1973
Jan. 15, 1973. The Air Force suspends all mining, bombing, and other offensive operations against North Vietnam.
Jan. 27, 1973. On the day cease-fire agreements ending the war in Vietnam are signed in Paris, crews flying Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses bomb logistics targets such as truck parks and storage areas south of the 20th Parallel. At 4:10 p.m. local time, the last USAF aircraft to fly over Hanoi, a Ryan AQM-34L drone, photographs results of the Operation Linebacker II raids for bomb damage assessment. The cease-fire takes effect at 7 p.m. EDT, which makes the cease-fire date effective Jan. 28 in Vietnam.
Feb. 12, 1973. Operation Homecoming, the return of 591 American POWs from North Vietnam, begins. All of the ex-POWs, which come from all military services, are processed through Clark AB, Philippines, to military hospitals in the United States and from there they are quickly reunited with their families.
July 1, 1973. Authorization for the military draft ends.
Aug. 15, 1973. US bombing of targets in Cambodia cease. In the eight years and two months that Operation Arc Light was carried out, Strategic Air Command crews, flying Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers from Andersen AFB, Guam, released 2.9 million tons of bombs on 124,532 sorties (of the 126,615 sorties launched). Some 55 percent of the sorties were flown against targets in South Vietnam, 27 percent in Laos, 12 percent in Cambodia, and six percent in North Vietnam. During the Arc Light missions, the Air Force lost 31 B-52s—18 to hostile fire over North Vietnam and 13 to “other operational causes.” However, Maj. John J. Hoskins and Capt. Lonnie O. Ratley, flying LTV A-7D Corsair IIs, make the last raids of war in Southeast Asia when they attack targets near Phnom Penh late in the afternoon. A Lockheed EC-121 crew out of Korat RTAB, Thailand, that lands after the A-7 pilots earns the distinction of making the last mission of the war.
1974
July 29, 1974. The Department of Defense consolidates all military airlift aircraft under the Air Force as single manager for all of the armed forces.
1975
- 50th Tactical Airlift Squadron: 31 May 1971 – 15 August 1973
- 345th Tactical Airlift Squadron: 31 May 1971 – 1 October 1978
- 776th Tactical Airlift Squadron: 31 May 1971 – 31 October 1975
The wing provided support in March 1973 for Operation Homecoming, the repatriation of American prisoners from Hanoi, North Vietnam. In February 1973, the POWs, some of whom had been held since 1965, were finally released. Military Airlift Command (MAC) was given the honor of bringing the POWs home, but the MAC Lockheed C-141 Starlifter crews were upstaged by C-130 crewmen from the 374th. In preparation for the release, several C-130 flights transported members of the negotiating team into Hanoi. On the day of the release two C-130 crews flew into Gia Lam Airport with members of the release team and an Air Force combat control team who brought in homing devices to help the MAC crews find the airfield. When the prisoners were released, the two C-130 crews were standing with nothing to do. Seeing that the first prisoners were the most badly injured, SSgt Ron Zogoda, a loadmaster, took the initiative as he stepped forward and took the arm of the first prisoner to be released, then escorted him across more than 100 feet of tarmac to where the MAC “freedom birds” waited. (The MAC C-141 crews were under strict instructions not to leave their airplanes.) The other members of the two crews followed Zgoda’s lead. When the POWs got to their first stop at Clark Air Base, Philippines, they told Gen. William Moore, commander of Thirteenth Air Force, how they appreciated the fact that the first Americans they talked too were combat crewmembers like themselves. Consequently, on subsequent releases, the C-130 crews were assigned escort duty with the returning prisoners.
The 374th maintained a forward operating location at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base Thailand until 1976. While American combat participation in the Vietnam War ceased with the 1973 ceasefire, airlift continued to play a role in the ongoing war in nearby Laos and Cambodia. Throughout 1974 and into 1975 the United States maintained a major airlift of supplies to the besieged Cambodian city of Phnom Penh from the U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield. Fearful of the loss of an Air Force crew, the United States turned to the use of civilian contract crews, as they had done during the French IndoChina War. A company known as BirdAir recruited former military airlifters to fly USAF C-130s provided “on loan” from the Air Force for the resupply effort. In spite of the airlift effort, Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge on 17 April 1975, only a few days before Saigon also fell, bringing the Vietnam War to a final conclusion.
