AIR FORCE HISTORY AND HERITAGE
April 1, 1954 -- President Eisenhower signed into law a bill creating
the Air Force Academy.
April 1, 1972 -- Air Training Command activated the Community College of
the Air Force at Randolph AFB, Texas.
April 3, 1967 -- Chief Master Sgt. Paul W. Airey became the first chief
master sergeant of the Air Force.
April 6, 1924 -- Four specially built Douglas World Cruisers -- each
with a crew of two men -- set off for the first flight around the world.
April 6, 1949 -- The X-1 rocket plane flew at 1,000 mph, an unofficial
world-record speed for piloted planes.
April 6, 1959 -- NASA announced that seven pilots from the U.S. armed
services are chosen for the Mercury astronaut program. Those Airmen
selected are Capts. L. Gordon Cooper Jr., Virgil I. Grissom and Donald
K. Slayton.
April 10, 1959 -- First flight of the Northrop T-38 Talon
April 12, 1966 -- Strategic Air Command B-52 bombers struck targets in
North Vietnam for the first time. They hit a supply route in the Mu Gia
Pass about 85 miles north of the border.
April 14, 1986 -- U.S. forces launched Operation Eldorado Canyon, a
retaliatory bombing raid in response to terrorist activities supported
by Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi.
April 18, 1942 -- Lt. Col. James Doolittle led 16 B-25 Mitchell bombers
on a Tokyo bombing raid.
April 18, 1975 -- The Strategic Air Command began transferring air
refueling wings to the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard. AFRES
and ANG tanker units will support SAC alert operations.
April 19, 1967 -- Maj. Leo K. Thorsness was awarded the Medal of Honor
for protecting the rescue of downed airmen in North Vietnam. Flying an
F-105 Thunderchief critically low on fuel, Major Thorsness shoots down
one MiG-17, damages another, and drives off three more.
April 19, 1995 -- A bomb exploded at a federal building in Oklahoma
City, killing 169 people and injuring more than 400 others. The Air
Force provides airlift of firefighters, search and rescue teams,
investigators and medical personnel.
April 26, 1948 -- The U.S. Air Force became the first service to plan
for racial integration, anticipating President Truman's executive order
to be issued in July 1948.
April 29, 1918 -- Lt. Edward V. Rickenbacker downed his first enemy
aircraft