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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April 26: Anticipating an executive order from President Harry S. Truman<br />
in July 1948, the <strong>Air</strong> Force became the first service to plan for racial<br />
integration.<br />
June 1: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Air</strong> Force <strong>Air</strong> Transport Command and the Navy <strong>Air</strong> Transport<br />
Service merged into a new organization, the Military <strong>Air</strong> Transport<br />
Service under the command <strong>of</strong> Maj. Gen. Laurence S. Kuter.<br />
June 12: Congress passed the Women’s Armed Service Integration Act,<br />
establishing Women in the <strong>Air</strong> Force.<br />
June 16: Col. Geraldine P. May became the first director <strong>of</strong> Women in the<br />
<strong>Air</strong> Force.<br />
June 26: In response to a blockade instituted by the Soviet Union on June<br />
24 <strong>of</strong> rail and road lines between the U.S., British, and French occupation<br />
zones <strong>of</strong> western Germany and their occupation sectors in western<br />
Berlin, the Allies launched the Berlin airlift. Called Operation<br />
VITTLES by the United States and Operation PLANE FARE by the<br />
British, the airlift delivered enough coal and food to sustain the city<br />
indefinitely and became the largest humanitarian airlift in history.<br />
C–54 Skymaster aircraft like this one carried most <strong>of</strong> the cargo during the<br />
famous Berlin airlift <strong>of</strong> 1948–49.<br />
1948<br />
June 26: <strong>The</strong> 7th Bombardment Group received the <strong>Air</strong> Force’s first operational<br />
B–36 Peacemaker heavy bomber. With a length <strong>of</strong> 160 feet and<br />
wings spanning 230 feet, the Peacemaker was the world’s largest warplane.<br />
<strong>The</strong> huge six-engine bomber was designed to deliver nuclear<br />
weapons against an enemy on the other side <strong>of</strong> the globe.<br />
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