April 28, 1919
Leslie Irving made the first jump from an airplane with a free-type backpack parachute at McCook Field, Ohio. He jumped from a DH-9 flown at 1,500 feet by James "Floyd" Smith, the parachute's designer.
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April 28, 1958
After an in-flight explosion, 1st Lt. James Obenauf notices an unconscious crewmember. Instead of ejecting, Obenauf pilots the B-47 to a safe landing at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas. He will receive the Distinguished Flying Cross for his heroism.
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April 28, 1963
The first successful Titan II launch from an underground silo occurred at Vandenberg AFB, Calif.
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April 28, 1967
An Air Force Titan IIC successfully launched five satellites (two Vela nuclear detection and three scientific) into orbit.
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April 28, 1968
U.S. Air Force Special Operations C-130s airlifted 92,000 pounds of food to La Toma, Ecuador, a drought-stricken area, over a 13-day period.
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April 28, 1970
The 603rd Direct Air Support Squadron ferried the first six O-2A aircraft from Itazuke AB to Osan AB, South Korea to give Pacific Air Forces a forward air controller capability in Korea. Before the O-2A's arrived, all FAC personnel were jeep mounted. The 603rd eventually received 28 O-2As.
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April 28, 1977
The Air National Guard ended the rotation of KC-97 Stratofreighter aircraft to Europe. These air refueling operations began on May 1, 1967.
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April 28, 1993
Secretary of Defense Les Aspin announced that women would be allowed to serve in combat roles. This policy change allowed female pilots to fly U.S. Air Force aircraft.
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April 28, 2003
The combined Air Operations Center at Prince Sultan AB, Saudi Arabia, with responsibility for air operations in Southwest Asia, moved to a forward deployed location. The move coincided with the end of Southern Watch, the operation to enforce a no-fly zone in southern Iraq. The next day, Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, and Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz announced the withdrawal of all U.S. combat forces from Saudi Arabia to end 12 years of a continuous U.S. presence. The U.S. military presence officially ended on Aug. 26.
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April 29, 1918
Lt. Edward V. Rickenbacker downed his first enemy aircraft.
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April 29, 1965
The U.S. Air Force used C-130s and C-124s to airlift 12,000 troops and 17,250 tons of equipment and supplies from Pope AFB, S.C. to San Isidro, Dominican Republic. The airlift, as part of Operation Power Pack, allowed the U.S. to restore stability to the Caribbean Island nation and prevent unfriendly elements from taking it over. Reserve transports and Air National Guard communications aircraft also joined fighters and reconnaissance aircraft in the operation.
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April 29, 1965
The Air Force initiated the F-X (later F-15) program by directing Air Force Systems Command to begin efforts toward acquiring a new tactical fighter.
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April 29, 1967
President Lyndon B. Johnson gave approval to build two prototype supersonic jet transports that could carry 300 passengers at 1,750 mph. Boeing built the airframe and General Electric the engines at a total cost of $1.144 billion.
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April 29, 1972
Secretary of Defense James R. Schlesinger redirected the lightweight fighter program as a competition between the YF-16 and YF-17 to become the new air combat fighter for the Air Force.
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April 29, 1975
Just before the fall of South Vietnam, Military Airlift Command moved the last of 50,493 refugees from Saigon to safe haven bases in the Pacific on 201 C-141 and C-130 missions. Air Rescue and Recovery Service HH-53 helicopters airlifted another 362 evacuees from Saigon to the U.S.S. Midway. This exercise was in support of Operation New Life.
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April 29, 1975
Military Airlift Command used 196 C-141s and C-130s to airlift 31,155 Vietnamese refugees from the Philippines to Guam, while commercial contract carriers began an effort to move 121,560 refugees from South East Asia to the U.S. This lasted through September 16 and was in support of Operation New Arrival.
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April 29, 1976
The U.S. Air Force in Europe aircrews participated through May 15, in the first Allied Air Forces Center Europe Tactical Weapons Meet at Twenthe AB, Netherlands.
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April 29, 1985
The U.S. Air Forces in Europe units at Spangdahlem AB, Germany, participated through May 17, in Exercise Salty Demo, the first integrated basewide effort to measure all facets of an air base's ability to survive attacks and generate post-attack sorties.
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April 30, 1908
Aviation buffs in the 1st Company, Signal Corps, New York National Guard, set up an aeronautical corps to learn about balloons. This effort was the earliest known involvement of the guard in aviation.
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April 30, 1917
In World War I, Maj. William "Billy" Mitchell became the first American officer to fly over the German lines. He flew as an observer in a French aircraft.
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April 30, 1946
The Army and Navy adopted a standard system for designating guided missile and giving them popular names. For designations, four letters would be used: A for air, S for surface, U for underwater and M for missile. These letters would be mixed in three letter combinations, with the first indicating the missile's origin, the second its objective and the third its identity as a missile. As such, a surface-to-air missile became a SAM.
