chronology american aerospace events

630 Pages·2009·3.09 MB·English

CHRONOLOGY

AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS

HAROLD “PHIL” MYERS

CHIEF HISTORIAN
AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE,
AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY

LACKLAND AFB, TEXAS

23 February 2009
EVOLUTION OF A CHRONOLOGY

In 1981, as an Air Force enlisted historian, I worked for the Research Division of the Air
Force Historical Research Agency (then Albert F. Simpson Historical Center) at Maxwell
AFB, Al. For the next two years, I answered inquiries and conducted the Historian’s
Development Course. While there I discovered a real “nugget,” A Chronology of
American Aerospace Events from 1903-1974, gathering dust on an obscure shelf. I knew
the draft document would be a handy reference for all enlisted field historians.

In 1983, I took a copy of this chronology with me on my next assignment with the 39th
Tactical Group in Turkey. The chronology proved to be an invaluable source in
promoting Air Force history. It allowed me to prepare “Today in Aerospace History”
slides for weekly staff meetings and write a weekly “Aerospace Highlights” column for
the base newspaper. But at that time, the chronology was arranged by year and date, and
it took considerable time to find events by specific dates.

In 1985, I moved to the Ballistic Missile Office at Norton AFB, California, to write about
the Peacekeeper and Small ICBM programs. The introduction of computers allowed me
to convert the original chronology into a “By Date” product. I knew that the chronology
was not an all inclusive listing, so I began to integrate events from other works—like the
Development of Strategic Air Command, 1946-1986, The SAC Missile Chronology, and
The Military Airlift Command Historical Handbook, 1941-1986—into an electronic
product. This incorporation process has grown to include 32 different chronologies. I
also began indexing all entries and began to add events selectively in categories of firsts,
lasts, and other significant accomplishments.

I kept adding to my aerospace chronology over the years. During my first civilian
assignment as the historian for Eighth Air Force at Barksdale AFB, I started a third
section for organizational and personnel events. E-mail allowed me to send daily history
notes, which brought further attention to the chronology and Air Force History Program.
This e-mail endeavor then led commanders to request daily highlights for their speeches
and special presentations. Since my assignment to the Office of History in 2004, I have
loaded my chronology on the Air Force History Office portal page to make it accessible
to Air Force Historians and Air Force personnel in general. My chronology is now being
used by the National Museum of the Air Force to present Today in Air and Space History
to its many visitors and by several Air Force schools and ROTC programs to make their
students aware of Air Force history.

My chronology will remain a work in progress, as I continue to provide corrections and
incorporate new events.
Thank you,
Phil Myers
AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS
FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
1 January

1914: Tony Jannus, flying a Benoist Flying Boat, started America’s first regularly scheduled airline
service with a flight between Tampa and St. Petersburg, Fla. This service lasted three months
with two round trips a day. (5) (21)

1929: KEY EVENT--THE QUESTION MARK. Through 7 January, to test inflight refueling and
crew and aircraft endurance, Maj Carl A. Spaatz flew the Question Mark, a modified Fokker
C2-3 with a Wright 220 HP engine, to a world duration record of 150 hours and 40 minutes.
The Question Mark-named for its unknown capacity to remain airborne-was an US Army Air
Corps high-wing, trimotor monoplane with a large capacity fuel tank in the cabin, a large hopper
in the cabin for receiving fuel, and lines and hand-operated pumps to transfer fuel to the wing
tanks. The two modified Douglas C1 biplane tankers each had two 150-gallon cabin tanks and a
40-foot fueling hose. Flying between Santa Monica and San Diego in California, the tankers
refueled the Question Mark 43 times, which allowed it to remain aloft until engine problems
forced a landing. During the refueling, the tankers also passed 5,700 gallons of fuel plus oil,
food, water, and other items (roughly 40 tons) to the Question Mark. All officers on the
mission--Carl Spaatz, Ira Eaker, Harry Halverson, and Pete Quesada--became generals, as did
two officers on the refueling aircraft: Ross G. Hoyt and Joseph G. Hopkins. MSgt Roy Hooe,
the fifth crewman on the Question Mark, earned a reputation as the best crew chief in the Air
Corps. The crewmembers of the Question Mark were each awarded the Distinguished Flying
Cross (DFC) for the mission, while the refuelers received letters of commendation. (18)

