[Featured image: A Boeing B-47 “Stratojet” lifts off, aided by Jet-Assisted Take Off rockets]
1914: Austrian doctors examine a young Adolf Hitler, determining him unfit for service in the Austro-Hungarian military. Hitler will volunteer for the German army when war breaks out in August, serving in a reserve infantry regiment as a runner.
1918: U.S. Army Lt. Stephen W. Thompson, a member of the American 1st Aero Squadron, is invited by French aviators to fly in a French “Breguet” biplane bomber as a gunner on one of their missions. Thompson shoots down a German Albatross fighter over Saarbrucken, Germany, making him the first American in uniform to shoot down an enemy airplane.
Today, the U.S. Air Force’s 1st Reconnaissance Squadron traces its lineage back to the 1st Aero Squadron.
Maj. Gen. Alexander A. Vandegrift (left) planning the Guadalcanal invasion
1943: President Franklin D. Roosevelt awards Maj. Gen. Alexander A. Vandegrift the Medal of Honor for his role as commanding general of the 1st Marine Division during the Guadalcanal campaign.
1958: A F-86 “Sabre” collides with a B-47 “Stratojet” bomber piloted by Maj. Howard Richardson during a simulated combat exercise. The Sabre pilot ejects and the B-47’s wings are severely damaged, forcing an emergency landing. Before the bomber can land safely, the crew jettisons the 7,600-lb. Mark 15 hydrogen bomb off the coast of Savannah, Ga. before landing at Hunter Air Force Base.
The Pentagon tells the public that the weapon’s nuclear capsule was removed prior to the mission and therefore presents no threat.
