This Week In AFLCMC History - July 17- July 23, 2023 Published July 18, 2023 By Air Force Life Cycle Management Center History Office 17 Jul 1917 (88 ABW/Wright-Patterson AFB) Captain Arthur R. Christie made the first official flight at Wilbur Wright Field, the first operational military sortie from what is now Wright-Patterson AFB. With the US entry into World War I in April 1917, the US rapidly expanded its Army aviation capabilities, including equipment and pilots. For the latter, it established a network of new training fields around the country, the largest of which was the new Wilbur Wright Field, outside Dayton. It included Huffman Prairie, the Wright Brothers; original test and training field. Captain Christie, a veteran of the Mexican Punitive Expedition, had arrived as the Field's first commander just a week earlier. At 1130, he boarded a Curtiss JN-4 training plane, flew a circle around the new training center, and landed perfectly, to the cheers of his men. 18 Jul 1967 (ISR & Special Operations Forces Dir.) On this date, the Air Force aerially refueled an HH-3E Jolly Green Giant in the midst of a search and rescue mission near Vietnam (much like the one pictured here). It was the first time this was accomplished in an operational setting. During the mission, the helo was refueled twice by HC-130Ps in order to keep it flying over the Gulf of Tonkin for 5 hours, 45 minutes while searching for a downed pilot. The HH-3E’s aerial refueling capabilities had already been demonstrated in spectacular fashion earlier that summer when two HH-3Es flew from New York to Paris making the first nonstop transatlantic helicopter flight in history but the operational fielding of aerial refueling for the HH-3E would have a much larger impact on their use during the Vietnam War. As Col Albert P. Lovelady, this first mission’s HH-3E pilot, put it: “This new type of operation will greatly enhance our rescue capabilities […] I’m proud to be sharing the honors of this first mission with the men of the 37th ARRS who made it work.” 19 Jul 1934 (Bombers Directorate) On today’s date in 1934, at approximately 10 a.m., Lt Col Henry H. “Hap” Arnold took off from Bolling Field at the head of a formation of 10 new Martin B-10 bombers. Called the “Alaska Flight Squadron,” and commanded by Arnold, this group was tasked with completing an 18,000-mile round-trip journey to Alaska—both to test the B-10s out and to demonstrate to the world America’s capability to reach remote locations with long-range bombers. The formation landed at Wright Field at 12:37 for refueling, then continued on to a successful mission, concluding on Aug 20, 1934. Arnold received his second Mackay Trophy and a Distinguished Flying Cross for this feat. 20 Jul 1973 (Armament Directorate) Fifty years ago today, the Air Force began work on what would become the AGM-86 Air-Launched Cruise Missile. A week earlier, on Jul 13, the Department of Defense had cancelled the “Subsonic Cruise Aircraft Decoy,” or SCAD, program. The SCAD program was an attempt to create cruising decoys that would look similar to bomber aircraft on enemy radar, with the idea being that these decoys would confuse enemy air defenses and divert fire away from real, piloted aircraft. It became apparent, however, that simply equipping these decoys with a warhead, like the Navy was attempting to do at the same time with their sea-lunched cruise missiles (Tomahawks) created not a decoy, but a brand-new weapon instead. Realizing that there was some redundancy of efforts here, however, the DOD ordered both agencies to work together in creating their cruise missile weapons, with the Air Force contributing its turbo-fan engine and high energy fuel to the project, and the Navy providing its TERCOM guidance system. 22 Jul 1948 (Bombers Directorate) Today, 75 years ago, three B-29 Superfortresses began a world-circling flight from Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona. After 103 hours, 50 minutes flying time, and around 15 days of travel, two of the airplanes completed the trip. The first plane to make it home was the “Gas Guzzler,” commanded by Lt Col Richard W. Kline with the “Lucky Lady” following about five minutes later. The “Lucky Lady” was commanded by 1st Lt A. M. Neal. The third B-29 crashed in the Arabian Sea. Less than a year later, the world’s first non-stop round-the-world flight would be completed by “Lucky Lady II,” thanks to emerging capabilities in mid-air refueling. 