JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. –
May 8, 2001 - Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld made the U.S. Air Force the executive agent for the Pentagon's space activities.
May 9, 1983 - A C-141 crew from the 18th Military Airlift Squadron, at McGuire Air Force Base, N. J., became the first all-female crew to fly a round-trip mission across the Atlantic.
May 10, 1911 - Lt. G.E.M. Kelly became the second Army officer killed in an airplane.
May 11, 1972 - A C-5 Galaxy set a nonstop distance record from Kadena Air Base, Japan to Charleston Air Force Base, S.C. The 8,019-mile flight lasted 16 hours 5 minutes.
May 12, 1950 - Capt. Chuck Yeager flew the number one Bell-X-1 research aircraft on its last flight above Edwards AFB, Calif. Film clips of the flight were used in the movie "Jet Pilot."
May 13, 1976 - After Typhoon Olga hit the Philippines, Air Rescue and Recovery Service helicopters saved 734 flood victims through June 1.
May 14, 1963 - The U.S. Air Force's X-21A, a twin-jet laminar flow control aircraft, flew successfully for the first time with its slit wing mechanism in operation.