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NEWS | Aug. 8, 2011

This week in Air Force History

By Joint Base Charleston Public Affairs

Aug. 7, 1975 - Two C-141s flew from Ramstein Air Base, Germany to Bucharest, with disaster relief supplies after extensive flooding of the Danube River and its tributaries.

Aug. 8, 1981 - A Charleston Air Force Base C-141, loaded with a Delta Force squad from Pope AFB, evacuated 95 civilians from Banjul, Gambia after an attempted coup.

Aug. 9, 2005 - The 452nd Air Mobility Wing at March Air Reserve Base, Calif., received the first C-17 Globemaster III based in California. Called the Spirit of California, the C-17 flew 65 miles from the Boeing facility in Long Beach, Calif., to March ARB. It was the Air Force's 138th operational C-17 and the first of eight for the 452nd to replace its aging fleet of C-141 Starlifters.

Aug. 10, 1961 - An F-105 lifted the largest load ever carried aloft by a single-engine aircraft in dropping more than seven tons of conventional bombs on a target.

Aug. 11, 1960 - The 1608th Transport Wing at Charleston AFB, S.C. received the first C-130E Hercules for the Military Air Transportation Service.

Aug. 12, 1972 - Lt. Col. Wendell Shawier became the first U.S. Air Force pilot to fly the F-15.

Aug. 13, 1998 - After 12 Americans died in a terrorist bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi Aug. 7, a 437th Airlift Wing C-17 from Charleston AFB, S.C. returned 10 victims to Andrews AFB, Md. In a hangar at Andrews, President William Clinton presided over a national ceremony of remembrance.