22 Jul 1976 (National Museum of the United States Air Force) Through all of 2023, the National Museum of the USAF is celebrating its 100 year anniversary, tracing its roots to 1923 at McCook Field. On Jul 23, 1976, the museum dedicated a new $1 million, 19,000-square-foot Visitors Reception Center. Master of ceremonies was retired brigadier general and WW2 veteran-turned-actor Jimmy Stewart, and the special speaker was U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater, himself a WWII vet and Major General (ret) in the AF Reserves. Senator Goldwater noted that the museum acted as a “message of our willingness to use the power we have,” but also was “evidence of man’s desire for peace.” He also predicted that by the year 2000, there would be routine 800 mph commercial aircraft flights using environmentally clean fuel, and that all types of aircraft would be doing vertical take-offs and landings. The ribbon-cutting was conducted by USAF Secretary Thomas C. Reed, who cut the ribbon with a pair of scissors once used by Orville Wright. First Airman in Space: Capt Virgil I. Grissom (21 Jul 1961) On July 21, 1961, Air Force Captain Virgil I. & Gus” Grissom became the first Airman and second American to fly into space, aboard his Liberty Bell 7 capsule. Grissom grew up in Indiana and had an early love for flying that prompted him to join the US Army Air Forces’ Aviation Cadet program right out of high school in 1944. To his chagrin, he instead spent the rest of World War II as a clerk, thanks to a surfeit of experienced pilots by that stage of the war, which limited the need for trainees. Once discharged, he used the GI Bill of Rights to get his mechanical engineering degree at Purdue University; the first of many future astronauts to do so. Grissom then re-joined the US Air Force and earned his wings as a fighter pilot in 1951. He served a tour of duty during the Korean War, flying the requisite 100 missions, but neither downing any enemy aircraft nor getting shot down. After a stint as an instructor pilot, he spent a year at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) at Wright-Patterson AFB, again blazing the trail for many future astronauts. There, he befriended Gordon Cooper. Both men headed off the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB in 1956. Grissom was subsequently assigned to AFLCMC's predecessor in Dayton, the Wright Air Development Center (WADC) in May 1957, as a pilot in the Fighter Operations Branch, eventually becoming its Chief. Their job was to “wring out” new aircraft, including testing technologies for modernization, or “gadgets,” as he called them. One of his last projects there was a highly classified program called “Passport Vista” - the first flight test of a stealth aircraft. Researchers in WADC’s labs had experimented with Radar Absorbing Material (RAM) and wanted to test its effectiveness when applied to an actual airplane. They covered a T-33 trainer with RAM tiles, which Grissom then flew in precise patterns around Wright-Patt for radar measurements from the ground. These flights confirmed their hypothesis that retrofitting conventional aircraft with RAM wasn’t sufficient to significantly reduce its radar cross section. Months later, Gus Grissom and Gordon Cooper received secret orders to report to Washington D.C.—they had been chosen to compete for NASA’s first astronaut class. They and 30 others then reported for highly invasive medical tests in New Mexico before being sent to WPAFB’s Aero Medical Lab for “extreme environment” testing. Grissom, Cooper, and five others made the cut as NASA’s Mercury astronauts. Grissom was picked for the second flight, which used an Army Redstone rocket to propel the 1-man Mercury capsule on a 15-minute, suborbital spaceflight from Florida into the Atlantic near the Bahamas. On this date, the mission nearly ended in disaster. When Grissom’s capsule splashed down in the ocean, its hatch blew open unexpectedly, letting sea water pour in and sinking it. Grissom was rescued by helicopter, but the incident dogged him in the press, which still debates whether or not he was responsible for the mishap. He maintained NASA’s confidence, however, and went on to command the first flight on the Gemini program and the first Apollo mission. Tragically, a fire during a launch pad test of Apollo 1 in January 1967 killed Grissom and his two crewmates.