Air Force Historical Foundation

2000: After one test flight at the White Sands Missile Range, the USAF delivered the Boeing X-40A to the Dryden Flight Research Facility. It was an 80 percent scale version of the proposed X-37 Space Maneuver Vehicle (SMV), an unmanned autonomous spacecraft able to deliver small satellites into orbit, conduct on-orbit reconnaissance, and perform other space chores. (USAF Image)

The ascent stage of the Apollo 10 Lunar Module (LM) is photographed from the Command Module prior to docking in lunar orbit. The LM is approaching the Command and Service Modules from below. The LM descent stage had already been jettisoned. The lunar surface in the background is near, but beyond the eastern limb of the moon as viewed from earth. The red/blue diagonal line is the spacecraft window. (NASA-JSC) 1969: Through 26 May Apollo 10, the first lunar orbital mission—including LEM operations—using a complete Apollo spacecraft, launched from Kennedy Space Center on a Saturn V with Col Thomas Stafford (USAF), Capt John Young (USN), and Cmdr Eugene Cernan (USN) aboard. They splashed down eight days later in the Pacific. (NASA Image)

1942: Base loan agreements are signed between the U.S. and Panamanian officials that provide for the use of several air bases to defend the Panama Canal. This B-17 flying patrol over the Canal in 1942. (USAF Image)

MAYAGUEZ INCIDENT 1975: Cambodian Communists seized the USS Mayaguez on 12 May in the Gulf of Siam near Koh Tang Island. Afterwards, MAC used 16 C-141s on 30 sorties to airlift 1,165 Marines and 121 tons of cargo from the Philippines and Okinawa to Utapao AB, Thailand. In the operation, hostile fire damaged six helicopters and wounded two airmen. MAC then supported the later redeployment with 14 C-141 and 1 C-5 mission. (Image PD) During efforts to rescue the crew of the USS Mayaguez, Maj Robert W. Undorf , flying an OV-10 Bronco, received the Mackay Trophy for conspicuous gallantry, initiative, and resourcefulness pinpointing the positions of the Marines and directing accurate gunfire from USAF fighters and gunships. This was the last major operation in Southeast Asia.

1963: Launched into orbit this date, after 22-orbits around the earth, Maj L. Gordon Cooper, USAF, ended a 34-hour, 20-minute flight in Mercury capsule Faith 7 before landing in the Pacific, 80 miles southeast of Midway Island. He was the first American to orbit for more than one day and the last pilot in the Mercury series. (NASA Image)

1973: From Kennedy Space Center, a two-stage Saturn V launched Skylab 1 into orbit, where its two Solar Array System wings failed to deploy. The Skylab was America's first manned orbiting space station. (NASA Image)

1911: Lieutenants Henry H. Arnold (standing) and Thomas DeWitt Milling (seated) completed their training at Simms Station, Dayton, to become the first Army pilots to graduate from the Wright School. (US Army Image)

To all AFHF members and friends, It is not too late to attend the AFHF Annual Symposium at Air Force Association Headquarters in Crystal City, VA., Wednesday, 13 May from 8 am to 5 pm. The agenda and registration information can be found at the link below: afhistory.org/wp-content/upl… afhistory.org/events/ Contact the Executive Director via email before 5 PM TODAY, 11 May, to reserve your seat. Cost is $100 for members and $125 for non-members. The theme is, “Unmanned Air and Space Flight from 1915-2025.”

1970: An AC-119K gunship attacks a heavily defended road section in SEA. Despite losing 15 feet of the aircraft’s right wing and an aileron, the crew destroys three enemy supply trucks and then returns to base. For that feat, the crew received the Mackay Trophy. (USAF Image)

1937: Nine Airmen (6 officers and 3 enlisted AAC) received the Mackay Trophy for demonstration of expert instrument flying and navigation, and the will to overcome obstacles to accomplish their mission under exceptionally adverse weather conditions during a flight of three Martin B-10 bombers from Langley Field to Allegan, Michigan. (USAF Art Program)

1963: Dr. Theodore von Kármán, sometimes called the Father of Astronautics, died at Aachen, West Germany, a few days before his 82d birthday. Theodore von Kármán, born Tivadar Mihály Kármán, was a Hungarian American mathematician, aerospace engineer, and physicist who worked in aeronautics and astronautics. He was responsible for crucial advances in aerodynamics characterizing supersonic and hypersonic airflow. The human-defined threshold of outer space is named the "Kármán line" in recognition of his work. Kármán is regarded as an outstanding aerodynamic theoretician of the 20th century. Read more about Kármán: M. H. Gorn, The Universal Man: Theodore von Kármán's Life in Aeronautics (Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, 1992).

