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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May 21–30: Brig. Gen. Benjamin D. Foulois, assistant to the chief <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Air</strong><br />
Corps, commanded a provisional division in the largest <strong>Air</strong> Corps<br />
maneuvers to date, involving 667 airplanes and 1,400 men in flights<br />
over several northeastern and midwestern states. Foulois coordinated<br />
the operations <strong>of</strong> a pursuit wing, a bombardment wing, an attack<br />
group, two observation wings, and a transport group.<br />
May 27: <strong>The</strong> National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics began operating<br />
the first full-scale wind tunnel for testing airplanes at Langley Field,<br />
Virginia.<br />
July 15: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Air</strong> Corps Tactical School moved from Langley Field, Virginia, to<br />
Maxwell Field, Alabama. It produced most <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Air</strong> Corps’s air doctrine<br />
during the 1930s, including the concept <strong>of</strong> long-range, high-altitude daylight<br />
precision bombing <strong>of</strong> selected military and industrial targets—the<br />
fundamental strategy <strong>of</strong> the Army <strong>Air</strong> Forces in World War II.<br />
September 26: At Newport News, Virginia, the Navy laid the keel <strong>of</strong> the USS<br />
Ranger, the first ship designed from scratch as an aircraft carrier.<br />
October 5: Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon, Jr., completed the first<br />
nonstop flight across the Pacific, flying from Japan to Wenatchee,<br />
Washington.<br />
October 7: <strong>The</strong> Navy, with Army observers present, tested a new bombsight<br />
invented by Carl J. Norden. Subsequently, the Navy provided the <strong>Air</strong><br />
Corps with these Norden bombsights—the most advanced devices <strong>of</strong><br />
their kind used by the Army <strong>Air</strong> Forces in World War II.<br />
December 20: Maj. Gen. Benjamin D. Foulois succeeded Maj. Gen. James E.<br />
Fechet as chief <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Air</strong> Corps.<br />
Maj. Gen. Benjamin D. Foulois, chief <strong>of</strong><br />
the <strong>Air</strong> Corps from 1931 to 1935<br />
1931<br />
29