2008 The USAF Air Combat Command (ACC) clears all its grounded F-15A/B/C/D fighters for flight pending inspections, engineering reviews and any needed repairs. ACC also recommended release of other U.S. F-15A/B/C/D aircraft. After a Missouri Air National Guard F-15C had come apart in flight and crashed on 2 November 2007, The USAF grounded all F-15 aircraft.
1991 Desert Storm: Iraq offered for the first time to comply with U.N. demands that it relinquish Kuwait, but said any withdrawal of its forces must be linked to a pullout of allied forces from the region and should be tied to an Israeli withdrawal from occupied lands. President Bush dismissed the sudden Iraqi peace proposal as a “cruel hoax” and said Desert Storm coalition members agreed the Iraqi offer was “nothing new.” The war is the first use of Stealth aircraft technology and electronically enhanced air-to-ground ordnance (Smart Bombs) ushering in the age of surgical bombing strikes.
1986 The Beechcraft Starship completes its first flight
1974 The Thunderbirds become a component of the 57th Wing at Nellis AFB. The Thunderbirds were originally activated, after 6 months of training in an unofficial status, on May 25, 1953 as the 3600th Air Demonstration Team at Luke AFB. They were officially activated as the USAF Air Demonstration Squadron on February 13, 1967.
The fuel crisis of the early 1970s resulted in the selection of the Northrop T-38A Talon, a supersonic trainer. Five T-38s used the same amount of fuel needed for one F-4 Phantom, and fewer people and equipment were required to maintain the aircraft. Although it met the criteria of demonstrating the capabilities of a prominent Air Force aircraft, the Talon did not fulfill the Thunderbird tradition of flying front-line jet fighters. The team flew the Talon from 1974–1981.
1941 The military prototype of the Douglas DC-6, the YC-122, makes its first flight.
