Chicagoland/O'Hare Chapter 142
Air Force Association
•17 Aug 1942 The first combat mission flown by 8th Air Force against Hitler’s Festung Europa takes place against German-held Rouen, France, led by then-Major Paul Tibbets.
•17 Aug 1942 - Col. Frank A. Armstrong Jr., led 12 B-17s from the 97th Bomb Group against the Rouen-Sotteville marshalling yards in France. The raid, which was the first Eighth Air Force heavy bomber mission from the United Kingdom against Western Europe in World War II, demonstrated the feasibility of daylight bombing.
•17 Aug 1943. Gen Kenney’s forces in New Guinea stage a massive Offensive Counterair attack against Japanese. The first wave of attackers with a force of 12 B-17s and 41 B-24s is followed two hours later by strafing attacks by B-25 medium bombers. P-38s provide escort for the bombers. Taken by surprise, over 150 aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force are destroyed, most of them on the ground. Two US bombers are lost. The Japanese ability to mount offensive operations is crippled.
•17 Aug 1943 - Eighth Air Force sent more than 300 B-17s on its first raid against German ball-bearing plants at Schweinfurt and the aircraft plants at Regensburg. The mission suffered heavy losses as 60 bombers fell, mostly to enemy fighters. Military leaders reexamined the heavy bomber's ability to protect itself and delayed the next mission until Sept. 6. It was also the first shuttle operation in the European theater.
•17 Aug 1943 - Air Training Command used a C-87 Liberator to carry Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt on a tour of the Pacific theater to boost morale, inspect Red Cross installations, and learn how women from Australia and New Zealand supported the war.
•17 Aug 1946 - Sgt. Lawrence Lambert at Wright Field, Ohio became the first person in the U.S. to be ejected from an aircraft by ejection seat. He ejected from a P-61 flying at 302 mph at 7,800 feet in altitude.
•17 Aug 1949 - The Senate ratified the Geneva international treaty regarding rights in aircraft.
•17 Aug 1951 - Col. Fred J. Ascani flew a combat-equipped F-86F Sabre at 635,686 mph to set a 100-kilometer world record course at the National Air Races in Detroit. He received the Mackay Trophy for this flight.
•17 Aug 1955 - Twelve F-84F Thunderstreaks flew nonstop 5,118 miles from London, to Austin, Texas, in 10 hours, 43 minutes to set distance and time records for a mass flight.
•17 Aug 1961 - The BOMARC-B missile completed a critical profile flight by destroying a B-47 drone at a minimum range of 50 nautical miles and 5,000 feet in altitude.
•17 Aug 1962 - The Douglas Aircraft Company fired the Saturn C-1 booster's S-IV stage in a 10-second static test at Sacramento, Calif.
•17 Aug 1969 - Hurricane Camille, the strongest storm to hit the U.S. to date, damaged the Mississippi Gulf Coast. People from Tactical Air Command, Military Airlift Command, Air Training Command, Air Force Communications Systems, the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard provided emergency aid. The U.S. Air Force delivered 5,900 tons of cargo with six different types of airlifters to the region by Sept. 16.
•17 Aug 1972 - The U.S. Air Force changed navigator bombarder training into a nonflying training program to save $1.9 million a year.
•17 Aug 1974 - The Teledyne Ryan long-range reconnaissance drone, Compass Cope, completed its first flight at Edwards AFB, Calif.
•17 Aug 1990 - President Bush activates the Civil Reserve Air Fleet for the first time since it was authorized in 1952. The activation increases airlift availability for the Middle East.
•17 Aug 1993 - A 13,000-pound steel guillotine cut the first of 350 B-52Gs into 18 pieces by the Aircraft Maintenance and Regeneration Center at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz. The bombers were being destroyed under the terms of the START II Treaty.
•17 Aug 1994 - The Air Force's second operational B-2, the Spirit of California, joined the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman, Mo.
