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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1962–63<br />
tal ballistic missile when it brought down the nose cone <strong>of</strong> an Atlas missile<br />
launched from Vandenberg <strong>Air</strong> Force Base, California.<br />
August 26: <strong>The</strong> National Aeronautics and Space Administration launched<br />
Mariner 2, an unmanned space vehicle that encountered the planet<br />
Venus on December 14, marking the first step in unmanned exploration<br />
<strong>of</strong> the solar system by the United States.<br />
October 14–15: <strong>The</strong> Cuban missile crisis began when Maj. Richard S. Heyser<br />
and Maj. Rudolf Anderson, Jr., conducting U–2 reconnaissance flights<br />
over Cuba, proved that Soviet missile sites were under construction<br />
there.<br />
October 18: Eight <strong>Air</strong> Force Reserve troop-carrier wings and six aerial-port<br />
squadrons were mobilized during the Cuban missile crisis.<br />
October 27: A 4080th Strategic Wing U–2 reconnaissance aircraft piloted by<br />
Maj. Rudolf Anderson, Jr., was shot down over Cuba. Lost with his aircraft,<br />
Major Anderson was posthumously awarded the first <strong>Air</strong> Force<br />
Cross.<br />
October 27: Strategic <strong>Air</strong> Command placed on alert the first 10 Minuteman<br />
I intercontinental ballistic missiles, emplaced in hardened silos and<br />
assigned to the 10th Strategic Missile Squadron at Malmstrom <strong>Air</strong><br />
Force Base, Montana.<br />
November 2: President John F. Kennedy launched Operation LONG SKIP<br />
to airlift military equipment and supplies to India after China invaded<br />
that country. In 14 days, the Military <strong>Air</strong> Transport Service airlifted<br />
more than 1,000 tons <strong>of</strong> cargo to Calcutta, relying on new C–135 jet<br />
transports.<br />
November 20: President John F. Kennedy announced that the blockade <strong>of</strong><br />
Cuba was over because all Soviet missiles had been removed.<br />
1963<br />
May 7: Dr. <strong>The</strong>odore von Kármán, distinguished U.S. physicist whose work<br />
contributed to <strong>USAF</strong> air and space technology, died in Aachen, West<br />
Germany, a few days before his 82d birthday.<br />
May 15: Astronaut Maj. L. Gordon Cooper, Jr., <strong>USAF</strong>, launched from Cape<br />
Canaveral, Florida, in Project Mercury capsule Faith 7. On May 16,<br />
after completing 22 orbits <strong>of</strong> Earth, he landed in the Pacific. Cooper<br />
was the last astronaut <strong>of</strong> Project Mercury and the first to orbit Earth<br />
for more than 24 hours.<br />
June 8: <strong>The</strong> 570th Strategic Missile Squadron, the first Titan II unit, was activated<br />
at Davis-Monthan <strong>Air</strong> Force Base, Arizona.<br />
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