1953

JANUARY 17—18 Over Pyongyang, North Korea, 11 B-29s bomb an underground radio station with special, 2,000-pound bombs. Accuracy is essential as the site is only 1,000 feet from a POW camp; 10 direct hits are scored but the ordnance fails to destroy the station.

JANUARY 23 In South Korea and Japan, the last remaining F-51 Mustangs are retired from combat operations and replaced by F-86 Sabrejets. This marks the end of propellor-driven fighter aircraft in the U. S. Air Force.

JANUARY 24 Over North Korea, sharp­shooting Captain Dolphin D. Overton II sets a record for becoming a fighter ace by downing five MiGs in only four days.

JANUARY 28 Over Sariwon, North Korea, a B-29 explodes over its target, being the fourth heavy bomber downed
since the previous December; it is also the last one lost during hostilities.

JANUARY 30 Over the Yellow Sea, an

F-86 observes a Soviet-built Tu-2 bomber and shoots it down; this is the first Communist bomber claimed since November 1951.

Boeing’s B-47E Stratojet performs its maiden flight; this is the first major pro­duction model, of which 1,300 are con­structed. A further 255 RB-47E reconnaissance aircraft are also acquired by the Air Force.

JANUARY 30—31 Over North Korea, a

B-29 of the 307th Bomb Wing is badly mauled by Communist MiGs and is forced to make an emergency landing in South Korea.

FEBRUARY 4 In Washington, D. C., Har­old E. Talbott gains appointment as secre­tary of the Air Force.

FEBRUARY 8 The American Medical Association finally recognizes aviation medicine as a medical specialty, the first to have evolved from strictly military practices.

February 14 The new Bell X-1A makes its first successful test glide; this variant is longer and has greater fuel capacity than the original X-1.

FEBRUARY 15 Over North Korea, 22 F-84s strike the Shi-ho hydroelectric power plant with 1,000-pound bombs while 82 F-86 escorts tangle with 30 MiG-15s. The facility is heavily damaged and offline for several months.

FEBRUARY 16 Over North Korea, Captain Joseph C. McConnell, Jr., bags his fifth MiG-15, becoming the latest all-jet ace.

FEBRUARY 18 Over the Sui-ho reser­voir, North Korea, 4 F-86 Sabrejets attack a formation of 48 MiG-15s, down­ing 2. Two other Communist craft enter uncontrolled spins and crash while turn­ing with the Americans. Captain Manuel J. Fernandez also becomes an ace by claiming his fifth and sixth MiGs.

FEBRUARY 18—19 Southwest of Pyong­yang, North Korea, 500 Air Force aircraft attack a Communist tank and infantry school, destroying 243 buildings in the process.

MARCH 5 Over North Korea, Fifth Air Force aircraft run 70 sorties, destroying 56 bunkers, gun positions, and various storage shacks. One flight of F-84s drops bombs on an industrial facility only 60 miles from the Siberian border.

MARCH 10 Near the border between West Germany and Czechoslovakia, two Communist MiG-15s attack two F-84

Thunderjets, downing one. The pilot ejects safely.

MARCH 14 Over North Korea, Air Force aircraft drop propaganda leaflets demand­ing to know where the Communist air force is after they bomb a target. It is hoped such taunting will provoke an aer­ial engagement.

MARCH 21—22 Over North Korea, Operation spring thaw unfolds as Fifth Air Force medium bombers knock down the two main bridges at Yongmi-dong and heavily damage a third.

MARCH 27 In a surprise move, two MiG-15s attack two RF-80 Shooting Stars and two Australian Meteors only 38 miles north of UN lines.

MARCH 31 In Korea, the final F-80C Shooting Star is retired from front-line service after a distinguished two-and-a – half years in combat.

April 12 Over the Red Sea, an H-19 helicopter rescues Captain Joseph C. McConnell after he and his eighth victory apparently downed each other.

April 7 In Washington, D. C., the Atomic Energy Commission declares that it employs Lockheed QF-80 drones to study radioactive clouds during atomic testing. These remote-controlled craft are flown directly into mushroom clouds under the direction of nearby aircraft.

April 13 Over South Korea, the F-86 Sabrejet performs its first close support ground sortie.

