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

1977
January 31–February 8: In Operation SNO GO, C–5s, C–141s, and C–130s
airlifted 1,160 tons of snow-removal equipment and 430 passengers
after more than 100 inches of snow fell on western New York and
Pennsylvania, paralyzing Buffalo and Pittsburgh.
March 23: Tactical Air Command’s first E–3A Sentry aircraft arrived at Tinker
Air Force Base, Oklahoma. The Sentry, the Air Force’s first airborne
warning and control system aircraft, carried a large rotating
radar disk above its fuselage.
March 27–30: Following the collision of two Boeing 747 airliners with a total
of 643 passengers at Tenerife, Canary Islands, a United States Air
Forces in Europe C–130 transported medical personnel to Tenerife
and airlifted 56 crash survivors to Las Palmas, Canary Islands. A Military
Airlift Command C–141 airlifted the survivors on to various locations
in the United States for medical treatment. The Tenerife airliner
collision was the world’s worst civil-aviation disaster of the twentieth
century.
May 19: Capt. James A. Yule, USAF, was awarded the Mackay Trophy for gallantry
and unusual presence of mind during an in-flight emergency
while flying as an instructor pilot of a B–52 Stratofortress.
June 19: A C–5 Galaxy flew nonstop from Chicago to Moscow carrying a 40ton
superconducting magnet, the first time a C–5 had ever landed in
the Soviet Union. The flight of 5,124 nautical miles required two aerial
refuelings.
June 30: President James E. “Jimmy” Carter, Jr., announced cancellation of
the B–1 Lancer bomber program after the production of four prototypes,
citing the continuing reliability of B–52s and the development
of cruise missiles.
August 12: Released at an altitude of 22,800 feet from the top of a specially
modified Boeing 747, Enterprise—the first space shuttle—completed its
first descent and landing.
August 23: At Shafter, California, cyclist Bryan Allen successfully made the
first sustained, maneuverable, man-powered flight. He propelled the
Gossamer Condor—an aircraft with a framework of aluminum braced
with stainless steel and a covering of Mylar plastic—by pedaling.
August 31: Soviet pilot Alexander Fedotov flew a modified MiG–25 Foxbat
to a record altitude of 123,523.58 feet over Podmosconvnoe in the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
October 1: The Air Force began VOLANT OAK, a quarterly rotation of Air
Force Reserve and Air National Guard C–130 aircraft and crews to
Howard Air Force Base in the Panama Canal Zone.
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