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 12: Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin <strong>of</strong> the Union <strong>of</strong> Soviet Socialist Republics<br />
became the first person to be launched into space and the first to orbit<br />
Earth.<br />
April 14: At Hurlburt Field, Florida, the <strong>Air</strong> Force activated the 4400th Combat<br />
Crew Training Squadron—its first special-operations unit since the<br />
Korean War.<br />
April 19: Alabama <strong>Air</strong> National Guard B–26 crew members Riley Shamburger,<br />
Wade C. Gray, Pete W. Ray, and Leo F. Baker were killed while<br />
flying special-operations missions during the Bay <strong>of</strong> Pigs invasion <strong>of</strong><br />
Cuba.<br />
May 5: By making a suborbital flight in Mercury capsule Freedom 7, Cmdr.<br />
Alan B. Shepard, Jr., United States Navy, became the first U.S. astronaut<br />
in space.<br />
Recovery <strong>of</strong> Mercury capsule Freedom 7 on May 5, 1961<br />
1961<br />
May 26: A B–58 Hustler supersonic bomber from the 43d Bombardment<br />
Wing set a speed record, flying from New York to Paris in three hours,<br />
19 minutes, 41 seconds at an average speed <strong>of</strong> 1,302 miles per hour.<br />
<strong>The</strong> crew, consisting <strong>of</strong> Maj. William R. Payne, Capt. William L. Polhemus,<br />
and Capt. Raymond Wagener, won the Mackay Trophy for this<br />
flight.<br />
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