2006: The last operational C-141 Starlifter (Tail No. 66-0177) from the 445th Airlift Wing (AFRC) at Wright-Patterson AFB landed at Wright Field, Ohio, for donation to the National Museum of the USAF. The landing ended 42 years of Starlifter operations in the active-duty USAF, the Air National Guard, and the Air Force Reserve Command. The C-141, named the “Hanoi Taxi,” flew the first Vietnam prisoners of war from Hanoi to freedom on 12 February 1973. (USAF Image)

2003: During Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, a Global Hawk AV-3 (Nicknamed “The Grumpy Workhorse” and officially designated an YRQ-4A) flew19 sorties in 446.6 hours over Iraq to collect some 3,700 surveillance images. While only flying 5 percent of the surveillance sorties in the theater, the Global Hawk gathered more than 55 percent of the data on time-sensitive targets. The vehicle returned to Edwards AFB on this date (image above). During Operation Iraqi Freedom, AV-3's sensors successfully tracked Iraqi Republican Guard forces during a fierce sandstorm in March 2003. While the dust blinded AV-3's optical and infrared sensors, its radar provided information accurate enough for fighters and bombers to attack the enemy successfully with Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) weapons. In February 2006, it made another spectacular flight by flying autonomously and non-stop from Australia to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Over its career, AV-3 completed 251 flights for 4,891.3 total hours flying time. This total included 195 combat sorties and 4,152.7 combat hours. A remarkable aircraft, AV-3 went on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in 2008. (Credit: NMUSAF)

1989: During a 4-8 May mission (STS-30R), Air Force Maj Mark Lee on the Space Shuttle Atlantis released the Magellan probe bound for Venus with synthetic aperture radar for surface mapping. This image from Magellan was taken in 1996. (NASA images)

1950: The Northrop YRB-49A flies for the first time Near Hawthorne, California. The experimental flying-wing design is powered by four internal Allison J-35 turbojet engines housed within 172 feet of the wingspan and two more were mounted under the wings. The sole prototype reconnaissance platform flew only 13 flights before testing ended abruptly on 26 April 1951. (USAF Image)

1943: Lt. Gen. Frank M. Andrews is killed when his aircraft crashes into the side of a mountain in Iceland. Andrews was the Commanding General, European Theater of Operations, U.S. Army and had been instrumental in educating Army senior staff officers in the use of American airpower. (US Army Image)

1963: Jacqueline Cochran flew a Lockheed TF-104G near Edwards AFB to a world speed record for women of 1,203.94 MPH over a closed 100-kilometer course. (USAF Art Program)

1923: From 2-3 May, after adding extra fuel tanks to their Fokker T2 Liberty 400, Lts Oakley Kelly and John Macready flew the first nonstop transcontinental flight from New York to San Diego, flying the 2,520 miles in 26 hours 50 minutes 3 seconds. (USAF Image)

2001: The Space Shuttle Endeavour landed at Edwards AFB after an 11-day mission to the International Space Station to deliver a robotic arm, a multipurpose logistics module, and an UHF antenna. STS-100 installed the advanced robotic arm, called Canadarm2, outside of Destiny. The exchange of the cradle from station arm to shuttle arm marked the first ever robotic-to-robotic transfer in space. (These international astronauts and cosmonaut trained for the April 2001 visit to the International Space Station (ISS). Seated are astronauts Kent V. Rominger (left) and Jeffrey S. Ashby, commander and pilot, respectively, for the STS-100 mission. Standing, from the left, are cosmonaut Yuri V. Lonchakov, with astronauts Scott E. Parazynski, Umberto Guidoni, Chris A. Hadfield and John L. Phillips, all mission specialists. Guidoni represents the European Space Agency (ESA); Hadfield is with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and Lonchakov is affiliated with Rosaviakosmos. NASA Image)

1943: Sergeant Maynard H. “Snuffy” Smith, a B-17 Flying Fortress gunner, receiving the first Medal of Honor to be awarded to an enlisted Army Air Forces Airman, from US Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson. Smith as tail gunner came under intense enemy fire while returning from a mission to enemy-occupied Europe. Smith, on his first mission, elected to fight a fire, administer first aid, man the waist guns, and fight intense flames alternately.