1812: President James Madison approves an Act of Congress declaring that a state of war exists between the United States and Great Britain, launching the War of 1812.
1916: While flying an escort mission for observation planes, H. Clyde Balsley – one of the original pilots of the Lafayette Escadrille – becomes the first American to be shot down during World War I. A badly wounded Balsley manages to land and make his way back to friendly lines, but his hip injury will keep him from returning to the air.
1965: 30 B-52F Stratofortress bombers, each modified to carry nearly 30 tons of conventional ordinance, lift off from Guam’s Andersen Air Force Base and begin the 2,500-mile journey to Vietnam. Unfortunately two bombers collide during the first combat mission of the B-52, killing eight crewmen. The target is a Viet Cong stronghold near Saigon, but by the time the bombs fall, the guerillas had moved out of the area.
After a year, B-52 crews have flown over 350 “Arc Light” missions, dropping over 70,000 tons of bombs on targets in Southeast Asia. And by this date in 1968, B-52 missions drastically increased to 25,000 with 630,000 tons of bombs dropped.
1981: (Featured image) At the restricted site of Tonopah Test Range (Nev.), Lockheed’s F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter takes to the skies for the first time. Former Naval aviator and Lockheed test pilot Harold “Hal” Farley is the lucky man at the controls. The Nighthawk remains a highly protected secret until its combat debut over Panama in 1989. In 2008 the Air Force retires the world’s first stealth fighter, which was actually an attack plane as it carried no radar, afterburner, guns, or missiles.