Significant Milestones in Air Force History: Wright Flyer, Air Corps Tactical School, GHQ Air Force, Army Air Forces, Hiroshima, Lucky Lady II, Hydrogen Bomb, ICBM, Unity of Air Command

Professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction, this Air Force publication describes the major milestones in Air Force history. Milestones include:

Our First Military Aeroplane, The Wright Flyer, 1909

The Opening of the Air Corps Tactical School, 1920

The Air Corps Act of 1926

Establishing the GHQ Air Force, 1935

Formation of the Army Air Forces, 1941-42

AWPD-1, August 1941

FM 100-20, "Command and Employment of Air Power" July 1943

Hiroshima, August 1945

Air Force Independence, September 18, 1947

The Flight of the "Luck Lady II," 1949

The Decision to Build the Hydrogen Bomb, 1950

America's First ICBM Launch, December 17, 1957

Achieving Unity of Air Command - the JFACC

Our First Military Aeroplane, The Wright Flyer, 1909

Man had dreamed of flying for centuries, but it was not until Dec. 17, 1903 that Orville and Wilbur Wright, bicycle mechanics from Dayton, Ohio, achieved the feat of powered, controlled flight. It would be nearly three years before anyone else in the world was able to duplicate the achievement. Even so, few knew of the brothers' flights, partly due to their extreme secretiveness; they feared unscrupulous competitors would steal their ideas. As a result, little publicity attended the Wright brothers and their airplane. But word got out.

Taking off from the Ft. Myer parade field, the "Flyer" headed south to where the Masonic Temple now stands in Alexandria, turned around and climbed to a record 400 feet, and then went into a gradual descent to pick up speed for the sprint back to Ft. Myer. They crossed the finish line at a blistering 42 mph. President Taft was on hand to congratulate the brothers for their astonishing achievement. The Army had just bought themselves an airplane. Over the next century the airplane would revolutionize war, but even at the beginning there were those who foresaw that things had changed dramatically and irreversibly. Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, said simply that the airplane made armies "an impertinence" and battleships "so much junk." Time would test his judgments.