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April 30, 1967
The Air-Launched, Air Recoverable Rocket completed its first operational test. It was designed to detect and identify nuclear tests in the atmosphere.
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April 30, 1969
The U.S. Air Force inactivated the last Mace unit, the 71st Tactical Missile Wing, Bitburg AB, Germany.
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April 30, 1973
The Airborne Warning and Control System completed its European evaluation successfully.
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April 30, 1974
Maj. Mike Love, completed the X-24B's first powered flight after a B-52 dropped the wingless research vehicle from 45,000 feet.
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April 30, 1980
The Defense System Acquisition Review Council decided to produce Boeing's AGM-86B as the air-launched cruise missile.
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April 30, 1996
The Air Force revealed the Tacit Blue aircraft that was secretly used until 1985 to test stealth technology. With its 56-foot wingspan, Tacit Blue furnished the technology used to produce the B-2 Spirit bomber.
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May 1, 1943
Sgt. Maynard H. Smith as gunner, came under intense enemy fire while returning from a mission to enemy-occupied Europe. Sgt. Smith, on first mission, elected to fight a fire, administer first aid, man the waist guns, and fight intense flames alternately. For his actions, Sgt. Smith received the Medal of Honor.
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May 1, 1945
Eighth Air Force sent nearly 400 B-17s from England on a mercy mission to drop nearly 700 tons of food over German-occupied Holland. The Germans approved this flight and promised not to shoot down the bombers if they flew along specified routes. Eighth and Royal air force bombers flew five more "Operation Chow Hound" missions during the next week and delivered nearly 7,900 tons of food.
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May 1, 1958
The Air Force redesignated the Florida Missile Test Range as the Atlantic Missile Range.
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May 1, 1959
Construction of the first Titan I launch and support facilities began at Lowry AFB, Colo.
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May 1, 1962
Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara told the British that the U.S. would not support the Thor squadrons in England after Oct. 31, 1964.
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May 1, 1962
Construction ended on the Idaho first squadron of Model A Minuteman I facilities at Malmstrom AFB, Idaho. Strategic Air Command also activated its third and last Model A squadron, the 490th Strategic Missile Squadron.
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May 1, 1963
The Air Force Weapons Laboratory established from research and development elements of the Air Force Special Weapons Center and became the tenant unit at Kirtland AFB, N.M.
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May 1, 1963
The U.S. Air Force dedicated the General H.H. Arnold, the first Advanced Range Instrumentation Ship, at Port Canaveral, Fla.
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May 1, 1963
The 6511th Test Group (Parachute) dropped a full size test module of the Apollo manned spacecraft from a modified C-133 during the first test of the earth landing system.
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May 1, 1964
The first generation intercontinental ballistic missiles began to phaseout by taking the first Atlas-D off alert with the 576th Strategic Missile Squadron at Vandenberg, Calif. during Operation Added Effort.
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May 1, 1965
The YF-12A (SR-71 prototype) set nine FAI records at Edwards AFB, Calif.: 2,070.101 mph for straightaway speed; 1,642 mph for a 500-kilometer closed course; 1,688 mph for a 1,000-kilometer closed course; and 80,257 feet for sustained altitude in horizontal flight. Col. Robert L. Stevens and Lt. Col. Daniel Andre set two records, while Maj. Walter F. Daniel and Capt. James Cooney set the other two.
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May 1, 1967
A UH-IF helicopter in Ohio completed the first two-way communication to a NASA ground station in Australia via satellite relay.
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May 1, 1968
The Air National Guard tactical refueling units completed a year of overseas duty on a continuous basic without mobilization. This was the first operation of its type in Guard and Reserve history.
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May 1, 1974
For the first time, a KC-135 refueled a C-5 in an operational setting.
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May 1, 1983
During Operations Bahamas and Turks, Military Airlift Command's 23rd Air Force supported South Florida's Task Force on Organized Crime. Two 20th Special Operations Squadron H-1s and aircrews also deployed from Hurlburt Field, Fla., to the Bahamas, where they flew surveillance missions to help local police capture drug traffickers. In its first year, the task force seized or destroyed $114 million in cocaine, $179 million in marijuana, 10 vessels and 17 aircraft while apprehending 72 people.
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May 1, 1996
A German officer assumes command of a German tactical training center at Holloman AFB, N.M. This is the first time a foreigner has commanded a unit at an Air Force base within the United States.
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May 1, 1999
The Air Force Reserve Command mobilized its first units to support Operation Allied Force. Eventually the command called six tanker wings and one rescue wing to active duty.
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May 1, 2003
President George W. Bush declared the major combat operations in Iraq to be over on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in a speech before 5,000 crewmembers.
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May 1, 2003
The Operation Northern Watch mission ended. Between Jan. 1, 1997 and the final Northern Watch sorties on March 17, 2003, more than 100,000 American, British, Turkish and French airmen had rotated through Incirlik AB, Turkey, to enforce U.N. Security Council resolution north of the 36th parallel in Iraq.