The unit participated in Operation Baby Lift (evacuation of Vietnam orphans) and Operation New Life (evacuation of Vietnamese refugees) in April 1975. During the recovery of the SS Mayaguez from the Khmer Rouge in May 1975, a wing aircraft dropped a 15,000-lb bomb on Koh Tang Island.
On 31 March 1975, the 374th gained an aeromedical airlift mission in the Far East. In October 1978, it added a tactical airlift group to control the wing’s units in Japan and South Korea, and continued controlling aerial port facilities in South Korea until November 1983, and then in the Philippines and Japan.
April 30, 1975. North Vietnamese troops accept the surrender of Saigon.
May 15, 1975. Carrying 175 Marines, Air Force special operations helicopters land on Kho Tang Island, off the Cambodian coast, to begin rescue of the crew of the US merchant ship Mayaguez, which had been seized in international waters by the Cambodian Navy three days earlier.
It was found during the Vietnam War that there was a large duplication of aerial port facilities and mission objectives between MAC, Tactical Air Command (TAC) and Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). A study group recommended the consolidation of all tactical airlift forces as a cost-saving measure under MAC. On 1 December 1974, all TAC C-130 Tactical Airlift Wings were reassigned to MAC. In 1975, PACAF and USAFE Tactical Airlift Wings were also reassigned to MAC, thus ending the theater troop carrier mission as it had existed since the beginning of World War II.[2]
As a result, MAC became the controlling Major Command for C-130 wings at Little Rock and Pope AFB and the 433 TAW at Kelly AFB became a MAC tenant unit. With the impending arrival of the 1st Tactical Fighter Wing (1 TFW) from MacDill AFB and their standup of USAF’s first F-15 Eagle aircraft at Langley AFB, the 316 TAW at Langley was inactivated in 1975 with one squadron from the 316th reassigned to the 62d MAW at McChord AFB and the rest of the wing’s aircraft reassigned throughout MAC, AFRES and the Air National Guard. MAC also assumed command of Tactical Airlift Wings at Clark AB (374 TAW) in the Pacific and the 513 TAW at RAF Mildenhall and the 435 TAW at Rhein-Main AB in Europe, with these MAC overseas wings becoming tenant units under PACAF and USAFE.[2][4]
June 30, 1975. The last Douglas C-47A Skytrain in routine Air Force use is retired to the US Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.
1976
July 3-4, 1976. Israeli commandos, transported by C-130s, stage a surprise raid on Entebbe airport in the dead of night, fight a pitched battle with terrorists and Ugandan soldiers, and rescue more than 100 hostages who had been passengers aboard a hijacked Air France airliner.
1977
Jan. 8, 1977. The first YC-141B (stretched C-141 Starlifter) rolls out of the Lockheed’s Marietta, Ga., plant. Equipped with in-flight refueling capability, it was 23.3 feet longer than the original C-141A.
Oct. 1, 1977. Volant Oak, the quarterly rotation of six Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve transports to Howard AFB, Panama, for in-place tactical airlift in Central and South America, begins.
1978
1979
1980
374 TAW began supporting US Navy elements in the Indian Ocean area in 1980. .
1981
January-June, 1981. Operating from Corpus Christi, Tex., and Little Rock, Ark., USAF C-130s deliver 500 tons of arms, ammunition, helicopters, and other war materiel to El Salvador to help the government combat leftist guerrillas.
Jan. 11, 1981. The Boeing Company delivers USAF’s first Air Launched Cruise Missiles (ALCMs) to the 416th Bombardment Wing at Griffiss AFB, N.Y.
Jan. 18-25, 1981. Two USAF C-9 Nightingales transport 52 Americans held hostage by Iran for 444 days from Tehran to Rhein-Main AB, Germany.
1982
1984
Feb. 3–11, 1984. Navy Capt. Bruce McCandless II becomes the first human satellite as he takes the self- contained Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) out for a spin on Feb. 8 while in Earth orbit on space shuttle mission 41-B.
March 19–April 9, 1984. The US Air Force flies 28 C-5 and 17 C-141 missions and deployed an E–3A Sentry to support Egypt and Sudan against threats from Libya.
April 6–13, 1984. The 11th US space shuttle mission (41-C) is a spectacular success as the defective Solar Maximum Mission satellite (Solar Max) is repaired in orbit. After mission specialist George D. Nelson fails to capture the satellite on his spacewalk, Terry J. Hart uses Challenger’s remote manipulator arm to catch Solar Max on the fly. Nelson and James D.A. van Hoften repair the satellite in the shuttle’s payload bay before it is released.
