January 1, 1944
U.S. Strategic Air Forces in Europe is activated.
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January 1, 1947
The Pacific Air Command, U.S. Army was redesignated Far East Air Forces (FEAF). Seventh Air Force in Hawaii transferred to Army Air Forces on Jan. 1, and then was designated Pacific Air Command on Dec. 15.
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January 1, 1958
The U.S. Air Force moved the 1st Missile Division and the 704th Strategic Missile Wing to Cooke AFB, Calif. This was the Strategic Air Command's first ballistic missile wing.
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January 1, 1962
Construction ended on the Idaho first squadron of Model A Minuteman I facilities at Malmstrom AFB, Mont. Strategic Air Command also activated its third and last Model A squadron, the 490th Strategic Missile Squadron.
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January 1, 1965
The U.S. Air Force's first SR-71 unit, the 4200th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, activates at Beale AFB, Calif.
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January 1, 1966
Military Air Transport Service is redesignated Military Airlift Command. Air Rescue Service becomes Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service. Air Photographic and Charting Service is renamed Aerospace Audio-Visual Service.
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January 1, 1966
Air National Guard airlift units started flying about 75 cargo flights a month to Southeast Asia. Additionally, the ANG flew about 100-plus flights a month to augment the Military Airlift Command's global airlift mission.
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January 1, 1967
The Air Force received 140 CV-2 Caribou from the U.S. Army. This marked the first time that an entire inventory of an aircraft transferred from one service to another.
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January 1, 1969
The 71st Special Operations Squadron flew the first AC-119 gunship combat mission in Vietnam.
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January 1, 1973
The 509th Bombardment Wing became the first FB-111 unit to use operational short-range attack missiles at Pease AFB, N.H.
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January 1, 1983
Military Airlift Command assigned its 375th Aeromedical Airlift Wing to the 23rd Air Force along with the aeromedical evacuation mission, C-9 aircraft, and the operation of Scott AFB, Ill.
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January 1, 1988
Strategic Air Command changed its crew assignment policy to permit mixed male and female crews in Minuteman and Peacekeeper launch facilities. The male and females were segregated before.
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January 2, 1933
Orville Wright received the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences' first honorary fellowship.
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January 2, 1942
Gen. H.H. Arnold directed the establishment of a new numbered air force, later designated the 8th Air Force.
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January 2, 1948
In Japan, two P-80 Shooting Stars attained 778 mph with aid of tail winds.
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January 2, 1954
Col. Willard W. Millikan set a Federation Aeronautique International record for a cross-country flight in an F-86F Sabre jet averaging 612 mph from Los Angeles to New York in four hours and eight minutes.
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January 2, 1967
Col. Robin Olds, the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing Commander, shot down a MiG and became the only Air Force ace with aerial victories in World War II and the Vietnam War.
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January 2, 1968
Col. Henry Brown and Lt. Col. Joe B. Jordan became the first U.S. Air Force pilots to use an F-111A's emergency escape module when their plane crashed near Edwards AFB, Calif.
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January 3, 1933
Gen. Douglas MacArthur ordered the Air Corps "to conduct the land-based air operations in defense of the U.S. and its overseas possessions."
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January 3, 1945
Fifty-seven of 97 B-29s bombed Nagoya, Japan, in a test-bombing mission to determine the efficacy of fire bombing over conventional high-explosive bombing. The inconclusive results gave the Japanese the mistaken impression that their fire-prevention system was adequate.
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January 3, 1993
President George Bush and Soviet President Boris Yeltsin signed the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty to reduce nuclear bombers, missiles, bombs and warheads.
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January 4, 1936
The Vought SB2U Vindicator first flew.
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January 4, 1957
A joint Army-Tactical Air Command airlift effort supported Project Reorganization and Testing of Airborne Division near Fort Bragg, N.C., through Jan. 28.
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January 4, 1985
Maj. Patricia M. Young becomes the first woman commander of an Air Force Space Command unit - Detachment 1, 20th Missile Warning Squadron.
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January 4, 1994
A C-130 Hercules aircraft squadron composed of Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard personnel joins Operation Provide Promise to deliver relief supplies to Bosnia. It is called "Delta Squadron" and operates from Rhein-Main AB, Germany.
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January 4, 1996
Operation Provide Promise, the longest sustained humanitarian airlift in history, officially ends, after delivering 160,536 metric tons of relief cargo since July 1992. The U.S. Air Force flew 4,597 of the 12,895 sorties.
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January 4, 2001
A C-17 Globemaster III from the 315th Airlift Wing at Charleston AFB, S.C., flew the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft from Buckley AFB, Colo., to the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral.
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January 5, 1915
Lt. Joseph E. Carberry, and Lt. Arthur R. Christie set a two-man American altitude record of 11,690 feet at San Diego. The pilots made the one-hour, 13-minute flight in a Curtiss Tractor (OXX Curtis 100).
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January 5, 1916
The 1st Company, 2nd Aero Squadron sailed from San Francisco for the Philippines. It was the first Aero unit to serve outside the U.S.