1943: Ground Controlled Approach (GCA) equipment used in an emergency for the first time, when a
snowstorm closed down Naval Air Station (NAS) Quonset Point Airfield, R. I., 30 minutes be-
fore a flight of PBY’s were to arrive. The GCA crew used search radar and the control tower as
a relay to talk one PBY into position for a contact landing. Nine days earlier, the GCA had
completed its first experimental demonstration. (5)

1944: Project ORDCIT. Cal Tech’s Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory began work on long-
range missiles. This project later produced the Army's Private A and Corporal missiles. (6)

1945: Operation HERMANN. 700-800 German fighters surprised Ninth Air Force and 2d Tactical
Air Force (RAF) airfields in Belgium and northern France. They destroyed 30 American and
120 RAF planes, but lost 200 planes in the attack. (4)

BOMBING IWO JIMA. Through 19 February, Seventh Air Force bombers continued its at-
tacks on Iwo Jima in preparation for amphibious landings. The aircraft destroyed buildings and
planes and blasted holes in the runways of the island's airfields, but did not affect the 22,000
deeply entrenched troops of Maj Gen Tadamichi Kuribayashi. (17)

1951: KOREAN WAR. When nearly 500,000 Chinese Communist and N. Korean troops launched a
new ground offensive, Fifth Air Force responded with an air raid on enemy columns. (28)

1954: At Jacksonville, Fla., the U. S. Navy set up the Air Weapon Systems School. (24)

1958: The USAF moved the 1st Missile Division and the 704th Strategic Missile Wing to Cooke AFB
(Vandenberg), Calif. The 704th was the Strategic Air Command’s first ballistic missile wing.
The 672d Strategic Missile Squadron also activated there with Thor intermediate range ballistic
missiles. (6)

1962: First Titan II units, the 390th Strategic Missile Wing and 570th Strategic Missile Squadron, were
activated at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz. (6) (12)

The Strategic Air Command activated the first model “B” Minuteman I wing, the 44th Strategic
Missile Wing, at Ellsworth AFB, S. Dak. (6)
AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS
FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
1965: Operation of Synchronus Communications Satellite (SYNCOM) II and SYNCOM III trans-
ferred from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to the Department of Defense.
The Department of Defense furnished the communications ground stations used to relay trans-
missions via the two SYNCOMS for the past two years. SYNCOM III later proved useful in
providing communications for Vietnam. (5)

The USAF activated the 4200th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale AFB, Calif., to fly the
SR-71. (16) (26)

1966: Air National Guard airlift units started flying about 75 cargo flights a month to Southeast Asia.
Additionally, the guard flew about 100-plus flights a month to augment the Military Airlift
Command’s global airlift mission. (16) (26)

At Tullahoma, Tenn., the Arnold Engineering Development Center established a large rocket
facility to operate high-altitude test cells. (16) (26)

1967: The USAF received 140 CV-2 Caribou aircraft from the US Army. This event marked the first
time that an entire inventory of an aircraft transferred from one service to another. The aircraft
went to Seventh Air Force, which gave the NAF operational control over all fixed wing cargo
aircraft in Vietnam. (5) (16) (17)

1969: The 71st Special Operations Squadron, Air Force Reserves, flew the first AC-119 gunship com-
bat mission in Vietnam. (16)

1973: At Pease AFB, N. H., the 509th Bombardment Wing became the first FB-111 unit to use opera-
tional Short-Range Attack Missiles. (6)

1983: The US Mission Control Center, International Search and Rescue Satellite System, collocated
with the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Scott AFB, Ill., began 24-hour test operations.
Thereafter, mission control recorded worldwide satellite data from emergency electronic trans-
missions. (2)

1984: The Military Airlift Command assigned its 375th Aeromedical Airlift Wing to the Twenty-Third
Air Force along with the aeromedical evacuation mission, C-9 aircraft, and the operation of
Scott AFB, Ill. (2)

