Warbirds Online » Blog Archive » This Week In Military Aviation History: 19-25 March

Hello Folks, Yeah, its been seven already, like it or not. In this week we had a warming trend, a rather large snowstorm, and now Spring is here and it looks like another warming trend. And Folks wonder why they’re coming down sick. Right now at 2028 hours it’s 45 degrees out. Oh, did you Folks turn your clocks ahead? Mini Y2K with the ‘puters because somebody got a bright idea. I was lucky, I switched to XP to play the new flight simulators and the automatic update fixed it for me. I’m not really that ‘puter savvy, so I need all the help I can get. The theme of the 2007 Geneseo Airshow is the 60th anniversary of the Air Force. I’ll keep you informed as I learn things. Stay Tuned.
Be Safe,
Tom K.

23 March 1903
The Wright brothers filed a patent for an aeroplane based on their No. III glider.

23 March 1914
The Royal Siamese Flying Corps was formed.

20 March 1915
The Belgian Aviation Militaire was formed.

24 March 1916
The French passenger ship SUSSEX was torpedoed.

23 March 1917
US President Woodrow Wilson’s war cabinet voted unanimously to in favor of declaring war on Germany.

19 March 1918
While on patrol near Heligoland, Ensign Stephen Potter became the first United States Navy airman to shoot down a German aircraft.

The 94th Squadron, 1st Pursuit Group, flew the first operations across the lines in France.

21 March 1918
The German spring offensive began with the Battle of Picardy against the British and hundreds of aircraft took part in Kaiserschlacht (’Emperor’s Battle’). This eventually led to five major offensives against Allied forces.

24 March 1919
Aircraft designer Igor Sikorsky, who fled to France after the Russian Revolution, sailed for the United States. The French Government did not take up the offer of his services.

23 March 1921
Lt. A.G. Hamilton descended 23,700 feet by parachute at Chanute Field, Ill.

20 March 1922
The USS LANGLEY, the first United States aircraft carrier was commissioned.

23 March 1923
The Italian Regia Aeronautica was formed.

19 March 1940
The RAF retaliated against the Luftwaffe’s bombing of Scapa Flow by attacking the German seaplane base at Hornum on the Island of Sylt with 50 bombers. Later, photo reconnaissance revealed little damage to the target.

25 March 1940
United States Army Air Corps contractors were authorized to sell to anti-Axis governments modern types of Army combat aircraft.

24 March 1941
Berlin suffered its first raid of the year by the RAF.

25 March 1944
The 15th United States Army Air Force made the first operational use of the VB1 Azon bomb, a general purpose bomb with a pair of radio controlled rudders in the tail.

19 March 1945
The US 8th Air Force carried out another heavy attack (200 bombers and 700 fighters) against Berlin.

20-21 March 1945
The Luftwaffe mounted its last manned attack on the United Kingdom.

21 March 1945
The US 8th Air Force launched a major attack (650 bombers) against Hamburg.

The first, unsuccessful, sortie was made by Japanese Yokosuka Ohka suicide aircraft.

21-24 March 1945
A combined effort by the Allied air forces in Europe was mounted against the Luftwaffe and its bases and virtually destroyed the Luftwaffe as an effective force.

23 March 1945
The RAF launched a devastating raid (300 bombers) against Hildesheim near Hanover, a small city of little military and industrial importance.

23-24 March 1945
Allied forces made large scale crossings of the Rhine in Operation Varsity, which saw a large scale Airborne landing take advanced positions.

21 March 1946
The Strategic Air Command, Tactical Air Command and Air Defense Command were created.

22 March 1950
The first of 70 Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers allocated to Britain under the United States military aid program landed at Marham Norfolk for No. 149 Squadron.

21 March 1951
Operation TOMAHAWK began. One hundred twenty C-119s and C-46s dropped 3,437 paratroopers of the 187th Regimental Combat team near Munsan-ni in the second largest airborne operation of the war.

23 March 1955
Two Saab 29C photographic reconnaissance jet aircraft of the Royal Swedish Air Force, flying in formation set a new speed record 0f 560 mph over a closed course of 621 miles. They claimed it to be the first speed record made in formation.

20 March 1959
The site in Cheyenne Mountain Colo., was approved as the location for NORAD.

21 March 1962
Following manned tests at 565 m.p.h. on 28 February, high speed tests of an escape capsule fitted to a Convair B-58A Hustler were undertaken. An unnamed female bear was ejected from a Hustler at 870 m.p.h. and landed safely.

22 March 1966
20 high schools were selected to start the new Junior ROTC Program.

22 March 1968.
Without warning, a massive North Vietnamese barrage slammed into Khe Sanh. More than 1,000 rounds hit the base, at the rate of a hundred per hour. At the same time, electronic sensors around Khe Sahn indicated NVA troop movements. American forces replied with heavy bombing.

22 March 1976
The first A-10 Thunderbolt II was delivered to Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., for operational tests and evaluation.

24 March 1977
The first operational Boeing E3A Airborne Warning And Control System (AWACS) aircraft was delivered to the United States Air Force.

23 March 1978
Captain Sandra M. Scott became the first woman to fly an alert duty in the Strategic Air Command, when she was assigned to the 904th Air Refulling Squadron, which flies KC-135 tankers.

24 March 1992
The last U.S. Air Force fighter aircraft to be stationed in Spain departed, ending a 26-year span of service in that country.

19 March 1996
The McDonnell Douglas X-36 $14 million, unmanned, advanced research vehicle was unveiled.

24 March 1999
Operation Allied Force began. The USAF portion was codenamed Noble Anvil. The air war began with 250 U.S. aircraft committed. Some 720 U.S. aircraft were eventually deployed, including 517 USAF types - 40 A-10, 18 F-15C - 32 F-15E, 35 F-16CG, 64 F-16CJ, 25 F-117, 11 B-52, 5 B-1, 6 B-2, 151 KC-135, 24 KC-10, 25 various ISR, 38 Special Operations/CSAR/other and 43 transports. The first shots of Allied Force were AGM-86C CALCM launches from 6 B-52s. There were 400 sorties flown the first night. Two MiG-29s were shot down by F-15Cs of the 493rd FS, 48th FW, RAF Lakenheath England, and another MiG-29 shot down by a Dutch F-16. The B-2 made its combat debut during Operation Noble Anvil. Eventually 49 B-2 combat sorties were launched from Whiteman AFB, Mo. 45 of these sorties reached their target and 652 joint direct attack munitions and four GBU-37s were dropped. The round trip missions lasted anywhere from 28 to 32 hours, however, only six of the nine available B-2s were used.
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Well, that’s it for this sortie. RTB. See you in seven.