Category Archives: Posts

February 25, 1945

Posted on

1945: 334 B-29s drop 1,667 tons of firebombs and destroy 15 square miles of Tokyo beginning a campaign of incendiary raids, the most famous thereof […]

December 16, 1992

Posted on

1992: At night, a B-52 from the 668th Bomb Squadron (Griffiss AFB) loses two engines in flight when one explodes and damages another. Two other […]

December 1, 1965

Posted on

1965: CUBAN REFUGEE AIRLIFT: Through 30 June 1966, Military Air Transport Service airlifters move 26,745 Cuban refugees in 291 flights.  

September 30, 1949

Posted on

1949: Operation VITTLES. The last flight took place to end the Berlin Airlift, although the main effort ended earlier. Tonnage and passenger reports vary but […]

August 4, 1955

Posted on

  1955: China releases the crewmen of a Special Operations B-29, “The Stardust 40.” They were cap­tured on 13 January 1953 and were held longer […]

June 30, 1947

Posted on

1975: The USAF retires its last Douglas C-47B Skytrain (Gooney Bird) to the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB. Douglas Aircraft delivered the first aircraft […]

May 28, 1980

Posted on

1980: The United States Air Force Academy graduates its first female cadets. Ninety-seven women are commissioned as Second Lieutenants.