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NEWS | June 1, 2011

This week in Air Force History

By Joint Base Charleston Public Affairs

May 29, 1997 - A B-2 from the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo. dropped a GAM-113 bomb over the China Lake Range near Edwards AFB, Calif., marking the first time the 4,700 pound conventional penetrating weapon was paired with the B-2.

May 30, 1942 - The first Boeing B-17F was built.

May 31, 1996 - The U.S. Air Force awarded C-17 multi-year contracts to McDonnell Douglas and Pratt and Whitney for 80 C-17 Globemaster III aircraft and engines over seven years. The contracts, valued at $16.2 billion, were the longest and the largest multi-year contracts ever entered into by the government to date. That acquisition gave the Air Force 120 C-17s and enabled the retirement of C-141s from the U.S. Air Force inventory.

June 1, 1961
- The U. S. Air Force activated the first Titan I squadrons at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho.

June 2, 1949 - Gen. Henry Arnold received the permanent rank of General of the Air Force.

June 3, 1959 - The U.S. Air Force Academy graduated the first class of 207 graduates. Two hundred and five cadets received commissions as regular officers in the U.S. Air Force.

June 4, 1969 - The Thunderbirds, the U.S. Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron, held their first exhibition using the F-4 Phantom aircraft.