Chicagoland/O'Hare Chapter 142
Air Force Association
•09 Aug 1944 - While leading 33 B-26 Marauders from the 394th Bomb Group against a railroad bridge on the Seine River in France, Capt. Darrell R. Lindsey's right engine received a direct hit and caught on fire. Even though his fuel tanks could explode at any moment Captain Lindsey decided to lead the bomb run to excellent results. After delivering the bombs, he ordered the crew to bail out. Before he jumped, the bombardier offered to lower the aircraft's wheels so the pilot could escape, but he refused. The fuel tanks exploded before Captain Lindsey could leave the controls and the plane plummeted to the ground. For his courage he was given the Medal of Honor posthumously.
•09 Aug 1945 - Ninety-five B-29s from Guam carried a record average bomb load of 20,648 pounds to strike the Nippon Oil Refinery at Amagasaki, Japan.
•09 Aug 1945 - WWII: The B-29 bomber Bock’s Car drops a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. It was the second atomic bomb that induced the Japanese to surrender.
•09 Aug 1960 - The first U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile base began functioning when Strategic Air Command declared three Atlas D launching pads of the 564th Strategic Missile Squadron at Francis E. Warren AFB, Wyo., successfully launched two Atlas D missiles at Cape Canaveral on 5,000-mile flights.
•09 Aug 1965 - A fire at Titan II missile site near Searcy, Ark., claimed 53 lives, making the incident the worst disaster in the history of the U.S. missile program.
•09 Aug 1974 - The first U.S. Air Forces in Europe C-23 Sherpas entered U.S. Air Force.
•09 Aug 1974 - Military Airlift Command airlifted 160,000 pounds of disaster relief supplies on a C-141 and a C-5 to Cyprus to aid victims of the fighting.
•09 Aug 1990 - The Alaskan Air Command is redesignated as the Eleventh Air Force and assigned to Pacific Air Forces.
•09 Aug 1997 - C-141 aircrews from the 446th Airlift Wing at McChord AFB, Wash., arrived at Kelly AFB, Texas, with four victims from the Aug. 5 Korean Airlines 747 crash in Guam. Flight nurses and medical technicians from the 349th Air Mobility Wing at Travis AFB, Calif., supported the flight.
•09 Aug 1998 - A 305th Air Mobility Wing from McGuire AFB, N.J. flew 15 seriously injured State Department employees from Nairobi, Kenya, to Ramstein AB, Germany on their way to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. The 11 Americans and four Kenya patients received injuries in the Aug. 7 U.S. embassy bombing in Nairobi, which claimed at least 200 lives and wounded more than 1,000.
•10 Aug 1950 - Korea: President Harry S. Truman calls the National Guard to active duty to fight in the Korean War.
•10 Aug 1950 - President Harry Truman mobilized the first two Air Force Reserve units, the 437th Troop-Carrier Wing and the 452nd Bomb Wing, for Korean War service. The 22nd Bomb Group, 92nd Bomb Group and 98th Bomb Group dispatched 46 B-29s to bomb an oil refinery and railroad shops at Wonsan, North Korea.
•10 Jul 1950 - Fifth Air Force started using T-6 trainers for the forward air control mission because the liaison aircraft were too slow to evade enemy fire. When an enemy convoy stopped at a bombed-out bridge near Pyongtaek, F-80s, B-26s and F-82s attacked and claimed the destruction of 117 trucks, 38 tanks and seven halftracks.
•09 Aug 1945 - Ninety-five B-29s from Guam carried a record average bomb load of 20,648 pounds to strike the Nippon Oil Refinery at Amagasaki, Japan.
•09 Aug 1945 - WWII: The B-29 bomber Bock’s Car drops a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. It was the second atomic bomb that induced the Japanese to surrender.
•09 Aug 1960 - The first U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile base began functioning when Strategic Air Command declared three Atlas D launching pads of the 564th Strategic Missile Squadron at Francis E. Warren AFB, Wyo., successfully launched two Atlas D missiles at Cape Canaveral on 5,000-mile flights.
•09 Aug 1965 - A fire at Titan II missile site near Searcy, Ark., claimed 53 lives, making the incident the worst disaster in the history of the U.S. missile program.
•09 Aug 1974 - The first U.S. Air Forces in Europe C-23 Sherpas entered U.S. Air Force.
•09 Aug 1974 - Military Airlift Command airlifted 160,000 pounds of disaster relief supplies on a C-141 and a C-5 to Cyprus to aid victims of the fighting.
