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

2001
September 27: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced that President
George W. Bush had given authority to certain military commanders
to order the destruction of hijacked civilian airliners.
September 29: The United States launched satellites from Alaska for the
first time, using the Kodiak Launch Complex. Previous U.S. spacecraft
had been launched only from Florida or California.
October 1: The Air Force reassigned the Space and Missile Systems Center
from Air Materiel Command to Air Force Space Command, giving the
latter cradle-to-grave oversight of space systems.
October 1: Gen. Richard B. Myers, USAF, assumed command as chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A USAF general had not held that office,
the highest in the military, for 19 years.
October 7: Operation ENDURING FREEDOM started with air strikes
against terrorist and Taliban targets in Afghanistan. B–2 Spirit
bombers of the 509th Bomb Wing flew round-trip from Whiteman Air
Force Base, Missouri, to Afghanistan on the longest bombing missions
in aviation history. Other committed USAF aircraft included B–1 and
B–52 bombers; F–15E strike fighters and AC–130 gunships; KC–10 and
KC–135 tankers; E–3 airborne warning and control system airplanes;
EC–130 electronic-combat aircraft; and AC–130, MC–130, and MH–53
special-operations airplanes. Navy F–14, F/A–18, and AV–8 aircraft
from three carriers in the Indian Ocean also took part in the operation.
Lt. Gen. Charles F. Wald, USAF, served as Operation ENDURING
FREEDOM’s first joint force air component commander.
October 8: As part of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, C–17s made their
first airdrops in a combat zone. The wide-bodied cargo airplanes
dropped food over areas of Afghanistan under control of friendly
forces.
October 9: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) launched
Operation EAGLE ASSIST, deploying airborne warning and control
system aircraft from Europe to the United States to help patrol the
skies after the terrorist attacks of September 11. This was the first time
NATO forces were deployed in the United States for a real contingency.
By the end of the operation on May 16, 2002, seven NATO aircraft
had flown 360 sorties.
October 26: The Defense Department chose Lockheed Martin over Boeing
to build the Joint Strike Fighter. The Air Force, Navy, and Marine
Corps planned to purchase thousands of the stealthy aircraft, designated
the F–35.
November 2: During Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, an MH–53 Pave
Low helicopter crew from the 20th Special Operations Squadron
159