JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. –
Oct. 3, 1957 - A Douglas C-124 made the first delivery for the Military Air Transport Service to McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, to support Operation Deep Freeze.
Oct. 4, 1946 - Col. Clarence S. Irvine flew the B-29 "Pacusan Dreamboat" to a nonstop, unrefueled distance record of 9,500 miles by flying from Honolulu to Cairo, Egypt, in 39 hours, 36 minute, lasting through Oct.6. The flight path took the aircraft over Arctic regions to test the crew through hazardous weather and with complicated navigation and communication problems.
Oct. 5, 1905 - At Dayton, Ohio, Orville Wright flew the Wright III, the first practical airplane, to a world distance and duration record of 24.2 miles in 38 minutes three seconds.
Oct. 6, 1918 - Near Binarivelle, France, 1st Lt. Harold E. Goettller with the 50th Aero Squadron and 2nd Lt. Erwin P. Bleckley (Kansas National Guard), flying as an observer, tried to drop supplies to a surrounded U.S. Army battalion in the Argonne Forest (the "Lost Battalion"). They flew as low as possible to deliver the supplies more precisely, but enemy ground fire brought their plane down. Goettler died instantly. Both men received the Medal of Honor.
Oct. 7, 1918 - Lts. S.R. Keesler and H. R. Riley of the 24th Aero Squadron went on a special reconnaissance mission and were attacked in flight by four German fighters. Keesler tried to drive off the Germans with his machine gun, but the attackers shot them down behind enemy lines. Keesler died the next day from his wounds, and received the Distinguished Service Cross posthumously.
Oct. 8, 1956 - Since 1948, Military Air Transport Service and DOD aircraft made over 100,000 ocean crossings to carry 400,000 passengers and 700,000 tons of mail and freight to overseas bases.
Oct. 9, 1999 - The final SR-71 Blackbird flight occurred during the Edwards AFB, Calif., Open House and Air Show. NASA Dryden Flight Research Center pilot Rogers Smith and flight engineer Marta Bohn-Meyer flew the aircraft to Mach 3.21 at 80,100 feet.