•09 Aug 1990 - The Alaskan Air Command is redesignated as the Eleventh Air Force and assigned to Pacific Air Forces.
•09 Aug 1997 - C-141 aircrews from the 446th Airlift Wing at McChord AFB, Wash., arrived at Kelly AFB, Texas, with four victims from the Aug. 5 Korean Airlines 747 crash in Guam. Flight nurses and medical technicians from the 349th Air Mobility Wing at Travis AFB, Calif., supported the flight.
•09 Aug 1998 - A 305th Air Mobility Wing from McGuire AFB, N.J. flew 15 seriously injured State Department employees from Nairobi, Kenya, to Ramstein AB, Germany on their way to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. The 11 Americans and four Kenya patients received injuries in the Aug. 7 U.S. embassy bombing in Nairobi, which claimed at least 200 lives and wounded more than 1,000.
•10 Aug 1950 - Korea: President Harry S. Truman calls the National Guard to active duty to fight in the Korean War.
•10 Aug 1950 - President Harry Truman mobilized the first two Air Force Reserve units, the 437th Troop-Carrier Wing and the 452nd Bomb Wing, for Korean War service. The 22nd Bomb Group, 92nd Bomb Group and 98th Bomb Group dispatched 46 B-29s to bomb an oil refinery and railroad shops at Wonsan, North Korea.
•10 Aug 1958 - Seven F-101 Voodoo jets set a 5,933-mile distance record for formation flying by completing a flight from Austin, Texas, to Brentwood, England.
•11 Aug 1950 - C-119 Flying Boxcars began airlifting trucks from Tachikawa AB, Japan to Taegu, Korea.
•11 Aug 1950 - Air Force detachable fuselage transport XC-120, built by Fairchild, completed its maiden flight.
•11 Aug 1972 - Vietnam: The last U.S. ground forces withdraw from Vietnam.
•11 Aug 1954 - The Air Force issued a requirement for the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile.
•11 Aug 1960 - The 1608th Transport Wing at Charleston AFB, S.C. received the first C-130E Hercules for the Military Air Transportation Service.
•11 Aug 1977 - Testing at Luke AFB, Ariz. revealed that the Missile-X buried trench basing mode could not withstand explosive pressures. This led the U.S. Air Force to switch to a hybrid trench-basing concept.
•11 Aug 1993 - Three C-5s from the 436th Airlift Wing airlifted 190 tons of bridge components from England to Nepal after a flood washed out bridges lasting through Aug. 15th.
•11 Aug 1994 - In an Air Combat Command power-projection Global Enterprise exercise, two Rockwell B-1Bs from Ellsworth AFB, S.D., flew to Europe across the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, and around the Arabian Peninsula to land at a staging base in Southwest Asia lasting through Aug.14. After a crew changed, the B-1s then flew back to Ellsworth through Japan and over the Aleutians. The 37.3 hours for the total flight and 24 hours for the first leg were the longest flights to date by the B-1B.
•12 Aug 1941 - Capt. Homer Boushey Jr. flew an Ercoupe civilian airplane on the first successful rocket assisted takeoff at Wright Field, Ohio.
•12 Aug 1945 - From bases in China, Fourteenth Air Force attacked troops and convoys in Changsha corridor, China.
•12 Aug 1952 - Advancing North Korean Army forces caused two 35th Fighter Interceptor Group squadron of F-51s to move from Yonil AB, South Korea, to Tsuiki AB, Japan.
•12 Aug 1960 - Echo 1, a passive communication satellite, placed in orbit.
•12 Aug 1961 - Maj. Robert M. White flew the X-15 to a new FAI record of 136,500 feet to break Capt Iven Kincheloe's 1956 record in the X-2.
•12 Aug 1969 - Vietnam: American installations at Quan-Loi come under Viet Cong attack.
•12 Aug 1971 - 2nd Lt. Robert Straton weighed 1,520 pounds for 45 seconds to establish a record for sustained high-G endurance. He set the record in a U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine study.
•12 Aug 1972 - Lt. Col. Wendell Shawier became the first U.S. Air Force pilot to fly the F-15.
•12 Aug 1985 - A 436th Military Airlift Wing C-5A Galaxy delivered 35 tons of equipment, including three helicopters, to assist over two million flood-and famine-stricken victims in Western Sudan through Oct. 15. The helicopters distributed grain to famine victims that were cut off from road and rail transportation.
•12 Aug 1991 - The F-15 short take-off and landing demonstrator made its last flight at Edwards AFB, Calif., validating the F-15's Autonomous Landing Guidance system during a night landing at Edwards AFB, Calif.
