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

1985–86
June 21–July 25: Flying 73 sorties, three C–123K Provider crews sprayed
more than 735,000 acres of public land in southern Idaho from the air
to stop a grasshopper infestation.
July 1: A C–141 Starlifter from the 438th Military Airlift Wing transported 39
passengers released from Trans World Airlines flight 847, which was
hijacked on June 30 by two Shiite Muslims. At Rhein-Main Air Base,
Germany, Vice President George H. W. Bush greeted the survivors
upon their arrival from Damascus, Syria.
July 7: Strategic Air Command accepted its first operational B–1 Lancer, a
long-range bomber with variable swept wings. It went to the 96th
Bombardment Wing at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas.
August 23: Air Force Systems Command successfully conducted its first “cold
launch” from an underground silo, a modified Minuteman launch
facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The cold-launch
technique ejected the missile from the silo by gas pressure, and the
propellant ignited after it became airborne. This technique caused
less damage to the silo and reduced the time needed for another
launch.
September 13: The first antisatellite intercept test took place when a
weapon launched from an F–15 successfully destroyed a satellite orbiting
at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour approximately 290 miles above
Earth.
September 21–30: USAF airlift units flew more than 360 tons of relief cargo
to Mexico City following massive earthquakes there. On September 23,
the 89th Military Airlift Wing transported First Lady Nancy Reagan to
Mexico City to express the nation’s concern and to deliver a check for
$1 million.
December 12–January 20, 1986: C–130 Hercules and C–141 Starlifter aircraft
flew 26 airlift missions to transport to the United States the remains of
248 paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division and eight civilians killed
in a December 12 crash of an Arrow Air DC–8 at Gander, Newfoundland.
The transports also moved 770 passengers and 125 tons of cargo.
1986
January 8: Military Airlift Command accepted delivery of its first C–5B Galaxy,
an improved version of the C–5A, at Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma.
January 28: The seven crew members of the space shuttle Challenger were
killed in an explosion shortly after liftoff from the John F. Kennedy
Space Center in Florida. The disaster delayed the U.S. manned space
program for more than two years.
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