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January 5, 1935
The de Haviland Queen Bee first flew.
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January 5, 1949
Capt. Charles E. Yeager, flying the X-1, was air-launched at an altitude of 23,000 feet.
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January 5, 1954
Col. Willard W. Millikan set a speed record, when he flew an F-86F Sabre between New York and Washington, D.C. in 24 minutes.
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January 5, 1968
The Air Force Academy implemented the T-41 Light Plane flight program.
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January 5, 1972
President Richard M. Nixon announced his decision to develop a Space Shuttle system.
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January 5, 2002
A 437th Airlift Wing C-17 from Charleston AFB, S.C., arrived at NAS Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with the first planeload of materials for U.S. Navy Seabees to build a prison for 2,000 Taliban and Al Qaeda detainees captured in Afghanistan.
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December 30, 1914
The Signal Corps accepted the first Burgess-Dunne inherently stable armored airplane.
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December 30, 1945
Republic Aviation revealed its four-engine XF-12 Rainbow. This flying photo laboratory could carry five crewmen at 425 mph. The Army Training Support Center later cancelled its order for six aircraft.
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December 30, 1964
The U.S. Air Force accepted the last of 732 KC-135 aircraft produced at Boeing-Seattle.
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December 30, 1981
Secretary of Defense Casper W. Weinberger ordered the U.S. Air Force to deploy 40 M-X missiles in existing Minuteman silos by 1986 and to study other basing modes.
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December 30, 1994
The Air Force's fifth B-2, the Spirit of South Carolina, joined the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman AFB, Mo
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December 30, 1997
Crews from five Air National Guard C-130s airdropped 50,000 pounds of hay to cattle stranded by blizzards in southeastern New Mexico.
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December 31, 1908
Wilbur Wright flew 77 miles in two hours, 20 minutes, 23 seconds at LeMans, France, to set a record for duration and distance. He also won the Michelin Trophy and $4,000.
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December 31, 1913
Orville Wright demonstrated his automatic stabilizer at Dayton, Ohio. He received the 1913 Collier Trophy for this event.
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December 31, 1938
Boeing's Model 307 Stratoliner, the first passenger aircraft with a pressurized cabin, completed its first flight.
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December 31, 1944
Far East Air Forces units launched a total of 163,397 sorties during 1944, of which 145,640 were considered effective. Fighters conducted the most sorties, with 100,998 sorties airborne and 90,240 effective. The command dropped 92,134 tons of bombs, expended 39,481,000 rounds of .50 caliber ammunition, and destroyed 2,518 enemy aircraft. FEAF units suffered a total of 3,732 casualties, 1,360 dead, 1,206 wounded, and 1,166 either missing, captured, or interned. Aircraft losses totaled 2,584 aircraft of all types.
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December 31, 1957
The U.S. Air Force accepted the first BOMARC area defense missile.
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December 31, 1963
President Lyndon B. Johnson approved U-2 flights over Southeast Asia. The first Strategic Air Command U-2s arrived in the Far East in early February 1964.
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December 31, 1967
The Air Force launched a TIROS satellite from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. This was the 700th major launch from that base since 1959.
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December 31, 1969
The 498th Tactical Missile Group inactivated on Okinawa to end the deployment of CGM-13B Mace tactical missiles there.
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December 31, 1971
During Southeast Asia Combat Operations 1971, Pacific Air Forces tactical forces flew 450,031 combat sorties to drop 642.9 thousand tons of munitions in Southeast Asia in 1971, while losing 87 aircraft (70 to combat). Sorties totaled 87,052 attack sorties and 12,554 B-52 sorties, while KC-135s performed over 62,500 refuelings. Tactical airlift operations within moved 2,282,883 passengers and 283,556 tons of cargo.
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December 31, 1972
Pacific Air Forces tactical forces flew 254,895 combat sorties in South Vietnam in 1972 to drop 899.5 thousand tons of munitions in Southeast Asia in 1972, while losing 194 aircraft. The sorties included 115,298 attack sorties and 28,383 B-52 Arc Light sorties. KC-135s accomplished 111,770 aerial refuelings.
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December 31, 1981
U.S. Air Forces in Europe's first operational F-16s arrived at Hahn AB, Germany, for duty with the 50th Tactical Fighter Wing.
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December 31, 2001
During Operation Enduring Freedom/Noble Eagle, Air Mobility Command aircraft flew 1,757 airlift missions in support of America's war against terrorism outside the U.S. with C-17s and C-5s flying 45 percent and 29 percent of the missions, respectively, lasting from Sept. 11 through the end of 2001. Tanker aircraft played a critical role by performing 953 air refueling missions--838 for KC-135s and 115 for KC-10s. For the Noble Eagle homeland defense mission in the continental United States, Air Mobility Command completed 228 airlift missions with C-130s conducting 53 percent of the flights.
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December 31, 2006
The first group of 10 F-117s officially retired at Holloman AFB, N.M., to make way for new incoming F-22A Raptors.
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