April 26—27 Over North Korea, Project MOOLA unfolds as B-29 bombers drop leaf­lets offering $100,000 to any Communist pilot who defects with his MiG-15.

United States Air Force F-86 airplanes prepare for combat on the flight line in May 1953. (National Archives)

MAY 13 North of Pyongyang, North Korea, 50 F-84Gs, attacking in four waves, bomb several irrigation dams that had heretofore been off limits. The ensu­ing floodwaters destroy six square miles of rice crop, the Sunan airfield, and two miles of a nearby highway.

May 16 Over North Korea, 90 F-84Gs bomb the Chasan irrigation dam, and the floodwaters destroy three railroad bridges and several acres of rice crop.

May 18 Over Edwards Air Force Base, California, aviatrix Jacqueline Cochran flies a Canadair F-86E to a new world’s speed record of 652.3 miles per hour over a 100-kilometer course. This day she also becomes the first woman to exceed the speed of sound.

Over North Korea, Captain Joseph C. McConnell, Jr., bags 3 more MiG-15s, becoming the war’s first triple jet ace and, with 16 kills, also the highest-scoring UN pilot.

May 25 Over Edwards Air Force Base,

California, the North American YF-100 Super Sabre flies for the first time and easily exceeds the sound barrier. This is the first of 2,300 F-100s that pass into Air Force service.

May 27 In Washington, D. C., the Air Force Historical Foundation (AFHF) is established to preserve and perpetuate the history and heritage of U. S. aviation.

May 31 In Tokyo, Japan, command of

the Fifth Air Force passes to Lieutenant General Samuel E. Anderson.

June 8 At Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, F-84 Thunderjets of the 3600th Air Demonstration Team make its first unof­ficial public appearance in red, white, and blue painted aircraft. They become better known as the USAF Thunderbirds.

June 11 Along the Manchurian border, 13 F-84s commit the deepest penetration of Communist territory by bombing an enemy airfield. No opposition is encountered.

June 13-18 Over Toksan and Kusong, North Korea, Fifth Air Force F-84s and B-29s, assisted by Marine Corps F4U Corsairs, blast several irrigation dams to flood nearby airfields. However, the Communists anticipated the move, because they had lowered the water level beforehand, thereby decreasing the impact of the strikes.

June 15 In Tokyo, Japan, leadership of

Bomber Command passes to Brigadier General Richard H. Carmichael.

June 16 This day the Fifth Air Force completes 1,834 combat sorties, with half aimed at enemy troops contesting UN forces in the Pukhan Valley region.

June 18 Over Japan, a C-124 Globemas- ter II crashes after takeoff, killing all 129 passengers on board. For many years this was the worst aviation disaster on record.

June 21 Over Cheyenne, Wyoming, the Air Force Thunderbirds make their first official demonstration for the public.

June 30 In Washington, D. C., General Nathan F. Twining gains appointment as the new Air Force chief of staff.

Over North Korea, Fifth Air Force F-86 Sabrejets have a field day by downing 16 MiG-15s without loss, a new single-day record.

July 15 Over North Korea, Major James Jabara downs his 15th MiG, becoming the second triple jet ace in aviation history.

July 16 An F-86D piloted by Lieutenant William Barnes sets a new world speed record of 715.7 miles per hour. To do so he broke an earlier record established by another F-86D.

July 20 At Middle River, Maryland, the first Martin B-57A, the American-built version of the English Electric Canberra, performs its maiden flight. This is also the first foreign-designed aircraft accepted into the U. S. Air Force.

July 21—22 Over North Korea, 18 Bomber Command B-29s fly the final sortie for that type of airplane by bomb­ing the Uiju airfield.

July 22 Over North Korea, the final dog­fight of the Korean War unfolds as three F-86 Sabrejets tangle with four MiG-15s, whereby Lieutenant Sam P. Young makes the final MiG kill of the war.

July 27 Just hours before the armistice ends the Korean War, Captain Ralph S.

Parr, Jr., downs a Soviet-built IL-2 transport, becoming a double ace. This is also the final aerial victory of the Korean War.

Over North Korea, a B-26 drops its bombs during a radar-directed, close sup­port mission only 24 minutes before the armistice becomes official. Ironically, the squadron to which this aircraft belongs also flew the first bombing mission of the war in 1950.