•17 Aug 1995 - Following turmoil in Iraq and renewed threats of military action against its neighbors, Air Mobility Command initiated an airlift to augment Southern Watch forces under Operation Vigilant Sentinel. The operation later evolved into Exercise Intrinsic Action. Air Mobility Command dispatched over 100 strategic and commercial aircraft flights to carry over more than 2,200 passengers and over 1,300 short tons of cargo to the region through late Aug 17th.
•17 Aug 1995 - The E-8C JSTARS began flight tests.
•17 Aug 1996 - Due to increased terrorism in the Persian Gulf, Air Mobility Command contracted a Boeing 747 to return 300 DOD family members from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to the U.S. on Aug. 18. On Aug. 17, a C-141 flew 90 cats and dogs belonging to the families to the U.S. in Operation Noah's Ark.
•18 Aug 1941-President Roosevelt announced agreements to let Pan American Airways ferry warplanes from the U.S. to British forces in the Middle East via West Africa.
•18 Aug 1956 - Last Air Force pilot training class to fly piston-engined T-6 aircraft graduated at Bartow AB, Fla. The Air Force used various versions of the T-6 to polish pilot skills since 1941.
•18 Aug 1965 - The first Minuteman II launch from an operationally configured silo at Vandenberg AFB, Calif. succeeded.
•18 Aug 1978 - At McConnell AFB, Kan., Airman 1st Class Tina M. Ponzer, 381st Strategic Missile Wing, became SAC's first enlisted female to perform Titan II alert duty.
•18 Aug 1987 - The 308th Strategic Missile Wing inactivation at Little Rock AFB, Ark., officially ended Strategic Air Command's Titan II missile program.
•18 Aug 1992 - The Operation Southern Watch restricted Iraq flights south of 32 degrees north latitude. Air Mobility Command airlifted U.S. Forces to Saudi Arabia to support the operation. The command also deployed tankers to refuel fighters flying combat air patrols.
•18 Aug 1999 - During Operation Avid Response, after a devastating earthquake rocked western Turkey, Air Mobility Command began its support of this international relief effort. A C-5 from the 436th Airlift Wing at Dover AFB, Del., left the U.S. for Istanbul with a 70-person search and rescue team. The team, with five search and rescue dogs, 56,000 pounds of equipment and three vehicles, set up operations in nearby Izmir. Two KC-10s from the 305th Air Mobility Wing at McGuire AFB, N.J., refueled the C-5 during its nonstop flight to Turkey. By Sept.10, when the Avid Response task force at Topel NAS, Turkey, disbanded, Air Mobility Command aircraft had flown 20 missions to support the earthquake relief effort.
•18 Aug 1999 - The 7th Bomb Wing became the first unit to achieve initial operational capability of the Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile.
•08 Aug 2009. The 24th Air Force stands up, responsible for offensive and defensive operations in cyberspace.
•19 Aug 1940 -North American B-25 Mitchel bomber first flew.
•19 Aug 1942 - 2nd Lt. Sam F. Junkin became the first active-duty American pilot to shoot down a German fighter over Europe while giving air support to a commando raid on Dieppe, France.
•19 Aug 1950 - Aided by air strkes, U.S. troops drove North Korea forces near the Yongsan bridgehead back across the Naktong River to end the Battle of the Naktong Bulge. Sixty-three B-29s attacked the industrial and port area of Chongjin in Northeast Korea, while nine B-29s from the 19th Bomb Group dropped 54 tons of 1,000-pound bombs on the west railway bridge at Seoul. Moreover, 37 U.S. Navy dive bombers from two carriers followed up the U.S. Air Force attack. Afterwards, aerial reconnaissance revealed the collapse of two spans.
•19 Aug 1957 - During Project Man High II, Maj. David G. Simons set a FAI altitude record of 101,516 feet for manned balloon flight lasting through Aug. 20. He ascended at Crosby, Minn., and landed at Elm Lake, S.D., after being airborne for 32 hours.
•19 Aug 1959 - Discoverer VI, a U.S. Air Force satellite, launched into a polar orbit from the Pacific Missile Range. Its instrument capsule was not recovered.
•19 Aug 1960 - Piloting a C-119, Capt. Harold F. Mitchell retrieves the Discoverer XIV reentry capsule in midair. This is the first successful aerial recovery of a returning space capsule.