Space Command assumed resource management responsibilities for the Global Positioning Sys-
tem. (26)

1988: The Strategic Air Command its crew assignment policy to permit mixed male/female crews in
Minuteman and Peacekeeper launch facilities. The male and females were segregated before.
(16) (26)

1995: The Air Force Reserve activated its first KC-135 Stratotanker unit, the 931st Air Refueling
Group. (16)

1997: After a seven-year retirement from active service, the SR-71 Blackbird returned to mission
ready status. The aircraft and its personnel operated from Edwards AFB, Calif., as a detachment
of the 9th Reconnaissance Wing from Beale AFB. (3)

2 January

1933: Orville Wright received the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences’ first honorary fellowship. (24)

1942: Gen Henry H. Arnold established a new Air Force, which later became Eighth Air Force. (4)
AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS
FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
1948: In Japan, two USAF P-80 Shooting Stars attained 778 miles per hour with aid of tail winds. (24)

1951: KOREAN WAR. A C-47 dropped flares for the first time to illuminate B-26 and F-82 night
attacks on enemy forces and deter enemy night attacks on U.S. troops. Fifth Air Force withdrew
the 4th Fighter Interceptor Wing and its F-86s from Kimpo Airfield near Seoul, S. Korea, to
Johnson AB, Japan. (28)

1952: A Sikorsky H-19 helicopter flew 1,800 miles from Great Falls, Mont., to Ladd AFB, Alaska, in
five days. This was probably the longest flight made by a rotary wing aircraft to date. (5)

1953: Cessna Aircraft’s T-37 design won the competition for the Air Force's primary jet trainer over
14 other entries. (5)

1954: Colonel Willard W. Millikan, Air National Guard, set a Federation Aeronautique Internationale
record for a cross-country flight in an F-86F Sabre jet. He averaged 612 miles per hour, while
flying from Los Angeles, Calif., to New York, N.Y., in 4 hours 8 minutes. (9) (24)

1957: Cessna’s model 310 won the competition to provide a light, twin-engine administrative liaison
and cargo plane to the Air Force. (5)

1962: PROJECT MULE TRAIN. The first 4 of 16 C-123 assault transports of the 346th Troop Car-
rier Squadron arrived at Tan Son Nhut AB, S. Vietnam. (17)

1967: OPERATION BOLO. F-4 Phantom pilots from the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing shot down seven
North Vietnamese MiG-21s in a sweep mission over the Red River valley to set a one-day aerial
victory record. This MiG suppression operation, dubbed the largest air battle of the war, and the
most dramatic use of tactical deception, resulted in the downing of the MiGs. In the successful
ruse, F-4C pilots simulated Rolling Thunder F-105 strike aircraft to draw the MiGs out. Colonel
Robin Olds, the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing Commander, shot down a MiG and became the only
USAF ace with aerial victories in World War II and the Vietnam War. (16) (17) (21)

1968: Col Henry Brown and Lt Col Joe B. Jordan became the first USAF pilots to use an F-111A's
emergency escape module when their plane crashed near Edwards AFB, Calif. (3)

1980: Through 4 January, two C-141s from the 437th Military Airlift Wing at Charleston AFB, S.C.,
delivered 700 tents and 1,000 blankets to the homeless on Terceira Island in the Azores follow-
ing an earthquake. (16)

1994: The F-4G Wild Weasel flew its last combat mission over Southern Iraq.

3 January

1933: General Douglas MacArthur ordered the Air Corps “to conduct the land-based air operations in
defense of the US and its overseas possessions.” (5)

1935: Lincoln Ellsworth and Herbert Hollick-Kenyon completed an Antarctic flight. (24)

1945: BATTLE OF THE BULGE: American and British forces counterattacked the Germans under
the protection of American airpower. (4)

TEST FIRE-BOMB RAID. In a test-bombing mission to determine the efficacy of fire bomb-
ing over conventional high-explosive bombing, 57 of 97 B-29s bombed Nagoya, Japan,. The
results gave the Japanese the mistaken impression that their fire-prevention system was ade-
quate. (17)
AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS
FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
1949: Representative Carl Vinson of Georgia introduced a bill to speed guided missile research and to
create a 70-group Air Force. (24)