May 16, 1984. USAF C-141s deliver 22 tons of medical supplies to Afghan refugees at Peshawar, Pakistan. The refugees had fled their country because of war.
May 22, 1984. The Chiefs of Staff of the Army and the Air Force sign a memorandum of agreement titled “Joint Force Development Process,” also known as “The 31 Initiatives.”
Aug. 7–Oct. 2, 1984. In Operation Intense Look—the deployment of US minesweeping assets to the Red Sea—Military Airlift Command flies 44 missions to transport 983 passengers and 1,324 tons of cargo. Egypt and Saudi Arabia had requested the minesweeping after mysterious shipping explosions.
Aug. 27, 1984. The first Grumman X-29A forward swept wing research aircraft rolls out at the company’s Calverton, Long Island, facility in New York.
Sept. 4, 1984. The first production Rockwell B-1B bomber is rolled out at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif.
“The Magnificent B-1B,” Air Force Magazine, November 1984 (not yet online)
Sept. 18, 1984. Col. Joe Kittinger Jr., USAF (Ret.), completes the first successful solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in a balloon, traveling from Caribou, Maine, to Savona, Italy, in 84 hours and setting a new balloon distance record of 3,550 miles.
Oct. 5–13, 1984. On the 13th space shuttle mission, Challenger lifts off for the first time with a crew of seven. Mission 41-G is the first to have two female astronauts (Sally K. Ride and Kathryn D. Sullivan, who will become the first American woman to make a spacewalk) and the first to have a Canadian astronaut aboard (Marc Garneau). Commander Robert L. Crippen becomes the first to fly on the shuttle four times. Aloft, the crew refuels a satellite in orbit for the first time.
Oct. 18, 1984. Company pilot M.L. Evenson and USAF Lt. Col. L.B. Schroeder make the first flight of the Rockwell B-1B variable-geometry bomber at Palmdale, Calif., and land at Edwards AFB, Calif. This is the first of 100 aircraft to be built in the revitalized B-1 bomber program.
Dec. 14, 1984. At Edwards AFB, Calif., Grumman pilot Chuck Sewell makes the first flight of the X-29A forward-swept wing demonstrator. The X-29s, two of the most unusual aircraft ever built, are designed to prove the aerodynamic benefits of wings that appear to have been put on backwards.
1985
Dec. 16, 1985. After 20 years of operation, the Pioneer 6 satellite becomes the longest-running spacecraft in history. When launched in 1965, the solar-orbiting satellite had a life expectancy of six months.
1986
Jan. 8, 1986. Military Airlift Command accepts delivery of its first C-5B Galaxy, an improved version of the C-5A, at Altus AFB, Okla.
Jan. 28, 1986. The space shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. Others on Mission 51-L are Francis R. Scobee, Navy Cmdr. Michael J. Smith, Judith A. Resnik, Ronald E. McNair, Air Force Lt. Col. Ellison S. Onizuka, and Gregory B. Jarvis. The manned space program will be halted for two years while vehicular and management flaws are corrected.
1987
May 5, 1987. The last Martin Marietta LGM-25C Titan II ICBM is taken off strategic alert at Little Rock AFB, Ark. The Titan II had stood nuclear alert since 1963.
May 17, 1987. Forty-four years to the day its crew became the first to complete 25 bombing missions over Europe, the Memphis Belle, arguably the most famous Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress ever built, is placed in its permanent home, a covered pavilion in a park on Mud Island, in Memphis, Tenn., in gala ceremonies. The dedication includes a flyby of seven privately owned B-17s.
The Making of an Iconic Bomber
July 4, 1987. Lt. Col. Robert Chamberlain and crew set a dozen recognized class records for speed with payload (jet aircraft) in a Rockwell B-1B out of Palmdale, Calif. The brand-new aircraft is on an acceptance flight and flies a 500-mile closed course near Vandenberg AFB, Calif. This flight and one on Sept. 17 (see below) are instrumental in award of the 1987 Mackay Trophy to Det. 15, Air Force Plant Representative Office and B-1B System Program Office, Air Force Systems Command.
July 24, 1987. In Operation Earnest Will, the US begins providing protection to reflagged Kuwaiti oil tankers in the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq War. USAF E-3 AWACS warn of aerial threats, C-5 and C- 141 aircraft airlift minesweeping personnel and equipment to the theater, and KC-10 and KC-135 tankers refuel escorting Navy fighters. The operation continues until Nov. 17, 1988.
