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This Week in Aerospace History: 29 June – 5 July 2008

29 June   1949: The U.S. Air Force became the first service to announce an end to racial segregation in its ranks.   1955: The first Boeing B-52 Stratofortress to enter operational service is delivered to the 93d Bombardment Wing, Castle Air Force Base, Calif.

30 June   1968: The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, the U.S. Air Force's newest and largest aircraft, makes its first flight.

01 July   1946: The presidential airplane, "The Independence," a C-118 Liftmaster, arrived at Washington National Airport . A military version of the Douglas DC-6, the four - engine Liftmaster could carry 20,200 pounds for 2,000 miles , and it could carry up to 76 troops.

02 July   1926: Congress established the Distinguished Flying Cross and made the award retroactive to April 6, 1917 .   1937: Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan are lost over the South Pacific near Howland Island in a Lockheed Electra.

03 July   1949: The U.S. Air Force gave the B-29 "Enola Gay," the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima , Japan , to the Smithsonian Institute.

04 July   1956: A Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft makes its first operational flight.

05 July   1912: Capt. Charles Deforest Chandler , Lts. Thomas DeWitt Milling and Henry H. Arnold became the first qualified "Military Aviators." They received their badges on Oct. 6.

 

Airpower Profile: Distinguished Flying Cross

The Distinguished Flying Cross is a medal awarded to any officer or enlisted member of the United States armed forces who distinguishes himself or herself in combat in support of operations by "heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight, subsequent to November 11, 1918." The decoration may also be given for an act performed prior to that date when the individual has been recommended for, but has not received the Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross, Air Force Cross or Distinguished Service Medal.

The Distinguished Flying Cross, was authorized by an Act of Congress of July 2, 1926, an act amended by Executive Order 7786 on January 8, 1938. DFC #1 was awarded to Charles Lindbergh although Herbert Dargue is reported to have received the award two weeks before Lindbergh.

The first D.F.C. to be awarded to a Navy man was to Commander Richard E. Byrd, of the U.S. Navy Air Corps, on May 9, 1926, for his flight to and from the North Pole. Both of these aviators also received the Medal of Honor for their feats.

Recipients of the medal include George H. W. Bush, John McCain, Tex Hill (with three Oak Leaf Clusters), Ted Stevens, Jimmy Doolittle (with two Oak Leaf Clusters), Joe Foss, Paul Hartsfield, Curtis LeMay, John Glenn (with five Oak Leaf Clusters), George Mcgovern, Kim Campbell, Sabu Dastagir, Morgan E. Lilly (with eight Oak Leaf Clusters), Jimmy Stewart (with Oak Leaf Cluster), James Fitzmaurice (pilot) and Joseph McCarthy. At least five civilians have received the award: Orville Wright, Wilbur Wright Wiley Post, Amelia Earhart, and Eugene Ely.

During wartime, members of the Armed Forces of friendly foreign nations serving with the United States are eligible for the Distinguished Flying Cross. It is also given to those who display heroism while working as instructors or students at flying schools.

The Distinguished Flying Cross was designed by Elizabeth Will and Arthur E. DuBois. It is a bronze cross pattee, with rays between the arms of the cross. On the obverse is a propeller of four blades, with one blade in each arm of the cross and in the re-entrant angles of the cross are rays which form a square. The cross is suspended by a rectangular-shaped bar and centered on this is a plain shield. The reverse is blank and suitable for engraving the recipient's name and rank.

The ribbon has a narrow red center stripe, flanked on either side by a thin white stripe, a wide stripe of dark blue, a narrow white stripe and narrow dark blue at the edge of the ribbon.

Subsequent awards of the Distinguished Flying Cross are indicated by oak leaf clusters, for Army and Air Force personnel, and by award stars for members of the Naval services.

Any false written or verbal claim to a decoration or medal or any wear, purchase, attempt to purchase, solicitation for purchase, mailing, shipping, import, export, manufacture, sale, attempt to sell, advertising for sale, trade, or barter of a decoration or medal authorized for wear by authorized military members or veterans is a federal offense punishable by up to six months in jail and up to a $5,000 fine.

 

[Source: Wikipedia]