OCTOBER
U.S. Air Force History

Oct. 1
1991. Air Force Intelligence Command was activated.
1991. Electronic Security Command was deactivated.
1983. The Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service Headquarters merged with the 23rd Air Force Headquarters, Military Airlift Command. As a result, operational rescue units reported directly to 23rd Air Force, and the Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service assumed the primary mission of federal peacetime search-and-rescue coordination.
1980. All atmospheric defense assets and missions of the Aerospace Defense Command were transferred to the Tactical Air Command.
1979. U.S. Air Forces in Europe began regular air-to-air training missions at the new Decimomannu Advanced Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation range, Sardinia.
1979. The Defense Audio-Visual Agency, a Department of Defense activity, was organized at Norton Air Force Base, Calif. It became operational one year later.
1978. The Air Force Security Service ended 20 years of base management when it transferred its last four bases to overseas theater commands.
1976. The Air Force Commissary Service assumed control of Air Force commissaries worldwide.
1965. The Air Force Museum was relieved from assignment to the Air University and assigned to Air Force Logistics Command.
1960. The Ballistic Missile Early Warning System radar post at Thule, Greenland, became operational.
1957. U.S. Air Forces in Europe assumed responsibility for training of German Air Force units.
1947. The North American XP-86 Sabre took to the air for the first time at Muroc Dry Lake, Calif.
 
Oct. 2
Rosh Hashanah
1981. President Reagan announced plans for construction and deployment of 100 B-1B bombers.
1942. The Army Air Force's first jet-powered aircraft, the Bell XP-59A, employing General Electric type 1-A engines, made its initial flight from Muroc Air Base, Calif. which is now Edwards Air Force Base.
 
Oct. 3
1967. Tactical Air Command accepted its first F-4E.
 
Oct. 4
1965. The first F-4 Phantom was assigned to U.S. Air Forces in Europe, Royal Air Force Bentwaters, England.
1957. The first successful man-made Earth satellite, Sputnik I, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was launched into Earth orbit. It weighed 184 pounds and transmitted radio signals for 21 days. Sputnik means "Fellow Traveller of Earth." This is considered the beginning of the Space Age.
 
Oct. 5
1882. Birthdate of Robert H. Goddard, "Father of Space Age," an American pioneer in rocket propulsion.
  
Oct. 7
1975. President Gerald R. Ford signed legislation permitting women to enter the nation's service academies.
 
Oct. 8
1969. The FB-111A swing-wing, medium-range bomber was delivered to the Strategic Air Command.
 
Oct. 11
Yom Kippur
1970. The first Air Force undergraduate helicopter pilot training student entered training at Fort Wolters, Texas.
1968. Apollo 7, the first test mission that followed the disastrous Apollo 1 fire, was successfully carried out. Navy Capt. Walter M. Scirra Jr., U.S. Air Force Maj. Donn F. Eisele and R. Walter Cunningham stayed in orbit 10 days, 20 hours, 9 minutes.
 
Oct. 13
1958. The Air Force's first all-supersonic fighter weapons meet was held at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. Tactical Air Command was host.
 
Oct. 14
1948. Maj. Gen William H. Tunner assumed command of the newly created Combined Airlift Task Force during the Berlin Airlift
1947. Capt. Charles (Chuck) E. Yeager, in the Bell X-1 rocket-powered research aircraft, exceeded for the first time the speed of sound in level flight. In attaining a speed of Mach 1.06 this flight shattered a widespread belief that the speed of sound was an invisible barrier limiting the speed of flight.
1943. Eighth Air Force conducted the second raid on the ball-bearing factories at Schweinfurt, Germany. As a result, the Germans dispersed their ball-bearing manufacturing, but the cost of the raid was high: 60 of the 291 B-17s launched did not return, 138 were damaged.
1939. Company test pilot Edward Elliot made the first flight of the Curtiss XP-40 at Buffalo, NY. Almost 14,000 P-40s were built before production ended in 1944.
  
Oct. 17
1941. Headquarters Air Service Command, later to be known as the Air Technical Service Command, was organized and established at Wright Field, Ohio.
 
Oct. 18
1984. The B-1B Lancer bomber made its first flight.
1965. The 107th Tactical Fighter Group, New York Air National Guard, became the first tactical ANG unit to be deployed in peacetime. The unit went to the Pacific for a joint-service exercise.
 
Oct. 20
1948. The Air Force Security Service was activated at Arlington Hall Station, Va., with a cadre of 11 officers and three enlisted men, plus two enlisted men on loan from the Department of the Army.
 
Oct. 21
1975. The first flight of a production Fairchild A-10A.
1947. The first flight of the Northrop YB-49 flying wing jet bomber is made. The Air Force's Northrop B-2 Stealth resembles the YB-49.
1946. Headquarters Strategic Air Command moved from Bolling Field to Andrews Field.
 
Oct. 22
1962. U.S. Air Forces in Europe turned over SM-78 Jupiter Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile Launch Position Four to the Turkish Air Force for maintenance and operation. This was the first Jupiter launch position to be assigned to the Turks.
1955. The Republic F-105A Thunderchief fighter-bomber made its first flight. The aircraft was designed to carry nuclear weapons and support field armies. In this flight it exceeded the speed of sound.
 
Oct. 23
1951. The first B-47 medium bomber was delivered to Strategic Air Command.
 
Oct. 24
1968. The X-15 aircraft made its final flight, completing almost 10 years of flight testing.
 
Oct. 25
1956. Operation Left Hook, the first and only Strategic Air Command fighter competition, was held.
 
Oct. 26
1962. The last B-52 was delivered to the Strategic Air Command.
1956. A Tactical Air Command C-124 Globemaster became the first Air Force aircraft to fly over the South Pole.
1909. Lt. Frederic E. Humphreys became the first Army officer to solo in the Army's first airplane at College Park, Md. A few minutes later Lt. Frank P. Lahm became the second.
 
Oct. 27
1909. Mrs. Ralph H. VanDeman became the first woman airplane passenger in the United States. She made a four-minute flight at College Park, Md., with Wilbur Wright at the controls.
  
Oct. 31
1995. The warring parties in the former Yugoslavia began peace talks at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.