July 23, 1958. The Boeing Vertol VZ-2A tiltwing research air-
 craft makes the first successful transition from vertical to
 horizontal flight and vice versa.
     July 26, 1958. Capt. Iven C. Kincheloe, Jr., USAF, holder of
 the world altitude record (126,200 feet, set in the Bell X-2,
 September 7, 1956), is killed in an F-104 crash.
     August 1958. The term "aerospace" is used publicly for the first
 time by Gen. Thomas D. White, USAF Chief of Staff, in an Air Force
 Magazine article. The term was invented by Frank W. Jennings, a
 civilian writer and editor for the Air Force News Service.
     August 6, 1958. A Department of Defense Reorganization Act re-
 moves operational control of combat forces from the individual ser-
 vices and reassigns the missions to unified and specified commands
 on a geographic or functional basis. The main role of the services
 becomes to organize, train, and equip forces.
     September 1, 1958. A new enlisted supergrade, senior master
 sergeant (E-8) is created.
     September 26, 1958. A Boeing B-52D crew sets a world distance
 record of 6,233.98 miles and a speed record of 560.75 mph (over a
 10,000-meter course) during a two-lap flight from Ellsworth AFB,
 S.D., to Douglas, Ariz., to Newburg, Ore., and back.
     October 1, 1958. The National Aeronautics and Space Adminis-
 tration (NASA) is officially established, replacing NACA.
     December 16, 1958. The Pacific Missile Range begins launching
 operations with the successful flight of the Chrysler PGM-19 Thor
 missile, the first ballistic missile launched over the Pacific
 Ocean. (The first free world firing of ballistic missile under sim-
 ulated combat conditions.)
     December 18, 1958. Project Score, an Atlas booster with a com-
 munications repeater satellite, is launched into Earth orbit. The
 satellite carries a Christmas message from President Eisenhower
 that is broadcast to Earth, the first time a human voice has been
 heard from space.
     January 8, 1959. NASA requests eight Redstone-type launch
 vehicles from the Army for Project Mercury development flights.
 Four days later, McDonnell Aircraft Co. is selected to build the
 Mercury capsules.
     January 22, 1959. Air Force Capt. William B. White sets a record
 for the longest nonstop flight between points in the US, as he flies
 a Republic F-105 Thunderchief 3,850 miles from Eielson AFB, Alaska,
 to Eglin AFB, Fla., in five hours, twenty-seven minutes.
     February 6, 1959. USAF successfully launches the first Martin
 HGM-25A Titan ICBM.
     February 28, 1959. USAF successfully launches the Discoverer I
 satellite into polar orbit from Vandenberg AFB, Calif.
     April 2, 1959. Chosen from a field of 110 candidates, seven test
 pilots--Air Force Capts. L. Gordon Cooper, Jr., Virgil I. "Gus"
 Grissom, and Donald K. "Deke" Slayton; Navy Lt. Cmdrs. Walter M.
 Schirra, Jr., and Alan B. Shepard, Jr., and Lt. M. Scott Carpenter;
 and Marine Lt. Col. John H. Glenn, Jr.--are announced as the
 Project Mercury astronauts.
     April 12, 1959. The Air Force Association's World Congress of
 Flight is held in Las Vegas, Nev.-- the first international air show
 in US history. Fifty-one foreign nations participate. NBC-TV
 telecasts an hour-long special, and Life Magazine gives it five
 pages of coverage.
     April 15, 1959. USAF Capt. George A. Edwards sets a speed record
 of 816.279 mph in a McDonnell RF-101C Voodoo on a 500-kilometer
 closed course at Edwards AFB, Calif.
     April 20, 1959. The prototype Lockheed UGM-27A Polaris sea-
 launched ballistic missile successfully flies a 500-mile trajectory
 in a Navy test.  Three days later, the Air Force carries out the
 first flight test of the North American GAM-77 Hound Dog air-
 launched strategic missile at Eglin AFB, Fla.
     May 28, 1959. Astrochimps Able and Baker are recovered alive in
 the Atlantic after their flight to an altitude of 300 miles in the
 nosecone of a PGM-19 Jupiter missile launched from Cape Canaveral
 Missile Test Annex, Fla.
     June 3, 1959. The first class is graduated from the Air Force
 Academy.
     June 8, 1959. The Post Office enters the missile age, as 3,000
 stamped envelopes are carried aboard a Vought RGM-6 Regulus I mis-
 sile launched from the submarine USS Barbero (SSG-317) in the
 Atlantic. The unarmed missile lands twenty-one minutes later at the
 Naval Auxiliary Air Station at Mayport, Fla.
     June 8, 1959. After several attempts, North American Aviation
 pilot Scott Crossfield makes the first nonpowered flight in the
 X-15.
     July 1, 1959. The first experimental reactor (Kiwi-A) in the
 nuclear space rocket program is operated successfully in a test at
 Jackass Flats, Nev.
     August 7, 1959. First intercontinental relay of voice message
 by satellite takes place. The voice is that of Maj. Robert G.
 Mathis, later USAF Vice Chief of Staff.
     August 7, 1959. Two USAF F-100Fs make the first flight by jet
 fighter aircraft over the North Pole.
     September 9, 1959. The Atlas missile is fired for the first time
 by a SAC crew from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., and the missile type is
 declared operational by the SAC commander in chief. The shot
 travels about 4,300 miles at 16,000 mph.
     September 12, 1959. The Soviet Union launches Luna 2, the first
 man-made object to reach the moon.
     September 24, 1959. Company test pilot Robert C. Little makes
 the first flight of the McDonnell F-101A Voodoo at Edwards AFB,
 Calif. The "One-oh-Wonder" hits Mach 1.2 on its first flight and
 will go on to fill several roles for a number of Air Force comands.
 End of Part 21
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