•19 Aug 1964 - A Thor-Delta rocket carried the Hughes SYNCOM III communications satellite into space. After several weeks of minor maneuvering, the satellite achieved a near-perfect stationary position above the equator and International Date Line. That achievement made SYNCOM III the world's first geostationary satellite.
•19 Aug 1970 - At Minot AFB, N.D., the first Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles went on alert with the 741st Strategic Missile Squadron.
•19 Aug 1972 - Military Air Command HH-3 Jolly Green Giant and HH-43 Huskie helicopters rescued 748 Koreans from flood waters in the Osan area after 18 inches of rain fell in less than 30 hours lasting through Aug. 20th.
•19 Aug 1974 - Three C-141s carried 600 tents and 15,000 blankets into Bangladesh after severe floods through Aug. 20.
•19 Aug 1984 - Two C-141s from Twenty-Second Air Force evacuated 382 U.S. military and civilian personnel from Johnson Island through Aug. 20 to avoid Typhoon Kell.
•20 Aug 1953 - Strategic Air Command moved the 31st and 508th Strategic Fighter Wings from Turner AFB, Ga. to Nouasseur AB, French Morocco, and Lakenheath, England during Operation Longstride. In Phase I, eight F-84 Thunderjets from the 31st used three KC-97 air refuelings to reach Nouasseur in 10 hours, 20 minutes. The 31st returned home on Sept. 2. Phase II also started today as 17 F-84Gs from the 508th flew 4,485 miles to Lakenheath. With three air refuelings, these F-84s traveled the greatest distance flown nonstop to date by single-engine jet fighters. The unit returned to Turner AFB on Sept. 12. For this operation, the 40th Air Divison earned the Mackay Trophy.
•20 Aug 1955 - At Edwards AFB, Calif., Col. Horace A. Hanes, director of flight testing at the Air Force Flight Test Center flew an F-100C to an FAI speed record of 822,135 mph for straightaway flight. He later received the 1955 Mackay Trophy.
•20 Aug 1962 - In an X-15 flight, Maj. Robert A. Rushworth participated in the first successful attempt to telemeter electrocardiogram.
•20 Aug 1973 - Airlifters from Military Airlift Command, Tactical Air Command and Air Force Reserves airlifted 2,400 tons of relief supplies and equipment to Pakistan for flood victims.
•20 Aug 1975 - The 320th Bombardment Wing at Mather AFB, Calif., received the last short range attack missile.
•20 Aug 1990 - More than 15,300 reservists, roughly 22 percent of the reserve force, volunteered to serve in Desert Shield.
•20 Aug 1995 - After the Aug. 7 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the U.S. launched more than 75 Tomahawk land-attack missiles from ships and submarines against terrorist targets in Afghanistan and Sudan.
•21 Aug 1944 - The F-8F Bearcat first flew.
•21 Aug 1948 - In his final report as Chief of Staff for the Air Force, Gen. Carl Spaatz disclosed the development of a supersonic guided atomic missile with a 5,000-mile range.
•21 Aug 1961 - Construction on first Minuteman 1B operational facilities began at Ellsworth AFB, S.D.
•21 Aug 1967 - With a special coating of heat resisting material and protective white paint, Maj. William J. Knight flew the X-15 at 3,409 mph (Mach 6.5) above Edwards AFB, Calif. It was the X-15s first flight with an ablative coating.
•21 Aug 1968 - An Air Force UH-1F helicopter evacuated 260 people and 52,000 pounds of personal belongs and food during a four-day period to aid flood victims in northern Nicaragua.
•21 Aug 1970 - An A-7D Corsair completed its first aerial refueling over Death Valley, Calif. A KC-97L tanker from the Illinois Air National Guard provided the fuel.
•21 Aug 1987 - At Seattle, a Boeing 767 modified for the Strategic Defense Initiative airborne Optical Adjunct mission, first flew. It carried a special infrared sensor built by Hughes Aircraft Co.
