[Featured image: Lockheed’s chief test pilot Louis Schalk takes off on the A-12’s maiden flight.]
1798: The U.S. Navy Department – parent company of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps – is established.
1917: Maj. William “Billy” Mitchell, sitting in the observer seat on a French aircraft, becomes the first U.S. military officer to fly over German lines.
Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell
1943: The British submarine HMS Seraph drops a cadaver overboard off the coast of Spain, disguised as a British Royal Marine officer with documents suggesting an upcoming Allied invasion of Greece and Sardinia. German intelligence discovers the files and shift reinforcements. In two months, over 100,000 U.S. and British soldiers would hit the beaches at Sicily – the actual invasion target.
1945: With the Red Army almost at their doorstep, Germany orders the 9,000 Allied prisoners of war (including 7,000 Americans) at Germany’s Stalag Luft I to evacuate. The men refuse. The senior officer negotiates with the German commander, who chooses to order his guards to evacuate, leaving the prisoners behind.
Some noteworthy American guests of Stalag Luft I include top American European Theater ace Francis S. “Gabby” Gabreski (who also becomes a jet ace in Korea), former “Doolittle Raider” Charles Ross Greening, and R.A. “Bob” Hoover, who escaped the prison and flew to freedom in an unguarded German fighter plane.
Three aces: “Gabby” Gabreski (left) congratulates Maj. William T. Whisner, Jr. who also earned ace status in both World War II and Korea. Whisner is one of only two airmen to earn three Distinguished Service Crosses. He also deployed several times to Vietnam as a staff officer. On the right is jet ace George L. Jones.
Meanwhile, German leader Adolf Hitler commits suicide in his underground Berlin bunker. German Army forces will surrender to the Allies within days.
1962: The CIA’s A-12 reconnaissance aircraft – the predecessor of the SR-71 Blackbird, a two-seat variant of the A-12 – makes its first official flight at the highly classified Groom Lake, Nev. test site (Area 51).
1970: Pres. Richard M. Nixon announces that U.S. troops would conduct operations in North Vietnamese-controlled areas of Cambodia.
