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

1993
June 17: Lt. Col. Patricia Fornes, USAF, assumed command of the 740th
Missile Squadron at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, becoming
the first woman commander of a combat missile squadron.
Becoming operational in the 1990s, the C–17 Globemaster III was the first USAF
large transport able to land on relatively short runways.
July 5–12: USAF cargo aircraft airlifted U.S. soldiers and their equipment
from Germany to Macedonia to help United Nations forces prevent
the spread of fighting in Serbia.
August 6: Dr. Sheila E. Widnall became the first woman secretary of the Air
Force and the first woman to head any of the military services.
September 30: Reflecting a post–Cold War downsizing trend, five USAF
bases closed, including Chanute (Illinois), Mather (California),
Williams (Arizona), Bergstrom (Texas), and Carswell (Texas).
October 3–4: After an Army MH–60 Black Hawk helicopter was shot down during
a battle in Mogadishu, Somalia, pararescueman TSgt Timothy A.
Wilkerson, USAF, ran through enemy fire repeatedly to carry out five
wounded Army Rangers. For his heroism, he earned the Air Force Cross.
October 5–13: In Operation RESTORE HOPE II, C–5 Galaxy and C–141 Starlifter
aircraft transported 1,300 troops, 18 M–1 Abrams tanks, and 44
Bradley infantry fighting vehicles from the United States to Somalia in
nine days. Some flights went nonstop in 18 hours with four aerial refuelings
on the way. The purpose of the deployments was to protect U.S.
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