Air Force Historical Foundation

The recognized guardian of the history and legacy of the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Space Force...Know the Past, Shape the Future.

[Air Force Historical Foundation @AFHF]

1997: The Air Force reached a milestone in advanced missile propulsion with the successful ground testing of the Variable Flow Ducted Rocket at Atlantic Research Corp., Gainesville, Va. A solid-fuel, ducted rocket engine, the VFDR increased the capabilities of conventional rockets by burning fuel-rich rocket-exhaust gases with air, thereby doubling or tripling the total energy produced by the engine. (Artist’s Conception of a VFDR missile launch. USAF image)

[Air Force Historical Foundation @AFHF]

GEMINI 4
1965: Through 7 June, Edward H. White II and James A. McDivitt (both USAF officers) completed a 97-hour, 58-minute space flight with two firsts: White made a 23-minute spacewalk (the first), and Houston's Manned Spaceflight Center controlled its first mission. This mission also sets a space endurance record of 62 orbits. (NASA Images)

[Air Force Historical Foundation @AFHF]

1942: BATTLE OF MIDWAY
The engagement lasted through 6 June. Three US carriers destroyed four Japanese carriers, while only losing one of their own. The Japanese also lost a heavy cruiser, 322 aircraft, and 5,000 men, including a host of skilled pilots. This defeat ended Japan’s eastern offensive and marked a major turning point in the war. Seventh Air Force flew 55 B-17 sorties and four B-26 torpedo attacks, claiming 22 hits on ships and 10 Japanese fighters shot down. It lost two B-17s and two B-26s. (Douglas TBD-1 Devastator torpedo bombers are prepared for launch on the USS Enterprise, June 4, 1942, US Navy Image)

[Air Force Historical Foundation @AFHF]

1970: William “Bill” Dana flew NASA’s M2-F3 Lifting Body on its first flight, without power, after a launching from a B-52. (Bill Dana seen here with the X-15, M2-F3 right, NASA Images)

[Air Force Historical Foundation @AFHF]

1957: PROJECT MAN HIGH I—Capt Joseph Kittinger, Jr., set FAI altitude and endurance records for manned, lighter-than-air craft. He went aloft in a balloon over Minnesota for 6 hours 34 minutes and stayed above 96,000 feet for 2 hours.

[Air Force Historical Foundation @AFHF]

On 1 June 1948, the United States Navy transferred Naval Air Station Banana River in Cocoa Beach, Florida to the United States Air Force. Initially named the Joint Long-Range Proving Ground, in 1950 it was renamed Patrick Air Force Base in honor of Major General Mason Patrick, the first Chief of the United States Army Air Corps (image above). In 2020, the base was redesignated Patrick Space Force Base.
Pictured An early Navaho Missile launched during Armed Forces Day celebrations nearly 70 years ago, aerial view of "missile row" at then, Cape Kennedy Air Force Station, Fla., in 1964. Missile Row included Atlas Launch Complexes 11, 12, 13 and 14, followed by Titan pads at 15,16,19 and 20. (USAF Images)

[Air Force Historical Foundation @AFHF]

1997: A B-2 from the 509 Bomb Wing at Whiteman AFB dropped a GAM-113 bomb over the China Lake Range near Edwards AFB. This drop marked the first time the 4,700-pound conventional penetrating weapon was paired with the B-2. The B-2 can carry up to 8 GAM-113s internally. (USAF Image)

[Air Force Historical Foundation @AFHF]

1953: SAC received its first KC–97G Stratofreighter, a flying boom-type tanker that could dispense 8,513 gallons of aviation gasoline. Unlike previous models, the KC-97G could haul cargo without reconfiguration or carry 96 troops or heavy equipment without modification. (USAF Museum)

[Air Force Historical Foundation @AFHF]

1918: Brig. Gen. Mason M. Patrick takes command of the Air Service of the American Expeditionary Forces. Patrick was a general officer in the United States Army who led the United States Army Air Service during and after World War I and became the first Chief of the Army Air Corps when it was created on July 2, 1926. (USAF Art Program)

[Air Force Historical Foundation @AFHF]

