Archive for the 'Air Force' Category

AIR FORCE BOMBER’S FIRST FLIGHT TODAY

Newest Air Force stealth bomber, the $750M B-21 Raider, takes first flight

B-21 Raider test flight in California
Newest Air Force stealth bomber, the $750M B-21 Raider,
takes to the air for the time. 

The U.S. Air Force’s long-awaited B-21 stealth bomber took its
first test flight in California on Friday.

According to the Air Force, the aircraft, developed by Northrop Grumman, is expected to be operational by 2030. It can carry
both "conventional and nuclear munitions" and will "provide
our nation with a strategic asset capable of penetrating enemy
air defenses in highly contested environments and striking
targets anywhere in the world."
(FOX NEWS)

undefined

posted by Bob Karm in Air Force,AIRCRAFT,Aviation,Bomber,CURRENT EVENTS and have No Comments

UFO REPORT RELEASED ON THIS DAY IN 1997

US report ‘makes no definitive finding about UFOs’
    6-25-1997

On this day in history, June 24, 1997, the U.S. Air Force released
a 232-page report titled "The Roswell Report: Case Closed,"
about a mysterious incident near
Roswell, New Mexico, that
some believe was a UFO crash-landing on Earth.

The report was the second part of the government’s official
disclosure about what was found in rural New Mexico in the
1940s. Back in 1994, the government published, "The Roswell
Report: Fact vs. Fiction in the New Mexico Desert."

"The Roswell Incident has assumed a central place in American
folklore since the events of the 1940s in a remote area of New
Mexico," noted the foreword of the 1997 report, written by
Secretary of the Air Force Sheila A. Widnall (below).         
        
        
        
        
        
        
Giant Steps: Celebrating 100 Years of Flight | MIT Spectrum | Fall 2014        
Sheila Marie Evans Widnall

The Roswell Report Case Closed Captain James McAndrew 1997 | Etsy

RETRO KIMMER'S BLOG: US AIR FORCE REPORT ON ROSWELL JUNE 24 1997

Two Globe-Shaped UFOs Caught On Camera In Florida

posted by Bob Karm in Air Force,ANNIVERSARY,HISTORY,NEWSPAPER,Report,SPACE,UFO and have No Comments

FIRST AMERICAN SPACE WALK ON THIS DAY

On June 3, 1965, 120 miles above the Earth, Major Edward H.
White II opened the hatch of the Gemini 4 and stepped out of
the capsule, becoming the first American astronaut to walk in
space. Attached to the craft by a 25-foot tether and controlling
his movements with a hand-held oxygen jet-propulsion gun,
White remained outside the capsule for just over 20 minutes. 

White had been preceded by Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei A.
Leonov, who on March 18, 1965, was the first man ever to
walk in space.

EdwardWhite.jpeg
Edward Higgins White II
(November 14, 1930 – January 27, 1967)

Capsule, Gemini IV | National Air and Space Museum

America's First Space Walk: Edward White Makes History, June 1965 | Time.com

posted by Bob Karm in Air Force,ANNIVERSARY,Astronaut,HISTORY,Magazine covers,NASA,Space walk and have No Comments

BOMBER COMPLETES 25 MISSIONS IN 1943

Long-awaited display of restored Memphis Belle set for 2018

On May 17, 1943, the crew of the Memphis Belle, one of a group
of American bombers based in Britain, became one of the first
B-17 crews to complete 25 missions over Europe and return to
the United States.

The Memphis Belle performed its 25th and last mission, in a
bombing raid against Lorient, a German submarine base.

Restored WWII bomber Memphis Belle makes public debut

Visitors gather for a private viewing of the Memphis Belle,
a Boeing B-17 “Flying Fortress,” at the National Museum
of the U.S. Air Force.

posted by Bob Karm in Air Force,AIRCRAFT,ANNIVERSARY,Aviation record,HISTORY,MILITARY,Museum and have No Comments

THE SOUND BERRIER BROKEN ON THIS DAY

 See the source image     
U.S. Air Force Captain
Chuck Yeager
became the first person
to fly faster than the speed of sound.

        
        
        

 

Yeager, born in Myra, West Virginia, in 1923, was a combat fighter
during
World War II and flew 64 missions over Europe. He shot
down 13 German planes and was himself shot down over France,
but he escaped capture with the assistance of the French
Underground.

After the war, he was among several volunteers chosen to test-fly
the experimental X-1 rocket plane, built by the Bell Aircraft
Company to explore the possibility of supersonic flight.

On October 14, 1947, Yeager flew the X-1 over Rogers Dry Lake in Southern California. The craft was lifted to an altitude of 25,000
feet by a B-29 aircraft and then released through the bomb bay,
rocketing to 40,000 feet and exceeding 662 miles per hour
(the sound barrier at that altitude).

Because of the secrecy of the project, Yeager’s achievement was not announced until June 1948. Yeager continued to serve as a test pilot,
and in 1953 he flew 1,650 miles per hour in an X-1A rocket plane.

He retired from the U.S. Air Force in 1975 with the rank of brigadier.

       
        
        
    

See the source image
    
        
 See the source image
Brigadier General Charles Elwood Yeager
(February 13, 1923 – December 7, 2020)
  


posted by Bob Karm in Air Force,AIRCRAFT,ANNIVERSARY,Aviation,Aviation record,Aviator,HISTORY,Speed of sound and have No Comments