1950: Jacqueline Cochran set new Federation Aeronautique Internationale 500-kilometer closed-
course speed record of 444 miles per hour. (5)

1951: KOREAN WAR. In one of the largest Far East Air Forces Bomber Command air raids, more
than 60 B-29s dropped 650 tons of incendiary bombs on Pyongyang, N. Korea. UN forces
burned nearly 500,000 gallons of fuel and 23,000 gallons of napalm at Kimpo before abandon-
ing the base. Altogether, Far East Air Forces flew 958 combat sorties, a one-day record. (28)

1960: American Airline Boeing 707s set records of 3 hours 39 minutes from Los Angeles, Calif., to
Baltimore, Md., and 4 hours 24 minutes from Los Angeles to Boston, Mass. A Transworld Air-
lines 707 flew from Los Angeles to New York in 3 hours 57 minutes, while Eastern Airlines
DC-8 completed a flight Long Beach, Calif., to Miami, Fla., in 3 hours 58 minutes (5)

1963: At Eglin AFB, Fla., a Boeing BOMARC-B missile successfully intercepted its first low-altitude
aircraft. (5)

PROJECT FARM GATE. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) augmented the Farm Gate detach-
ment in Vietnam with an additional 10 B-26s, 5 T-28s, and 2 C-47s. (17)

1966: The No. 2 XB-70 flew for 3 minutes at 70,000 feet over Edwards AFB, Calif., for the first time.
(16)

1978: Lockheed Missiles and Space Company received $34 million to build a spacecraft for the Satel-
lite Infrared Experiment (SIRE) to measure long wave infrared signatures of objects against the
stellar background. This craft also carried two secondary payloads, a space sextant and a sensor
to measure the isotopic composition of solar flares. (5)

1993: President George Bush and Soviet President Boris Yeltsin signed the second Strategic Arms
Reduction Treaty (START) to reduce nuclear bombers, missiles, bombs, and warheads. (16)
(26)

2007: Through 4 January, a Wyoming Air National Guard C-130 Hercules and 10 airmen assisted the
Colorado National Guard with a cattle feeding operation near Lamar in southeast Colorado after
huge snowstorm blanketed the area. Colorado National Guard helicopters and the C-130
dropped hay to cattle. (AFNEWS, “Air National Guard Dropping Hay for Colorado Cattle,” 4
Jan 2007.) (32)

4 January

1936: The Vought SB2U Vindicator first flew. (5)

1937: Frank Sinclair flew a Seversky Airplane 240 miles per hour from New York to New Orleans,
La., in a record of 5 hours. (24)

1944: Operation CARPETBAGGER. American and Royal Air Force planes dropped arms and sup-
plies to French, Belgian, and Italian partisans for the first time. (4)

1945: Republic received a contract to build 100 production P-84 Thunderjets. (12)

1948: The University of California completed a pilot model for the world’s first low-pressure super-
sonic wind tunnel. (24)
AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS
FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
1951: KOREAN WAR. As Communist Chinese forces occupied Seoul, the last USAF aircraft left
Kimpo Airfield. (28)

Miss Caro Bayley flew a Piper Super Cub 30,203 feet over Miami to set a Federation Aeronau-
tique Internationale altitude record for light planes. (24)

1955: Aerojet General began a research and development effort on rocket engines and associated
ground equipment for the Titan Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. (6)

1957: Exercise JUMP LIGHT/Project ROTAD. Through 28 January, a joint Army-Tactical Air
Command airlift effort supported this exercise and Project ROTAD (Reorganization and Testing
of Airborne Division) near Fort Bragg, N. C. (11)

1958: The Army awarded Chrysler Corporation a $51.8 million contract to build the Jupiter Intermed-
iate-Range Ballistic Missile. (6)