Sept. 17, 1987. Maj. Brent A. Hedgpeth and crew set nine recognized class records for 3,100 miles with and without payload (jet aircraft) of 655.09 mph in a Rockwell B-1B out of Palmdale, Calif. This flight and one on July 4 (see above) are instrumental in award of the 1987 Mackay Trophy to Det. 15, Air Force Plant Representative Office and B-1B System Program Office, Air Force Systems Command.
Sept. 24, 1987. The Air Force’s Thunderbirds fly for a crowd of 5,000 in Beijing. It has been nearly 40 years since a US combat aircraft flew over and landed on Chinese soil.
Oct. 1, 1987. Air Force Systems Command relinquishes Onizuka AFS, Calif., and the Air Force Satellite Control Network—a set of worldwide remote-tracking stations—to Air Force Space Command.
Dec. 8, 1987. The US and the Soviet Union sign the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, agreeing to remove all intermediate-range (620 miles to 3,415 miles) missiles from Europe. The agreement results in the inactivation of six USAF tactical missile wings equipped with Ground-Launched Cruise Missiles (GLCM).
Restoring NATO’s Flexible Response
The Short, Happy Life of the Glick-Em
1988
1989
Aug. 2, 1990. Iraq invades Kuwait. Iraq completes its occupation the next day and stands poised to cross the Saudi Arabian border.
Aug. 7, 1990. The US begins Operation Desert Shield, the large-scale movement of US forces to the Middle East in response to Iraq’s Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait and threat to Saudi Arabia.
Aug. 8, 1990. A C-141 carrying Airlift Control Element lands in Dhahran, the first USAF aircraft into the crisis zone. F-15s from 1st Tactical Fighter Wing, Langley AFB, Va., and elements of the 82nd Airborne Division, Ft. Bragg, N.C., arrive in Saudi Arabia. US AWACS aircraft augment Saudi AWACS orbiting over Saudi Arabia.
o
1991
Jan. 17, 1991. War begins in the Persian Gulf. Operation Desert Shield becomes Operation Desert Storm. More than 1,200 combat sorties are flown, and 106 cruise missiles are launched against targets in Iraq and Kuwait during the first 14 hours of the operation.
Feb. 28, 1991. Iraq surrenders to the US-led coalition. In the 42-day, round-the-clock war, the Air Force flew 57 percent of all sorties with less than 58 percent of the assets, flew more than 38,000 combat sorties, offloaded more than 800 million pounds of fuel, and transported 96,465 passengers and 333 million pounds of cargo.
April 5, 1991. Operation Provide Comfort begins. It was a humanitarian air operation to protect and supply Kurds in northern Iraq threatened by Saddam Hussein after the Gulf War. By July 15, USAF C-5, C-141, and C-130 aircraft airlift more than 7,000 tons of relief supplies. Subsequent increments of the operation include the deny flight mission over northern Iraq to ensure the Kurds could safely return home. The operation ends finally on Dec. 31, 1996, when it is replaced by Operation Northern Watch (see Jan. 1, 1997.)
June 8–July 2, 1991. The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines buries Clark Air Base and two other US military installations with volcanic ash, forcing the Air Force to evacuate some 15,000 people to Guam and the United States. Operation Fiery Vigil becomes the largest evacuation operation since the fall of South Vietnam in 1975. Clark Air Base in the Philippines, the oldest and largest USAF overseas base, closes permanently.
Sept. 27, 1991. Strategic Air Command nuclear alert crews stand down from their decades-long, round- the-clock readiness for nuclear war. SAC alerts began in October 1957.
Nov. 26, 1991. Clark AB, Philippines, is officially turned over to the Philippine government, ending nearly 90 years of US occupancy. It was the largest overseas USAF base.
Dec. 25, 1991. The Soviet Union ceases to exist.
1992
374 TAW redesignated 374th Airlift Wing on 1 April 1992[2]
21st Troop Carrier Squadron (later 21st Tactical Airlift Squadron, 21st Airlift Squadron): 8 August 1966 – 1 April 1992
1993
April 28, 1993. Secretary of Defense Les Aspin lifts the long-standing ban on female pilots flying US combat aircraft, including Army and Marine Corps attack helicopters.
Oct. 1, 1993. Air Combat Command takes control of all stateside C-130s from Air Mobility Command, while most ACC KC-135s transfer to AMC control. The KC-135 exceptions are those at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, and two at Offutt AFB, Neb.