Over North Korea, an RB-26 from the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing performs that last photo mission of the Korean War.

July 28 At Fairford, England, a Strategic Air Command (SAC) B-47 Stratojet completes a record-making flight from Limestone, Maine, by crossing the Atlan­tic in only 4 hours and 43 minutes at a speed of 618 miles per hour.

July 29 Off the coast of Vladivostok, Soviet Union, an RB-50 operating from Yokota, Japan, is attacked by MiG-15s and shot down; 16 men perish and only 1 survives.

This day the Far East Air Forces (FEAF) releases its official tally of wins and losses for the Korean War. They claim 839 MiG-15 jets shot down with 154 listed as probable, and a further 919 damaged. Over the past 37 months, the Air Force lost 110 aircraft to hostile air activity, 677 to ground fire, and 213 in various accidents. Since that time, the number of Communist aircraft claimed has been revised downwards to roughly half this total.

AUGUST 3 At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the Air Force Missile Test Center fires a Redstone missile for the first time.

AUGUST 12 In an ominous development, the Soviet Union detonates its first thermo­nuclear weapon.

AUGUST 20 In Western Europe, Operation longstride unfolds as F-84 Thunderjets of the 40th Air Division, Strategic Air Com­mand (SAC) deploy from the United States in the first mass deployment of fighter air­craft during a transatlantic flight. It is a vivid demonstration of SAC’s ability to shift men and resources to distant points, and wins the Mackay Trophy.

AUGUST 25 The Air Force reveals the exis­tence of its Fighter Conveyor (FICON) project, whereby a giant B-36 bomber has been modified to carry, launch, and re­cover an RF-84 in flight. However, the concept of a “flying aircraft carrier” does not catch on.

SEPTEMBER Aviation history is made this month when a B-47 Stratojet is refueled in midair by a KB-47B tanker aircraft. This represents the first time that one jet aircraft has passed fuel to another.

SEPTEMBER 11 Over China Lake, Cali­fornia, the new AIM-9 Sidewinder air – to-air missile destroys an airborne target for the first time. Updated versions of this weapon are still in production.

September 21 Over Kimpo Airfield, South Korea, a MiG-15 flown by Lieu­tenant Noh Kum Suk arrives as he defects to the West. He receives the $100,000 bounty and his aircraft is thoroughly tested and examined by Air Force author­ities before being put on display at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio.

OCTOBER This month the Air Defense Command is bolstered by the addition of 10 Lockheed RC-121 Super Constella­tions, which serve as early warning radar platforms.

OCTOBER 1 At McClellan Air Force Base, California, the 4701st Airborne

Early Warning and Control squadron is formally activated, being the first organi­zation of its kind in the Air Force.

October 14 The X-10 (B-64 Navaho prototype) is test launched for the first time. This impressively sleek missile is intended as a ground-to-ground weapon capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

October 23 The twin-rotor Piasecki YH-16 transport helicopter makes its maiden flight.

OCTOBER 24 Over Edwards Air Force Base, the delta-winged Convair XF-102 is flown for the first time. Overall perfor­mance is poor and it is not until a major redesign incorporating the use of “area rule” (a pinched-in fuselage) that it enters service as the F-102 Delta Dagger.

OCTOBER 29 Over the Salton Sea, Cali­fornia, the YF-100 prototype flown by Colonel Frank K. Everest sets a world speed record of 755.125 miles per hour over a nine-mile course.

OCTOBER 31 Trevor Gardner, special assistant to the secretary of the Air Force, is tasked with forming the new Strategic Missile Evaluation Committee under mathematician John von Neu­mann.

NOVEMBER 6 At RAF Brize Norton, England, a B-47 Stratojet makes a new transatlantic speed record by flying in from Limestone Air Force Base, Maine, in 4 hours and 57 minutes.

NOVEMBER 20 Over Edwards Air Force Base, California, A. Scott Crossfield flies the Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket to twice the speed of sound. This represents the first time such stellar velocity has been reached.

DECEMBER 12 Over Edwards Air Force Base, the Bell X-1A flown by Major Charles E. Yeager reaches a speed of 1,650 miles per hour at an altitude of

70,000 feet. Yeager loses control of his aircraft and spirals down to 25,000 feet before righting it and making a safe landing. He wins the Harmon Trophy for his effort.