June 16-19, 1963. Cosmonaut Jr. Lt. Valentina Tereshkova, a
 former cotton mill worker, becomes the first woman in space. Her
 Vostok 6 flight lasts nearly three days.
     August 22, 1963. NASA pilot Joe Walker achieves an unofficial
 world altitude record of 354,200 feet in the X-15.
     October 17, 1963. The first LGM-30A Minuteman I operational test
 launch is carried out at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., by a crew from
 Malmstrom AFB. The shot is a partial success. The reentry vehicle
 overshoots the target.
     October 22, 1963. In Exercise Big Lift, the Air Force airlifts
 more than 15,000 men of 2d Armored Division and its supporting units
 from Fort Hood, Tex., to bases near Frankfurt, West Germany. In com-
 pleting the movement in sixty-three hours, five minutes, Military
 Air Transport Service (MATS) flies 223 missions without a fatality.
     October 30, 1963. Navy Lt. James H. Flatley lands a Lockheed KC-
 130F Hercules on the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal (CVA-59) in the
 Atlantic off Boston, Mass., in a test to see if the Hercules could
 be used as a "Super COD" (carrier on-board delivery) aircraft. Lieu-
 tenant Flatley and crew will eventually make twenty-one unarrested
 full-stop landings and a like number of unassisted takeoffs from the
 carrier.
     November 7, 1963. The Northrop-developed three-parachute landing
 system for the Apollo command module is successfully tested at White
 Sands, N.M.
     December 17, 1963. With company pilots Leo Sullivan and Hank
 Dees at the controls, the Lockheed C-141A StarLifter, USAF's first
 jet-powered transport makes its first flight at Marietta, Ga., on
 the sixtieth anniversary of the Wright brothers' first flight.
     December 17, 1963. The Thunderbirds, the Air Force's aerial
 demonstration squadron, fly their 690th and last show in the North
 American F-100C Super Sabre.
     January 8, 1964. The newest Air Force decoration, the Air Force
 Cross, is posthumously awarded to reconnaissance pilot Maj. Rudolf
 Anderson, Jr., the only combat casualty of the 1962 Cuban missile
 crisis.
     February 1, 1964. The Boeing 727 passenger liner enters revenue
 service with Eastern Air Lines.
     February 3, 1964. Four airmen locked in a spaceship simulator
 exhibit no ill effects after exposure to a pure oxygen atmosphere
 for thirty days.
     February 29, 1964. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces the
 existence of the Lockheed A-11 (YF-12A), with a cruising speed of
 more than Mach 3 at altitudes above 70,000 feet. The plane was
 ordered as a single-seat reconnaissance aircraft for the CIA in
 1960. Only three YF-12A interceptors are built, and the SR-71 pro-
 gram for the Air Force takes precedence.
     April 26, 1964. At Norfolk, Va., the Thunderbirds, the Air
 Force's aerial demonstration team, fly their first show in the Re-
 public F-105B Thunderchief. The team would only perform six shows
 in the "Thud," as it was soon determined that it was not a suitable
 show aircraft.
     May 11, 1964. The North American XB-70 Valkyrie is rolled out at
 Palmdale, Calif. Designed to fly at three times the speed of sound
 and at altitudes above 70,000 feet, the XB-70 is originally planned
 as a manned bomber, but funding limitations allow for only two air-
 craft, to be used strictly for testing and research.
     August 1964. USAF moves into Southeast Asia in force. B-57s from
 Clark AB in the Philippines deploy to Bien Hoa in South Vietnam and
 additional F-100s move to Da Nang on August 5. Eighteen F-105s de-
 ploy from Japan to Korat Royal Thai Air Base beginning August 6.
     August 2, 1964. The destroyer USS Maddox (DD-731) is attacked by
 North Vietnamese patrol boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. A second inci-
 dent, involving the Turner Joy (DD-951), reportedly occurs two days
 later. Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on August 7.
     August 19, 1964. The Hughes Syncom III satellite is launched by
 a Thor-Delta launch vehicle. After several weeks of maneuvers, it
 becomes the world's first geosynchronous satellite.
     September 21, 1964. The North American XB-70A Valkyrie makes its
 first flight, with company pilot Alvin White and USAF pilot Col.
 Joseph Cotton at the controls.
     September 28, 1964. USS Daniel Webster (SSBN-626), the first
 submarine equipped with the Lockheed UGM-27C (A3) Polaris sea-
 launched ballistic missile, departs Charleston, S.C., on its first
 patrol.
     November 17-26, 1964. C-130s flown by US Air Forces in Europe
 crews deliver Belgian paratroopers to the Congo for a rescue opera-
 tion credited with saving the lives of nearly 2,000 hostages at
 Stanleyville threatened by rebels.
     December 14, 1964. US Air Force flies the first "Barrel Roll"
 armed reconnaissance mission in Laos.
     December 21, 1964. Company pilots Richard Johnson and Val Prahl
 make the first flight of the variable-geometry General Dynamics
 F-111A from Air Force Plant 4 in Fort Worth, Tex. The flight lasts
 twenty-two minutes.
     December 22, 1964. Lockheed gets approval to start development
 for the Air Force of the CX-HLS transport, which will become the C-
 5A. Also on this date, company pilot Bob Gilliland makes the first
 flight of the Lockheed SR-71A "Blackbird" strategic reconnaissance
 aircraft from Palmdale, Calif. He takes the aircraft to an altitude
 exceeding 45,000 feet and a speed of more than 1,000 mph on the
 flight.
     February 1, 1965. The first Boeing LGM-30F Minuteman II ICBM
 unit, the 447th Strategic Missile Squadron at Grand Forks AFB, N.D.,
 is activated.
     February 1, 1965. Gen. John P. McConnell becomes Air Force Chief
 of Staff.
 End of Part-24
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