•21 Aug 1990 - In the first two 22 weeks of Operation Desert Shield, the Air Force deployed six fighter wings to the area, while Strategic Air Command increased refueling and reconnaissance flights over the region.
•21 Aug 1998 - Maj. Michael J. Brill, a full-time air reserve technician with the 419th Fighter Wing, at Hill AFB, Utah, became the first Air Force pilot to amass more than 4,000 total flying hours in the F-16 Fighting Falcon.
•22 Aug 1950 - Chinese anti-aircraft gunners fired across the Yalu River at RB-29s flying border reconnaissance. This was the first hostile Chinese action against U.N. aircraft.
••22 Aug 1988 - Aircrews flew one C-5, one C-130 and 29 C-141s to carry 2,497 Army firefighters and 420 tons of equipment to Bozeman, Mo. And West Yellowstone, Wyo. to fight a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park that had engulfed 592,000 acres lasting through Oct. 6.
•23 Aug 1948 - The 31st Fighter Wing at Turner AFB, Ga., received Tactical Air Command's first F-84 aircraft.
•23 Aug 1950 - The 19th Bomb Group flew the first Razon mission. With the exception of one bomb that hit a railroad bridge near Pyongyang, the World War II-era-radio control equipment failed to guide the bombs to the target.
•23 Aug 1951 - The X-1D rocket research plane caught fire on its first flight. Its B-50 carrier plane had to jettison the X-1 to destruction over Edwards AFB, Calif.
•23 Aug 1954 - The YC-130 Hercules made its maiden flight from Lockheed Air Terminal, Burbank, Calif.
•23 Aug 1978 - The U.S. Air Force asked Boeing Aerospace and General Dynamics to build 12 air-launched cruise missiles each for a competitive contract.
•23 Aug 1985 - From a modified Minuteman launch facility at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., Air Force System Command conducted America's first land-based "cold launch" from an underground silo. The "cold launch" technique ejected a Peacekeeper missile by gas pressure and its propellant ignited after becoming airborne. This method greatly reduced the damage to a silo from a launch. This successful launch was the ninth in the Peacekeeper's testing program.
•23 Aug 1986 - All B-52Gs completed their cruise missile integration modifications.
•23 Aug 1990 - Secretary of Defense Richard B. Cheney gave the Air Force the authority to call up reservists for active duty in the Gulf crisis. The Air Force eventually called up more than 20,000 Air Force reservists.
•23 Aug 1990 - The 89th Military Airlift Wing receives the first of two Boeing VC-25A presidential transport aircraft at Andrews AFB, Md. The VC-25A is a modified 747-200B commercial transport that replaces the VC-137C.
•23 Aug 1994 - Air Mobility Command-gained Air Natural Guard refueling units operating from airfields at Istres, France, and Pisa, Italy, began participating in Operation Deny Flight to maintain a no-fly zone over Bosnia.
•24 Aug 1951 - Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, Chief of Staff for the Air Force, disclosed the development of atomic tactical weapons for use against armies in the field.
•24 Aug 1959 - The U.S. Air Force launched an Atlas-C over a 5,000-mile course. Later, the Air Force recovered a data capsule containing movies taken from 700 miles up that showed one-sixth of the earth's surface.
•24 Aug 1961 - At Edwards AFB, Calif., Jacqueline Cochran flew a Northrop T-38 Talon to a world speed record for women - 842.6 miles per hour.
•24 Aug 1965 - A 341st Strategic Missile Squadron from Malmstrom AFB, Mo., launched the 100th Minuteman I test missile from Vandenberg AFB, Calif.
•24 Aug 1974 - Alexander P. de Seversky, airpower advocate and an inventive genius whose life and career followed the evolution of aviation died in New York at 80. He developed the P-35, the Army Air Corps' first single seat all-metal pursuit aircraft with retractable landing gear and a closed cockpit. He also developed inflight-refueling techniques.
•24 Aug 1978 - The 81st Tactical Fighter Wing at Royal Air Force Bentwaters/Woodbridge, England, received the first three A-10s destined for U. S. Air Forces in Europe.
