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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1949–50<br />
May 11: President Harry S. Truman signed a bill authorizing a 3,000-mile<br />
guided-missile test range for the <strong>Air</strong> Force, subsequently established at<br />
Cape Canaveral, Florida.<br />
May 12: Faced with the success <strong>of</strong> the Berlin airlift, the Soviet Union ended<br />
the land blockade <strong>of</strong> western Berlin. <strong>The</strong> airlift continued through<br />
September 30, building up stockpiles <strong>of</strong> food and coal in case <strong>of</strong> a<br />
renewed blockade.<br />
July 1: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Air</strong> Force established the <strong>USAF</strong> Medical Service, headed by Maj.<br />
Gen. Malcolm C. Grow, the first surgeon general <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Air</strong> Force.<br />
July 27: <strong>The</strong> DeHavilland Comet, the world’s first commercial jet aircraft,<br />
flew for the first time.<br />
August 10: President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act<br />
amendments <strong>of</strong> 1949, revising the unification legislation <strong>of</strong> 1947 and<br />
converting the National Military Establishment into the Department<br />
<strong>of</strong> Defense.<br />
September 30: <strong>The</strong> Berlin airlift <strong>of</strong>ficially ended after 277,264 flights had<br />
delivered 2,343,301.5 tons <strong>of</strong> supplies—1,783,826 tons <strong>of</strong> which were<br />
carried by U.S. airplanes.<br />
November 18: A C–74 Globemaster I became the first airplane to cross the<br />
Atlantic Ocean with more than 100 people aboard. <strong>The</strong> airplane flew<br />
from Mobile, Alabama, to Marham, England.<br />
December 5: Upon the U.S. detection <strong>of</strong> a Soviet atomic explosion in<br />
August 1949, the <strong>Air</strong> Force diverted $50 million from other projects to<br />
begin construction <strong>of</strong> radar sites in Alaska and other areas <strong>of</strong> the<br />
United States.<br />
1950<br />
January 15: General <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Air</strong> Force Henry H. Arnold, <strong>USAF</strong>, retired, died<br />
<strong>of</strong> a heart ailment at Sonoma, California.<br />
June 25: North Korean Communist forces invaded South Korea. North<br />
Korean fighter aircraft attacked nearby Kimpo <strong>Air</strong>field, destroying a<br />
<strong>USAF</strong> C–54 on the ground. <strong>The</strong> United Nations Security Council<br />
passed a resolution calling for the evacuation <strong>of</strong> North Korean forces<br />
from South Korea, and Fifth <strong>Air</strong> Force prepared to airlift U.S. citizens<br />
from Seoul, the South Korean capital.<br />
June 26: F–82 Twin Mustang aircraft from the 68th Fighter All-Weather<br />
Squadron provided fighter cover for a Norwegian ship evacuating U.S.<br />
citizens from Seoul by sea. SB–17 airplanes provided rescue cover for<br />
the ship, which sailed from Inchon to Japan.<br />
66