One Hundred Years of Flight USAF Chronology ... - The Air University

1968
For several decades in the latter part of the twentieth century, the C–141
Starlifter served as the Air Force’s primary long-range jet transport.
1968
January 12: The Air Force announced a system by which tactical air units
would carry with them all they needed to operate at “bare” bases
equipped only with runways, taxiways, parking areas, and a water supply.
January 21: Vietnamese Communist forces began a 77-day siege of the
Marine Corps stronghold at Khe Sanh, South Vietnam. Air strikes and
aerial deliveries of supplies allowed marines to hold out until ground
forces could break their encirclement in April.
January 25–26: The Air Force called to active duty Air National Guard and
Air Force Reserve elements in response to the North Korean seizure
of the USS Pueblo off the coast of Korea on January 24.
February 3: At the Arnold Engineering Development Center at Tullahoma,
Tennessee, a laser beam was used for the first time as a light source for
photographing aircraft and missile models at high velocity.
February 29: Col. Jeanne M. Holm, director of Women in the Air Force, and
Col. Helen O’Day, assigned to the Office of the Air Force Chief of
Staff, became the first USAF women promoted to the permanent rank
of colonel under the public law that removed restrictions on promoting
women to higher ranks in all the armed services.
March 25: The Air Force flew F–111s for the first time in combat against military
targets in North Vietnam.
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