1959: A Rhesus monkey, Able, and a squirrel monkey, Miss Baker, were the first primates to be launched and recovered successfully from space. They were recovered after their nose cone hit in the Atlantic Ocean near Antigua Island. They flew to 300 miles altitude on a PGM-19 Jupiter missile launched from Cape Canaveral. (Able, preserved in her flight suit, on display at the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, PD, left: Baker ready to launch, NASA Image)

[Air Force Historical Foundation @AFHF]

For those who missed our early Book Club Sessions, your may find them at this link to our web page Book Club location. https://t.co/Et08O6tdFs

[Air Force Historical Foundation @AFHF]

To our subscribers:
AFHF would like to call your attention to our Official Podcast:
Know the Past…Shape the Future!
Click this link to find this Podcast, hosted by Award Winning commentator Matt Jolley.
https://t.co/L1wpaE4Wx9
The two most recent episodes feature a two-part interview with “The Father of the Predator,” James “Snake Clark.” and former USAF Chief of Staff, Gen. John Jumper. This candid session sheds light on the behind-the-scenes events that resulted in the first combat use of Predator and how the USAF was able to field the system in a shockingly short timeframe.

[Air Force Historical Foundation @AFHF]

1973: Skylab 2 (also SL-2 and SLM-1[4]) launched this date. It was the first crewed mission to Skylab, the first American orbital space station. The mission was launched on an Apollo command and service module by a Saturn IB rocket with Astronauts Charles Conrad, Jr., Paul Weitz, and Dr. Joseph Kerwin aboard. On 26 May, the astronauts met with Skylab 1 during the fifth orbit, where they worked in space to repair the space station through 21 June. On 18 June, the astronauts surpassed the endurance record in space set by the Soyuz 11 crew. They returned on 22 June, after 404 orbits of the Earth. (NASA Images)

[Air Force Historical Foundation @AFHF]

1953: North American test pilot, George “Wheaties” Welsh, flies the YF-100 Super Sabre for the first time and easily breaks Mach 1 during the one-hour sortie. The flight occurs at the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, California. Nearly 2,300 F-100s will be built during its service life. (USAF Image)

[Air Force Historical Foundation @AFHF]

2002: The X-45A Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV), designated Blue, flew for the first time at Edwards AFB over an oval shaped track for 14 minutes at 7,500 feet and 195 knots. It was the first unmanned aircraft designed for autonomous combat operations. (The first X-45A Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) technology demonstrator had blue trim, while the second was trimmed in red. NASA /Dryden Image)

[Air Force Historical Foundation @AFHF]

1990: McDonnell Douglas pilot Larry Walker and Maj Erwin Jenschke landed the NF-15B STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) Maneuvering Technology Demonstrator in 1,650 feet at Edwards AFB. The Pratt and Whitney two-dimensional, thrust-reversing engine nozzles were used to stop the aircraft. (USAF Image)

[Air Force Historical Foundation @AFHF]

1916: Lt. Col. George O. Squier takes command of the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps. (Seen here as a Major General. US Army Image)

[Air Force Historical Foundation @AFHF]

2000: After one test flight at the White Sands Missile Range, the USAF delivered the Boeing X-40A to the Dryden Flight Research Facility. It was an 80 percent scale version of the proposed X-37 Space Maneuver Vehicle (SMV), an unmanned autonomous spacecraft able to deliver small satellites into orbit, conduct on-orbit reconnaissance, and perform other space chores. (USAF Image)

[Air Force Historical Foundation @AFHF]

The ascent stage of the Apollo 10 Lunar Module (LM) is photographed from the Command Module prior to docking in lunar orbit. The LM is approaching the Command and Service Modules from below. The LM descent stage had already been jettisoned. The lunar surface in the background is near, but beyond the eastern limb of the moon as viewed from earth. The red/blue diagonal line is the spacecraft window. (NASA-JSC)
1969: Through 26 May Apollo 10, the first lunar orbital mission—including LEM operations—using a complete Apollo spacecraft, launched from Kennedy Space Center on a Saturn V with Col Thomas Stafford (USAF), Capt John Young (USN), and Cmdr Eugene Cernan (USN) aboard. They splashed down eight days later in the Pacific. (NASA Image)

[Air Force Historical Foundation @AFHF]

1942: Base loan agreements are signed between the U.S. and Panamanian officials that provide for the use of several air bases to defend the Panama Canal. This B-17 flying patrol over the Canal in 1942. (USAF Image)