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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1942<br />
May 7–8: <strong>The</strong> Battle <strong>of</strong> the Coral Sea was the first naval battle in which the<br />
opposing ships, beyond visual range, attacked each other entirely with<br />
aircraft. Both the United States and Japan lost an aircraft carrier, but<br />
the battle thwarted an invasion <strong>of</strong> Port Moresby, New Guinea, from<br />
which the Japanese could have invaded Australia.<br />
May 17: Igor I. Sikorsky’s XR–4, flown by Sikorsky and Les Morris, landed at<br />
Wright Field, Ohio, to complete delivery <strong>of</strong> the first Army <strong>Air</strong> Forces<br />
helicopter.<br />
May 26: <strong>The</strong> Northrop prototype for the P–61 Black Widow, the first U.S.<br />
aircraft designed as a night fighter, first flew at Hawthorne, California,<br />
with test pilot Vance Breese at the controls.<br />
June 4–5: <strong>The</strong> Japanese attempt to take the island <strong>of</strong> Midway in the mid-<br />
Pacific failed in a major battle—the most important turning point in<br />
the war in the Pacific. Having broken the Japanese code, U.S. forces<br />
were ready for the invaders. As a result <strong>of</strong> the Battle <strong>of</strong> Midway, fought<br />
primarily by carrier aircraft but also by some Army <strong>Air</strong> Forces aircraft<br />
from Midway, the Japanese lost four aircraft carriers, a heavy cruiser,<br />
322 aircraft, and some 5,000 men, including many skilled pilots. <strong>The</strong><br />
United States lost the USS Yorktown, one <strong>of</strong> its three aircraft carriers.<br />
After this battle, the Japanese were forced to go on the defensive.<br />
June 12: <strong>The</strong> Army <strong>Air</strong> Forces launched its first strategic air raid in the<br />
European-African-Middle Eastern theater, sending 13 B–24 Liberator<br />
42<br />
When he was a colonel, James H.<br />
“Jimmy” Doolittle led the first air<br />
raid on Tokyo.