1965: The Strategic Air Command’s first Atlas-E missiles came off alert in the 548th Strategic Missile
Squadron at Forbes AFB, Kans., and the 566th Strategic Missile Squadron at Francis E. Warren
AFB, Wy. Moreover, the first Titan Is came off alert in the 568th Strategic Missile Squadron at
Larson AFB, Wash., the 850th Strategic Missile Squadron at Ellsworth AFB, N. Dak., and the
851st Strategic Missile Squadron at Beale AFB, Calif. (6)

1968: A 6511th Test Group (Parachute) C-130 claimed an unofficial single-delivery record by drop-
ping a 50,160-pound pallet from 1,200 feet at El Centro, Calif. (3)

1985: Major Patricia M. Young became the first female commander of an Air Force Space Command
unit, Detachment 1, 20th Missile Warning Squadron. (16) (26)

1989: Two Navy F-14 Tomcats, operating from the USS John F. Kennedy, shot down two Libyan
MiG-23 Floggers that were displaying hostile intentions over international waters. (20)

1994: Operation PROVIDE PROMISE. The USAF formed a C-130 “Delta Squadron” under the
435th Airlift Wing at Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany, with Air Force Reserve and Air National
Guard assets. The squadron joined the effort to deliver relief supplies to Bosnia. (16)

2000: Joint Task Force FUNDAMENTAL RESPONSE. Final tallies of the flood devastation near
Caracas, Venezuela revealed 30,000 people dead and another 400,000 left homeless. Through
10 March, 11 C-17 missions and 5 C-5 missions airlifted 189 passengers and 527 short tons of
cargo to Simon Bolivar International Airport near Caracas to support Task Force relief efforts.
(See 20 December 1999) (22)

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 Kennedy Space Center at Cape Cana-
veral, Fla. (22)

5 January

1914: Marine pilots and enlisted mechanics were sent from Annapolis, Md., to the Philadelphia Navy
Yard, Pa., where they left on the Navy transport, the USS Hancock, for Puerto Rico to join the
Advance Base Brigade in Atlantic Fleet maneuvers. This was the first time an all-Marine avia-
tion force acted with Marine ground forces. During the next three weeks, Lts Bernard L. Smith
and William M. McIlvain flew a Curtiss C-3 (an F-model Flying Boat) on scouting and recon-
naissance missions. (10)
AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS
FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
1915: Lt Joseph E. Carberry, Signal Corps, and Lt Arthur R. Christie set a 2-man American altitude
record of 11,690 feet at San Diego. The pilots made the 1-hour, 13-minute flight in a Curtiss
Tractor (OXX Curtiss 100). (24)

1916: The 1st Company, 2d Aero Squadron, sailed from San Francisco, Calif., for the Philippines. It
was the first air unit to serve outside the US. (24)

1935: The de Haviland Queen Bee first flew. (5)

1949: Capt Charles E. Yeager flew the Bell X-1 to 23,000 feet at a record ascent of 13,000 feet per
minute. (9) (24)

1951: KOREAN WAR. At Pyongyang, 59 B-29s dropped 672 tons of incendiary bombs. Addition-
ally, the 18th Fighter-Bomber Group staged its final missions from Suwon Air Base. U.S.
ground troops burned the buildings at Suwon's airfield before withdrawing. (28)

1954: Col Willard W. Millikan (Air National Guard) set a speed record, when he flew an F-86F Sabre
between New York and Washington DC in 24 minutes. (24)

1961: PROJECT NARROW GAUGE: Tactical Air Command B-57s participated in a test of the
runway lighting system at Dow AFB, Me. (11)

1968: The Air Force Academy implemented the T-41 Mescalero Light Plane flight program. (16) (26)

1970: With the acceptance of the 80th Air Defense Group facility at Fortuna Air Force Station, N.
Dak., the Aerospace Defense Command’s Backup Intercept Control (BUIC) III radar system
became fully operational. (26)

1972: President Richard M. Nixon announced his decision to develop a Space Shuttle system. (5)

1985: A C-141 carried a Sikorsky S-70 helicopter to La Paz, Bolivia, to assist in the search for an
Eastern Airlines Boeing 727 that had crashed high in the Andes Mountains. (16) (26)

2001: An F-22 Raptor, equipped with combat-capable avionics, flew for the first time at Lockheed-
Martin’s facility in Marietta, Ga. (AFNEWS Article 0018, 6 Jan 01)