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May 2, 1923
First non-stop transcontinental flight from New York to San Diego began.
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May 2, 1957
The U.S. Air Force accepted its first F-101A Voodoo.
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May 2, 1963
Jacqueline Cochran flew a Lockheed TF-104G near Edwards AFB, Calif., to a world speed record for women of 1,203.94 mph over a closed 100-kilometer course.
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May 2, 1970
Ground fire in Cambodia claimed an F-4, the first Pacific Air Forces aircraft to be lost in combat operations in that country.
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May 2, 1977
First Lt. Christine E. Schott becomes the first woman undergraduate pilot training student to solo in the T-38 Talon.
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May 2, 1979
Two E-3A Sentry aircraft flew the first airborne warning and control system training mission over the Central Region of Europe lasting through May 3.
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May 2, 1980
Second Lt. Mary L. Wittick is the first woman to enter the Air Force undergraduate helicopter pilot training program in Class 81-05.
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May 2, 1981
Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz. received Tactical Air Command's first OA-37 Dragonfly. It replaced the O-2A in the forward air control role.
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May 2, 1981
In a first, an airborne laser destroyed an aerial target, when the Airborne Laser Laboratory, a modified KC-135 aircraft armed with a carbon dioxide laser, shot down a drone over White Sands Missile Range, N.M.
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May 2, 1988
Col. Philip J. Ford, the 384th Bomb Wing Commander and Lt. Gen. Ellie G. "Buck" Shuler Jr, the Eighth Air Force Commander, flew the last B-1B from the Rockwell International plant to McConnell AFB, Kan.
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May 2, 1999
Serbian ground forces shot down an F-16 over Yugoslavia. It was the second and last U.S. aircraft lost in Operation Allied Force. An MH-60 helicopter rescued the pilot.
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May 3, 1943
Lt. Gen. Frank M. Andrews, Commanding General, European Theater of Operations, U.S. Army, died in an air crash in Iceland.
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May 3, 1945
In the last 9th Bomb Division mission, 132 A-26s bombed Czechoslovakia's Stod ammunitions plant.
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May 3, 1952
A ski-and-wheel-equipped U.S. Air Force C-47 Skytrain makes the world's first successful North Pole landing.
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May 3, 1960
Gen. Curtis E. LeMay, Vice Chief of Staff for the Air Force, announced the approval of a single tanker force, Strategic Air Command managed and KC-135 equipped, to support training and combat for full implementation by the end of fiscal 1963.
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May 3, 1961
An Air Force System Command crew launched the first intercontinental ballistic missile, a Titan, from an underground silo at Vandenberg AFB, Calif.
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May 3, 1966
The first operational service of Minuteman II began when 50 missiles were delivered to Grand Forks AFB, N.D.
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May 3, 1966
At Edwards AFB, an HC-130H completed the first live ground-to-air recovery with a single harness capture of Capt. Gerald T. Lyvere and a double harness capture of Col. Allison Brooks and Airman 3rd Class Ronald L. Doll.
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May 3, 1968
The first Air National Guard unit called to active duty, the 120th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Buckley ANG Base, Colo., arrived in South Vietnam. It started flying combat operations on May 5.
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May 3, 1973
The National Aeronautic Association presented the 1972 Mackay Trophy to three Vietnam aces: Capts. Richard S. "Steve" Ritchie, Charles B. DeBellevue and Jeffrey S. Feinstein.
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May 3, 1990
An all-Air Force crew flew Northrop's B-2A for the first time. Lt. Cols. Tom LeBeau and John Small flew the Stealth Bomber on a seven hour, 20 minute test flight above Edwards AFB, Calif.
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May 3, 1992
C-141 Starlifters and C-130 Hercules transports evacuated 350 people, including some Americans, from Sierra Leone after a military coup.
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May 3, 1994
The Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., received the last B-52G for storage. That transfer left only B-52H models in the active U.S. Air Force inventory.
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May 4, 1962
At Lowry, AFB, Colo., the 725th Strategic Missile Squadron became the first Titan I unit to achieve alert status.
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May 4, 1962
Retired Gen Carl Spaatz received the Thomas D. White National Defense Award for 1968.
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May 4, 1970
A Strategic Air Command task force of four B-52s won the Blue Steel Trophy for the best combined bombing and navigation results in the Royal Air Force Strike Command's bombing and navigation competition at RAF Station Marham, England.
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May 4, 1979
The A-10B "Evaluator" flew its first flight at Edwards AFB, Calif.
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May 4, 1982
The E-3A Sentry AWACS deployed to Turkey for the first time lasting through May 8.
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May 4, 1989
During a May 4-8 mission, Maj. Mark Lee on the Space Shuttle Atlantis released the Magellan probe that would map Venus with synthetic aperture radar.
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May 4, 1999
An F-16CJ pilot of the 78th EFS scored the first F-16CJ victory of Allied Force when he shot down a MiG-29.
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