•24 Aug 1979 - Full-scale development of the Global Positioning System authorized.
•24 Aug 1994 - As Hurricane John approached, Air Mobility Command aircraft evacuated 1,107 military and civilian personnel from Johnston Island, located 740 miles southwest of Honolulu. Six C-141s, two DC-8 charters, and one C-130 brought everyone to Hickam AFB, Hawaii. Although most evacuees returned to Johnston on commercial flights in early September, an Air Mobility Command C-141 and a few C-130s returned some residents in late August.
•25 Aug 1943 - Twelfth Air Force sent 140 P-38s from the 1st Fighter Group and 82nd Fighter Group on the first mass, low-level long-range strafing raid in World War II, Flying from airfields in Sicily.
•25 Aug 1950 - Far East Air Force directed Fifth Air Force to fly constant armed surveillance over enemy airfields to prevent the build-up of enemy air strength before the Inchon invasion, scheduled for Sept. 15th.
•25 Aug 1952 - Thirteen C-54s airlifted 3,763 Muslin pilgrims stranded in Beirut, Lebanon, to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Operation Hajji Baba helped to restore America's standing in the Middle East through Aug. 29th.
•25 Aug 1999 - At Edwards AFB, Calif., the No. 2 F-22 successfully flew at 60 degrees angle-of-attack and demonstrated post-stall flight with thrust vectoring.
•26 Aug 1943 - The U.S. Army Air Forces used a new type of perspective maps with targets drawn as seen from the air to improve high altitude precision bombing abilities.
•26 Aug 1944 - Eighth Air Force sent 997 heavy bombers and 897 fighters against targets in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany; 13 bombers and 13 fighters were lost, while 148 bombers and 15 fighters sustained damage.
•26 Aug 1950 - The 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Barksdale AFB, La., received the first RB-45c, four-engine jet reconnaissance aircraft.
•26 Aug 1950 - Fifth Air Force organized the 47th Troop-Carrier Squadron and 48th Troop-Carrier Squadron (Provisional) at Tachikawa with C-46s from the Far East to augment Far East Air Forces airlift resources for U.N. offensives in September. At Ashiya, Japan, FEAF organized the 1st Troop Carrier Task Force (Provisional) as the nucleus of the new Combat Cargo Command (Provisional) with Maj. Gen William H. Tunner, architect of the Berlin airlift as commander.
•26 Aug 1954 - After being launched by a B-29 Superfortress above Edwards AFB, Calif., Maj. Arthur "Kit" Murray flew the Bell X-1A to 90,443 feet and set a new FAI altitude record.
•26 Aug 1959 - The first F-104 Starfighter landed in Europe as part of George AFB, Calif.'s rotation program.
•26 Aug 1967 - After shooting down his F-100 Super Sabre, the North Vietnamese captured Maj. George E. Day. They took him to a prison camp for interrogation and torture. Despite crippling injuries, Major Day escaped and evaded the enemy for two weeks. He eventually crossed the demilitarized zone and came within two miles of a Marine Corps base before he was shot and captured again. He continued to resist his captors until released in 1973. For that action, he received the Medal of Honor.
•26 Aug 1974 - Two C-141s airlifted more than 34 tons of medical relief supplies into Burma through Aug. 17, after flooding devastated that country.
•26 Aug 1975 - The YC-15 medium short takeoff and landing transport completed its first flight from the McDonnell Douglas facility at Long Beach to Edwards AFB, Calif.
•26 Aug 1976 - Strategic Air Command launched its 500 missile, a Minuteman II, from Vandenberg, Calif.
•26 Aug 1976 - Two groups of women pilot candidates began flight screening at Hondo Municipal Airport, prior to entering undergraduate pilot training at Williams AFB, Ariz. on Sept. 29. The 77-08 class included Capts. Connie Engle, Mary Donahue, Kathy La Sauce and Susan Rogers; 1st Lts. Christine Schott; Sandra Scott and Victoria Crawford; and 2nd Lts. Mary Livingston, Carol Scherer and Kathleen Rambo. They graduated on Sept. 2, 1977.