•12 Aug 1992 - During Operation Provide Transition, C-130s helped Angola prepare for its first democratic elections through Oct. 7, by flying 8,805 demobilized solders home after 16 years of civil war and 26.5 tons of cargo on 326 sorties.
•13 Aug 1952 - The U.S. Air Force ordered the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, an eight jet heavy bomber, into full-scale production.
•13 Aug 1953 - The XC-99, the world's largest plane to date, made its first transatlantic flight from Kelly AFB, Texas to Frankfurt, Germany, with 60,000 pounds of cargo.
•13 Aug 1959 - Using a Thor-Agena rocket, the U.S. Air Force launched Discoverer V, a satellite with nose cone reentry capsule, into a polar orbit from the Pacific Missile Range. A malfunction prevented the capsule's recovery, and the satellite fell from orbit on Sept. 16th.
•13 Aug 1960 - In the largest peacetime maneuver to date, Air Force Reserve troop-carrier wings moved 10,400 men of the 101st Airborne Division from Camp Campbell, Ky., to Fort Bragg, N.C., lasting through Aug.17.
•13 Aug 1962 - Ten U.S. Air Force pilots completed a month-long stay in a simulated space cabin.
•13 Aug 1967 - The Alaskan Air Command, assisted by the Alaska Air National Guard and other Air Force units, conducted a three-day rescue and support operation through Aug. 16, after a flood hit the Fairbanks area. Air Force Communications System in Alaska provided emergency communications, while Military Airlift Command provided airlift support.
•13 Aug 1978 - Neptune III, the largest joint airborne operations conducted to date, occurred at Pope AFB, N.C.
•13 Aug 1998 - At Altus AFB, Okla., a KC-135 received the first Pacer CRAG and Traffic Collision Avoidance System modifications. The TCAS modification gave pilots the ability to see other aircraft and get advance warning of possible mid-air-collisions.
•13 Aug 1998 - After 12 Americans died in a terrorist bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi on Aug. 7, a 437th Airlift Wing C-17 from Charleston AFB, S.C. returned 10 victims to Andrews AFB, Md. In a hangar at Andrews, President William J. Clinton presided over a national ceremony of remembrance.
•14 Aug 1942 - When Lt. Elza Shahn ferried his P-38 to England, he spotted a German FW-200 Condor near Iceland. These German long-range reconnaissance aircraft gathered data on weather and allied shipping to help U-boats attack ships in the Atlantic. Lt. Shahn shot the Condor down, becoming the first American Army pilot to shoot down a German plane in World War II.
•14 Aug 1945 - WWII: The Empire of Japan surrendered to the Allied forces, ending World War II.
•14 Aug 1954 - Convair delivered the last B-36 to the Air Force.
•14 Aug 1957 - Strategic Air Command's Deputy Director of Operations, Brig. Gen. James V. Edmundson, flew a 321st Bombardment Wing B-47 nonstop from Andersen AFB, Guam to Sidi Simane, Morocco. He set a B-47 record for distance: 11,450 miles in 22 hours, 50 minutes. He used four refuelings from KC-97 tankers during his journey.
•14 Aug 1959 - The last active B-17 left for retirement at Tucson, Ariz. Seven days earlier, the Air Force destroyed the last B-17 drone.
•14 Aug 1963 - At Edwards AFB, Calif., Maj. Robert W. Smith few Northrop's F-5A multi-purpose fighter in its first military test flight.
•14 Aug 1964 - The first combat employment of the F-105D in Southeast Asia involved 36th Tactical Fighter Squadron aircraft from Korat Royal Thailand Air Force.
•14 Aug 1968 - The third attempt to launch a Minuteman II from an operational base, Grand Forks AFB, N.D., failed.
•14 Aug 1971 - The first C-5A landed at Tan Son Nhut AB, South Vietnam, to deliver general cargo and pick up three C-47 helicopters.
•14 Aug 1973 - Vietnam: The United States ends the "secret" bombing of Cambodia.
•14 Aug 1978 - As part of a flood relief operations, a C-141 Starlifter delivered 26 tons of supplies to Khartoum, Sudan, through Aug. 16.
•14 Aug 1980 - A C-5A with modified wings made its first flight at Dobbins AFB, Ga. Under this contract, Lockheed-Georgia had to retrofit 77 C-5As with new wings by July 1987.
