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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March 21: Tactical <strong>Air</strong> Command was activated, Continental <strong>Air</strong> Forces was<br />
redesignated Strategic <strong>Air</strong> Command, and <strong>Air</strong> Defense Command was<br />
established.<br />
April 16: At White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico, the Army<br />
launched a German V–2 rocket in the United States for the first time.<br />
July 1: An Army <strong>Air</strong> Forces crew in a B–29 called Dave’s Dream, assigned to<br />
the 509th Composite Group, dropped an atomic bomb on 73 naval<br />
vessels <strong>of</strong>f Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean in a test known as Operation<br />
CROSSROADS. <strong>The</strong> explosion sank five ships and heavily damaged<br />
nine others.<br />
July 21: Lt. Cmdr. James Davidson <strong>of</strong> the Navy, flying a McDonnell XFH–1<br />
Phantom, made the first successful take<strong>of</strong>f and landing <strong>of</strong> a jet-powered<br />
aircraft from an aircraft carrier—the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt.<br />
August 17: Sgt. Lawrence Lambert became the first person in the United<br />
States to eject from an airplane by means <strong>of</strong> an ejection seat. He<br />
escaped from a P–61 flying more than 300 miles per hour over Ohio<br />
at an altitude <strong>of</strong> 7,800 feet.<br />
September 18: At Muroc Dry Lake, California, Convair pilot Sam Shannon<br />
made the first flight in an experimental XF–92—the first true deltawing<br />
aircraft.<br />
1947<br />
1946–47<br />
March 17: <strong>The</strong> North American XB–45—the first Army <strong>Air</strong> Forces multiengine<br />
jet bomber––flew for the first time. Four Allison J35 engines<br />
powered the aircraft.<br />
July 26: President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act, which<br />
created a Department <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Air</strong> Force equal to the Department <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Army and the Department <strong>of</strong> the Navy; a National Military Establishment<br />
under the secretary <strong>of</strong> defense; and an <strong>Air</strong> National Guard as a<br />
reserve component <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Air</strong> Force.<br />
September 18: W. Stuart Symington took his oath as the first secretary <strong>of</strong> the<br />
<strong>Air</strong> Force.<br />
September 25: President Harry S. Truman named Gen. Carl A. Spaatz as the<br />
first <strong>USAF</strong> chief <strong>of</strong> staff.<br />
September 26: Defense Secretary James W. Forrestal ordered air personnel,<br />
bases, and materiel transferred from the Army to the new Department<br />
<strong>of</strong> the <strong>Air</strong> Force.<br />
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