•26 Aug 1980 - An F-15/E-3A team deployed for the first time to Australia to participate in Pacific Comfort air defense exercise. The exercise continued through Sept. 11th.
•26 Aug 1987 - The A-6F completed its first flight from the Grumman facility at Calverton, N.Y.
•27 Aug 1943 - Ten SB-24's "Snoopers," with special radar sighting devices to make accurate bombings possible, irrespective of visual sightings, began operations from Carney Field, Guadalcanal.
•27 Aug 1945 - B-29s completed their first supply drop operation to Allied prisoners of war in the Weihsien camp near Peiping, China. In all, 154 camps with 63,500 prisoners in Japan, China and Korea, received food, medical supplies and clothing.
•27 Aug 1950 - Two F-51 Mustang pilots accidentally strayed into China and strafed an airstrip near Antung, mistaking it for a North Korean airstrip at Sinuiju on the border with China. The Chinese used the incident for propaganda and diplomatic purposes. The 92nd Bomb Group sent 24 B-29s to Kyomipo to bomb the largest iron and steel plant in Korea. Far East Air Force experimented with delayed action bombs to discourage enemy repairs on bridges.
•27 Aug 1953 - The Snark subsonic intercontinental missile first flew.
•27 Aug 1956 - Douglas Airplane Company fired the Thor missile in a captive test at the Edwards AFB Rocket Engine Test Laboratory.
•27 Aug 1964 - Strategic Air Command conducted its last Atlas E test launch from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. The launch supported the Army's Nike-Zeus program.
•27 Aug 1968 - President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Executive Order 11424 to give flight pay and incentive pay for hazardous duty to military personnel flying spacecraft.
•27 Aug 1969 - Tactical Air Command received its first production-model A-7D attack aircraft.
•27 Aug 1969 - The U.S. Air Force delivered the first six F-4D Phantoms to the South Korean Air Force at Taegu AB, Korea, during the Peace Spectator Program.
•27 Aug 1970 - The Air Force canceled the AIM-82A Short Range Missile for the F-15.
•27 Aug 1986 - A C-130 Hercules from the 50th Tactical Airlift Squadron flew 250 tents to help 2,000 villagers in north western Cameroon after a carbon dioxide cloud bubbled out of Lake Nyos.
•27 Aug 1987 - The U.S. Air Force and NASA selected Pratt and Whitney and Rockwell International to design supersonic ramjet engines for the propped National Aerospace Plane.
•28 Aug 1942 - The War Department directed Air Training Command to provide aircraft and equipment to evacuate sick and wounded American servicemen and women throughout the world.
•28 Aug 1943 - The 482nd Bomb Group, equipped with Oboe, H2S and H2X blind bombing equipment, became the first radar-equipped Pathfinder unit in the U.S. Army Air Forces.
•28 Aug 1944 - Maj. Joseph Myers and 2nd Lt. Manford O. Croy Jr., from Eighth Air Force shared an aerial victory for a Me-262, the first jet to be downed in combat. Maj. Myers was leading eight P-47s flying top cover at 11,000 feet in the vicinity of Termonde, near Brussels, Belgium, when he saw an aircraft flying low and extremely fast. Maj. Myers and Lt. Croy then made a 45-degree dive and caught up with the twin-engine Me262. Before they could fire on the jet, the German pilot scuttled the aircraft in an open field. He fled on foot, but was killed by other P-47s as they strafed the wreck to destroy it. Both Maj. Myers and Lt. Croy received half credit for an aerial victory.
•28 Aug 1945 - An advance communications team flew in to Atsugi Airfield near Tokyo. Under the protection of Imperial Army units, this team set up the control tower and communication equipment necessary for occupation forces to land. On Aug. 30, Mission 75 began, and it ended 13 days later without a single fatal aircraft accident. The 1,336 C-54 flights brought the 11th Airborne Division, the 27th Infantry Division and advanced echelons of Gen. MacArthur's headquarters, Far East Air Forces, the Eighth Army and an initial ATC detachment into Atsugi Airport.