•14 Aug 1992 - U.S. airlifters moved over 23,000 tons of food, water, medicine, and other relief in 3,000 missions to Somalia during Operation Provide Relief lasting through Feb. 28, 1993. The supplies helped thousands of starving refugees, who suffered from a prolonged drought and civil war. The airlifters flew over 3,100 missions to deliver 34,400 tons of cargo in the operation.
•15 Aug 1944 - In the greatest one-day effort in the Mediterranean to date, Allied Air Forces flew 4,249 sorties and landed 9,000 airborne troops in Southern France.
•15 Aug 1957 - Gen. Nathan F. Twining becomes the first U.S. Air Force officer to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
•15 Aug 1958 - A B-52 launched a GAM-72A Quail flight test vehicle on its first powered flight at Holloman AFB, N. M.
•15 Aug 1959 - Strategic Air Command activated the last Atlas D unit, the 566th Strategic Missile Squadron at Offutt AFB, Neb.
•15 Aug 1961 - NASA launched Explorer XII. This "windmill" satellite studied the Van Allen belts and energy particles. Its highly eccentric orbit permitted the study of phenomena at altitudes between 170 and 50,000 miles.
•15 Aug 1962 - Capt. Gene Kruse set a cross-country speed record for commercial jets by flying a Boeing 707-720B from New York to Los Angels (2,474 miles) in four hours, 19 minutes, 15 seconds, at 571.64 mph.
•15 Aug 1963 - The last 15 Thor missiles were taken off alert in the United Kingdom to phaseout this program.
•15 Aug 1965. First deployment of Prime Beef: PRIME BEEF (Base Engineer Emergency Force) teams of civil engineering personnel were organized, equipped and trained to respond within hours to worldwide emergencies and to support the Air Force's mission.
•15 Aug 1970 - Two new HH-53 rescue helicopters made a 9,000-mile flight from Eglin AFB, Fla. to Da Nang, South Vietnam. The flight, which took nine days with seven intermediate stops, included a 1,700-mile nonstop transpacific flight between Shenya Island in the Aleutians and Misawa Air Base, Japan. HC-130 tankers refueled the helicopters in this first transpacific helicopter flight.
•15 Aug 1975 - The U.S. Air Force studied ground mobile and silo basing for the M-X missile.
•15 Aug 1977 - Two Air Force Reserve C-130B Hercules aircraft deployed to California, where they made 38 fire-retardants drops on four major forest fires.
•15 Aug 1981 - Boeing Company in Wichita, Kan., returned the first B-52G, modified to carry air-launched cruise missiles, to Griffis AFB, N.Y. and the 416th Bombardment Wing. This modification included an offensive avionics system to improve the B-52s navigation and weapons delivery.
•15 Aug 1983 - Military Airlift Command flew 12 C-141 missions loaded with 185 tons of cargo to the Republic of Chad under a security assistance program through Sept. 15th.
•15 Aug 1988 - With support from 40 KC-135 and KC-10 refueling missions, C-5s airlifted a 500-man U.N. peacekeeping force from Trenton, Ontario, to Incirlik AB, Turkey, and Baghdad, Iraq through Aug. 28. The peacekeeping force monitored the U.N. negotiated cease-fire between Iran and Iraq.
•16 Aug 1947 - A production-model Convair B-36A flew for the first time.
•16 Aug 1948 - Northrop's XF-89 Scorpion made its first flight at Edwards AFB, Calif.
•16 Aug 1950 - On a 27-square mile area near Waegwan, South Korea, 98 B-29s dropped more than 800 tons of bombs on suspected enemy troop concentrations. This attack was the largest employment of airpower against ground forces since World War II's Normandy invasion.
•16 Aug 1960 - Capt. Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr. parachuted from 102,000 feet -- a world record.
•16 Aug 1965 - Tactical Air Command's 464th Troop-Carrier Wing received the 1964 Mackay Trophy for its November 1964 airlift of 1,500 hostages and refugees from rebel-held territory in the Congo.
•16 Aug 1968 - The first Boeing LGM-30G Minuteman II Intercontinental ballistic missile from Cape Kennedy succeeded.
•16 Aug 1970 - A C-5A Galaxy flew a 20.5 hour nonstop flight without refueling in the longest endurance mission for the world's largest aircraft of the time. The C-5A traveled more than 7,000 miles from Edwards AFB, Calif., to Seattle, Bangor, Maine, Atlanta, and back to Edwards, touching the four corners of the U.S.
•16 Aug 1972 - The Air Force and Navy signed an agreement for joint participation in the F-15 engine program at the Pratt & Whitney plant in East Hartford, Conn.