2002: Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. A 437th Airlift Wing C-17 from Charleston AFB, S. C.,
arrived at Naval Air Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with the first materials for U. S. Navy
Seabee project to build a prison for 2,000 Taliban and Al Qaeda detainees from Afghanistan. In
the early weeks of 2002, 21 C-17 missions from Charleston moved 1.2 short tons of equipment
and supplies to Guantanamo. (22)

6 January

1945: Taking off from Chengtu, China, 45 B-29s bombed the Omura aircraft plant, enemy installa-
tions, and targets of opportunity in occupied China. (24)

1951: KOREAN WAR. As the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division defended the U. N. line across S. Korea,
Far East Air Forces Combat Cargo Command dispatched C-47s from the 21st Troop Carrier
Squadron with 115 tons of cargo to Wonju, and C-119s from the 314th Troop Carrier Group to
drop 460 tons of supplies to the division. (28)

1964: The Supersonic Transport (SST) Evaluation Group, under the Federal Aviation Authority, con-
vened in Washington DC to evaluate airframe and engine design proposals for the SST. (5)
AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS
FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
1965: The General Dynamics F-111A demonstrated the ability to fly with its wings swept back in its
first flight. (5)

1977: The Department of Defense placed the Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) program into full-
scale development and set up a joint cruise missile project office. (12)

1978: Vandenberg AFB, Calif., launched a Minuteman III, carrying three Mark 12A reentry vehicles,
to study an experimental nose tip and heat shield materials. (5)

1979: The 388th Tactical Fighter Wing at Hill AFB, Utah, accepted the Tactical Air Command’s first
F-16. (12)

7 January

1945: Far East Air Forces joined the 3d Fleet in air attacks on enemy airfields in northern Luzon, Phil-
ippines. This attack was the largest coordinated mission of light and medium bombers (132) to
date in the Southwest Pacific. (24)

1960: An American Airlines Electra flew 540 miles per hour to set a record of 1 hour 11 minutes 30
seconds from Chicago, Ill., to Washington DC. (5)

1963: Bell Telephone Laboratory scientists repaired Telstar I in flight in an unprecedented ground
operation. (5)

1966: The 4200th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale AFB, Calif., received the first operational
SR-71 (Tail No. 61-7957). (1)

The US Junior Chamber of Commerce named Lt Col Edward H. White, a Gemini IV Astronaut,
one of the 10 outstanding young men of 1965. (16)

1968: The National Air and Space Administration’s Surveyor VII, the last spacecraft in the program to
analyze the lunar surface, launched from the Eastern Test Range, Fla., on an Atlas-Centaur
rocket (AC-15) on a 67-hour lunar intercept trajectory. It touched down on 9 January in Tycho
crater after a 66-hour 35-minute flight and began sending the first of 21,274 detailed pictures
back to earth. (5)

1989: Operation MEDFLY 89. Through 20 January, the 167th Tactical Airlift Group flew medical
personnel and supplies aboard two C-130 Hercules to Liberia to support Medfly 89. This joint
service humanitarian effort trained medical personnel in inoculating people against diseases and
treating ailments. (16)

1995: Operation UNISOM II. Through 24 March, Air Mobility Command supported the withdrawal
of United Nations forces from Somalia by deploying some U. S. forces to Kenya to cover the
withdrawal and then returning the forces to the U. S. The returning flights stopped at Moron
AB, Spain, which served as a stage base and refueling site for the operation. Besides Moron,
Air Mobility Command units deployed to Mombasa and Nairobi, Kenya. The KC-135s at
Nairobi refueled AC-130 gunships. Altogether, Air Mobility Command’s airlifters and
contracted commercial flights flew 59 missions to carry over 1,400 passengers and over 1,400
short tons of cargo. (18)

2005: Colonel Joseph Lanni, the 412th Test Wing Commander at Edwards AFB, Calif., delivered an
F/A-22 Raptor to Langley AFB, Va. That Raptor, the fifth built, formed the nucleus of the first
operational F-22 squadron. (3)