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

1958
The Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile was conceived in the late 1950s
and deployed in silos during the 1960s.
March 17: Vanguard I, the first solar-powered satellite, was launched into
orbit from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
March 23: The Navy conducted the first underwater test-firing of a Polaris
ballistic missile launched from a nuclear submarine. The test took
place in the Pacific Ocean near Los Angeles.
April 28: After an in-flight explosion, the pilot and navigator of a 341st Bombardment
Wing B–47 ejected successfully. While attempting to egress,
the copilot, 1st Lt. James E. Obenauf, noticed another crew member
unconscious and incapable of escape. Instead of ejecting, Lieutenant
Obenauf remained on the crippled and burning aircraft, piloting it
from the backseat position to a safe landing at Dyess Air Force Base,
Texas. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his heroism.
May 27: Company pilot Robert Little made the first flight of the McDonnell
F4H–1 (F–4) Phantom II from Saint Louis, Missouri.
July 9: A Thor-Able reentry test vehicle, in the first nose-cone test at intercontinental
ballistic missile range and velocity, carried a mouse some
6,000 miles over the Atlantic Ocean in flight from Cape Canaveral,
Florida, to the Ascension Island area.
July 14: President Dwight D. Eisenhower launched Operation BLUE BAT to
restore order in Lebanon after civil unrest threatened to overthrow its
government. During the operation, the Air Force airlifted troops to
Beirut after U.S. marines had landed by sea to secure its airport. The
83