•28 Aug 1958 - An Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile from Cape Canaveral, Fla., flew 3,000 miles and landed in the target area in the first test of a radio-command guidance system.
•28 Aug 1970 - Strategic Air Command crews, using operational hardware and procedures, launched a Minuteman III on its first demonstration and shakedown operational test flight.
•28 Aug 1972 - Capt. Richard S. "Steve" Ritchie, with his backseater Capt. Charles D. DeBellevue, shot down his fifth MiG-21 near Hanoi. He became the first U.S. Air Force ace of the Vietnam War and first since the Korean War. For this feat, Capt. Ritchie shared the 1972 Mackay Trophy with Capts. Jeffrey S. Feinstein and Charles B. DeBellevue.
•28 Aug 1981 - Secretary of the Air Force Verne Orr selected McDonnell Douglas Corporation to develop the C-X aircraft.
•28 Aug 1984 - A C-5 Galaxy delivered the first shipment of support equipment for ground-launched cruise missiles at Florennes AB, Belgium.
•28 Aug 1988 - Shortages of hospital equipment and medical supplies on the island of San Torre off the west coast of Africa led the U.S. to send a C-141 with 29 tons of supply items.
•29 Aug 1952 - The SM-62 Snark completed its first test at the Air Force Missile Test Center, Cape Canaveral, Fla.
•29 Aug 1952 - Far East Air Force fighter-bombers set a new 24-hour record, routing 854 Fifth Air Force sorties against Pyongyang, Korea. This closely coordinated attack destroyed 56 buildings and damaged 33 others.
•29 Aug 1960 - The U.S. Air Force declared six Atlas missiles of the 564th Strategic Missile Squadron at Francis E. Warren AFB, Wyo. operational, which made it the first combat ready intercontinental missile squadron.
•29 Aug 1970 - The Army's Safeguard anti-ballistic missile system completed its first full-scale test, when a Spartan area defense interceptor missile launched from Kwajalein Atoll intercepted a Minute I reentry vehicle launched from Vandenberg AFB, Calif.
•29 Aug 1970 - The Douglas DC-10 tri-jet, ended its first flight at Edwards AFB, where it underwent FAA certification tests.
•29 Aug 1984 - The last OV-10 Broncos left Sembach AB, Germany, after a decade of operations in Europe for George AFB, Calif.
•29 Aug 1990 - An Air Force C-5, carrying supplies destined for the Gulf theater, crashes on take-off from Ramstein AB, Germany. Thirteen persons are killed and four injured.
•29 Aug 1998 - The Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle reached 61,000 feet on an eight-hour mission over Edwards AFB, Calif. and China Lake, Calif. The flight doubled the number of hours flown in its previous three tests and reached 10,000 feet higher.
•30 Aug 1945 - Special Mission 75 ferried 39,928 occupation troops and 8,202 tons of supplies from a staging area in Okinawa to Japan. The mission used 259 C-54s and 360 B-24 bombers as cargo planes and associated aircraft.
•30 Aug 1950 - An experimental B-29 flare mission lit the Han River near Seoul before dawn for a B-26 strike against an elusive enemy pontoon bridge. When it could not be found, the B-26s attacked the permanent bridge.
•30 Aug 1953 - Tactical Air Command's Eighteenth Air Force transferred its last C-122 aircraft into storage.
•30 Aug 1955 - The U.S. Air Force proved its worldwide ability to deploy fighters when a flight commander, who had breakfast near London took off with an F-84F Thunderstreak formation and reached Austin, Texas, in 10 hours, 48 minutes later in time for lunch with his family.
•30 Aug 1958 - Concurrently with the Lebanon Crisis, Chinese communists, with Soviet backing, threatened to invade Taiwan, Quemoy and Matsu. Tactical Air Command deployed its Composite Air Strike Force of B-57s, F-100s, F-101s, and C-130s to Taiwan, while Pacific Air Forces sent an F-86D squadron from Okinawa to provide night defense alert and the Air Defense Command deployed a squadron of F-104s during Operation Double Trouble or X-Ray. During the shelling of Quemoy and Matsu, Chinese MiG-17s began to fly over the nationalist-held island. Nationalist Chinese F-86 pilots from Taiwan proved to be more than a match for the communist pilots, shooting down 32 MiGs (with three probables and 10 damaged). MATS C-118s, C-121s, and C-124s airlifted the Composite Air Strike Force and ADC squadron, while later supporting the effort with 144 C-124 missions. The rapid deployment of the Composite Air Strike Force earned a Mackay Trophy.
