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
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
operational. By the end <strong>of</strong> the year, the Atlas had become the first U.S.<br />
long-range ballistic missile equipped with a nuclear warhead to be<br />
placed on alert status.<br />
September 12: <strong>The</strong> Soviet Union launched Luna 2, the first man-made<br />
object to reach the Moon.<br />
December 30: <strong>The</strong> Navy commissioned the USS George Washington, the first<br />
U.S. ballistic-missile-carrying submarine, at Groton, Connecticut.<br />
1960<br />
1959–60<br />
January 25: An Army MIM–23 Hawk antiaircraft missile intercepted and<br />
shot down an unarmed MGR–1 Honest John surface-to-surface rocket<br />
in the first known destruction <strong>of</strong> one ballistic missile by another.<br />
April 1: Television Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS) I, the world’s first<br />
meteorological satellite, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida,<br />
atop a Thor missile.<br />
May 1: Francis Gary Powers, a Central Intelligence Agency U–2 pilot, was<br />
shot down over Sverdlovsk in the Soviet Union. Captured and put on<br />
trial for espionage, he was later exchanged for a Soviet agent captured<br />
by the United States.<br />
May 23: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Air</strong> Force began one <strong>of</strong> its largest humanitarian airlifts to<br />
relieve the victims <strong>of</strong> a series <strong>of</strong> earthquakes in Chile. Within a month,<br />
cargo aircraft had delivered more than 1,000 tons <strong>of</strong> relief equipment<br />
and supplies from bases in the United States, some 4,500 miles away<br />
from the stricken region. <strong>The</strong> airlift was called Operation AMIGOS.<br />
July 8: Operation NEW TAPE began after chaos threatened the newly independent<br />
Democratic Republic <strong>of</strong> the Congo in Africa. After evacuating<br />
U.S. citizens by air and delivering food, the <strong>Air</strong> Force began transporting<br />
United Nations troops from all over the world to the country.<br />
<strong>The</strong> airlifts continued for four years.<br />
August 1: <strong>The</strong> 43d Bombardment Wing at Carswell <strong>Air</strong> Force Base, Texas,<br />
accepted the first operational B–58 Hustler medium bomber. <strong>The</strong> first<br />
U.S. supersonic bomber, the delta-wing aircraft could fly at twice the<br />
speed <strong>of</strong> sound and could be refueled in flight.<br />
August 11: Navy frogmen made the first recovery <strong>of</strong> an object ejected from<br />
an orbiting satellite when they retrieved a 300-pound capsule from the<br />
<strong>Air</strong> Force’s Discoverer XIII.<br />
August 16: Capt. Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr., <strong>USAF</strong>, jumped from an aircraft<br />
102,800 feet over Tularosa, New Mexico, and landed unharmed 13<br />
minutes, 45 seconds later. He fell freely for 84,700 feet and reached a<br />
87