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