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