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

1989–90
restore democracy in Panama. F–117 Nighthawk stealth fighterbombers
flew in combat for the first time. In the largest night-combat
airdrop since World War II, Military Airlift Command aircraft transported
9,500 airborne troops from Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina,
to Panama in fewer than 36 hours. Aircraft and crews of the 1st
Special Operations Wing, 919th Special Operations Group, and 193d
Special Operations Group earned the Mackay Trophy for special operations
during JUST CAUSE.
December 29–31: Two C–130 Hercules aircraft of the 435th Tactical Airlift
Wing and the 37th Tactical Airlift Squadron transported 31 tons of
medical supplies to Bucharest, Rumania, for treatment of civilians
wounded in a violent but successful anticommunist revolution.
1990
April 24: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration launched the
Hubble Space Telescope into Earth orbit aboard the space shuttle Discovery.
Designed to observe objects in outer space from beyond the distortions
of Earth’s atmosphere, the new telescope promised to be the
most accurate ever used.
May 4: The AIM–120A advanced medium-range air-to-air missile passed its
final flight test for use on U.S. fighters.
May 22: The Air Force redesignated Twenty-Third Air Force as Air Force
Special Operations Command.
July 24: EC–135 Looking Glass flights ended after nearly 30 years. During
the Cold War, they provided airborne nuclear command and control
facilities.
August 2: Iraq invaded Kuwait and quickly occupied the entire country, provoking
the Southwest Asia War.
August 7: The United States launched Operation DESERT SHIELD to
defend Saudi Arabia from a possible Iraqi invasion. Among the first
deployments was a 15-hour, 8,000-mile flight of 24 F–15C Eagles from
Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, with 12 inflight
refuelings. The aircraft arrived on August 8.
August 9: Alaskan Air Command was redesignated Eleventh Air Force and
assigned to Pacific Air Forces.
August 17: President George H. W. Bush activated the Civil Reserve Air Fleet
for the first time since it was authorized in 1952. The activation
increased airlift resources available to deploy U.S. troops to the Persian
Gulf area.
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