One Hundred Years of Flight USAF Chronology ... - The Air University

November 30: Maj. George A. Davis, Jr., became the first USAF ace of two
wars, shooting down his fourth and fifth enemy airplanes in Korea
after having shot down seven enemy aircraft during World War II.
1952
1951–52
February 1: The Air Force acquired its first general-purpose, high-speed digital
computer, a vacuum-tube-based Univac I.
February 10: Leading a flight of three F–86 Sabre jets on a combat air patrol
mission near the Manchurian border, Maj. George A. Davis, Jr.,
engaged 12 enemy MiG–15 jet fighters in aerial combat. After shooting
down two enemy aircraft and completely disrupting the enemy formation,
Major Davis himself was shot down and killed. For engaging
superior forces and shooting down enemy aircraft, he earned the
Medal of Honor.
April 15: The YB–52, prototype of the eight-jet Stratofortress and the first
all-jet intercontinental heavy bomber, flew for the first time.
May 2: The British-made DeHavilland Comet, the world’s first jet airliner,
made its first public demonstration flight in London.
May 3: A ski-and-wheel-equipped USAF C–47 Skytrain made the world’s first
successful North Pole landing.
June 23–24: Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps aircraft in coordinated
attacks virtually destroyed the hydroelectric power plants of North
Korea. The two-day operation, involving over 1,200 sorties, was the
largest single air effort since World War II.
July 16–17: With the help of aerial refueling, 58 F–84 Thunderjets of the
31st Fighter Escort Wing under Col. David C. Schilling completed the
first mass flight of jet fighters across the Pacific Ocean. Departing from
Turner Air Force Base, Georgia, on July 4, the airplanes stopped at the
islands of Oahu, Midway, Wake, Eniwetok, Guam, and Iwo Jima on the
way to Yokota Air Base, Japan.
July 29: An RB–45 assigned to the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Wing completed
the first nonstop jet aircraft flight across the Pacific Ocean. It
flew from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, to Yokota Air Base, Japan.
Maj. Louis H. Carrington, Jr., Maj. Frederick W. Shook, and Capt. Wallace
D. Yancey earned the 1952 Mackay Trophy for this flight.
July 31: Two Sikorsky H–19 helicopters completed the first transatlantic helicopter
flight, having flown in five stages from Westover Field, Massachusetts,
to Prestwick, Scotland.
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