•30 Aug 1960 - The first Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile squadron becomes fully operational.
•30 Aug 1960 - With six Atlas missiles ready to launch, the 564th Strategic Missile Squadron at F. E. Warren AFB, Wyo., becomes the first fully operational ICBM squadron.
•30 Aug 1974 - A C-5 flew Military Airlift Command's first long-range, air refueled mission over water for Operation Cold Juice, flying from Dover AFB, Del., to Clark AB, Philippines. The aircraft covered the 10,600 statute miles in 21 hours 30 minutes. KC-135s transferred 289,000 pounds of fuel. A total of eight Cold Juice demonstration flights were flown with the last flights in January 1975 leading to the development of cell air refueling procedures and techniques for strategic airlift.
•30 Aug 1974 - Detachment 13 of the 41st Air Rescue and Recover Wing saved 36 Koreans from the flood waters surrounding Kwang Ju, Korea.
•30 Aug 1979 - After Hurricane David hit Dominica, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe, and the Dominican Republic, killing 6,000 people and leaving 150,000 homeless, Military Airlift Command C-5s, C-141s, and C-130s moved 2,881 tons of supplies and 1,358 passengers on 251 missions to the area through Nov. 21. Jamaica also received 32 tons of cargo and 35 passengers for assistance.
•30 Aug 1982 - The F-5G (later renamed the F-20) Tigershark makes its first flight at Edwards AFB, Calif.
•30 Aug 1995 - NATO and U.S. aircraft began airstrikes on Serbian ground positions in Bosnia-Herzegovina to support the U.N. Operation Deliberate Force. The airstrikes, with a Bosnian-Croatian ground attack, convinced the Serbs to accept peace terms in late 1995.
•31 Aug 1950 - After a 10-day lull in ground fighting, North Korean forces launched a coordinated attack along the entire Pusan perimeter. Fifth Air Force provided close air support for the defending U.N. troops, while 74 B-29s bombed mining facilities, metal industries, and marshalling yards at Chinnampo in the largest strategic bombing mission of August. The targets included aluminum and magnesium plants.
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31 Aug 1956 - The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker flew its maiden flight.
•31 Aug 1965 - First Minuteman II missile emplaced in a 447th Strategic Missile Squadron silo.
•31 Aug 1967 - The Air Force awarded McDonnell-Douglas a contract for eight C-9A medium-range jets to carry 30 litter patients, 40 ambulatory patients or a combination of both.
•31 Aug 1981 - A McDonnell Douglas DC-10 with winglets completed its first flight from the company's Long Beach factory to Edwards AFB, Calif. The winglets reduced drag and lowered fuel use by as much as 250,000 gallons an aircraft per year.
•31 Aug 1986 - From an operationally configured launch facility, Vandenberg AFB, Calif., launched the first operationally configured Peacekeeper missile.
•31 Aug 1987 - Eight C-130 Hercules aircraft and even more C-141s carried 2,511 tons of fire retardant and a contingent of firefighters to coastal area in Oregon and California to fight forest fires in 970 square miles of forest brush and scrub lands. The effort helped the firefighters to bring the fires under control.
•31 Aug 1992 - A C-141 flew 70 children suffering from cancer in the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident from Minsk, Byelarus, to Brussels, Belgium, for medical treatment.
•31 Aug 1994 - The Air Force's third operational B-2, the Spirit of Texas, joined the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman AFB, Mo.
•31 Aug 1994 - During Operation Safe Haven, U.S. Air Force and other military services moved Cuban and Haitian refugees from overcrowded camps at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Panama for shelter through Sept.10th.