November 9, 1967. While attempting to rescue an Army Reconnais-
 sance team, Capt. Gerald O. Young's Sikorsky HH-3E is shot down in
 Laos. Badly burned, he gives aid to a crew member who also escaped
 from the wreckage. After seventeen hours of leading enemy forces
 away from his injured crewman and himself, the two are rescued.
 Captain Young is later awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions.
     November 17, 1967. Operation Eagle Thrust, the largest and long-
 est airlift of troops and cargo from the US to Southeast Asia, be-
 gins by C-141 and C-133 aircraft. During the operation, 10,356
 paratroopers and 5,118 tons of equipment are airlifted to the com-
 bat zone in record time.
     November 9, 1967. While on a flight over Laos, Capt. Lance P.
 Sijan ejects from his disabled McDonnell Douglas F-4C and success-
 fully evades capture for more than six weeks. He is caught but man-
 ages to escape. Recaptured and tortured, he later contracts pneu-
 monia and dies. For his conspicuous gallantry as a POW, Captain
 Sijan is posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
     December 11, 1967. The Aerospatiale-built Concorde supersonic
 jetliner prototype rolls out at the company's plant in Toulouse,
 France.
     January 12, 1968. The Air Force announces a system for tactical
 units to carry with them everything they need to operate at "bare"
 bases equipped only with runways, taxiways, parking areas, and a
 water supply.
     February 29, 1968. Jeanne M. Holm, WAF director, and Helen
 O'Day, assigned to Office of the Air Force Chief of Staff, become
 the first women promoted to colonel.
     March 2, 1968. The first of eighty C-5A Galaxy transports rolls
 out at Lockheed's Marietta, Ga., facility.  March 25, 1968. F-111s
 fly their first combat mission against military targets in North
 Vietnam.
     March 31, 1968. President Lyndon Johnson announces a partial
 halt of bombing missions over North Vietnam and proposes peace
 talks.
     May 12, 1968. Lt. Col. Joe M. Jackson, flying an unarmed Fair-
 child C-123 transport, lands at a forward outpost at Kham Duc, South
 Vietnam, in a rescue attempt of a Combat Control Team.  After a
 rocket-propelled grenade fired directly at his aircraft proves to
 be a dud, Colonel Jackson takes off with the CCT on board and lands
 at Da Nang. He is later awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions.
     May 18, 1968. In response to a massive flood, the Air Force air-
 lifts 88.5 tons of food and other supplies to Ethiopia.
     June 30, 1968. The world's largest aircraft, the Lockheed C-5A
 Galaxy makes its first flight, as company pilots Leo Sullivan and
 Walt Hensleigh use only 4,500 feet of Dobbins AFB's 10,000-foot
 runway to get airborne.
     July 1, 1968. The first WAF in the Air National Guard is sworn
 in as a result of passage of Public Law 90-130, which allows ANG to
 enlist women.
     August 13, 1968. The National Guard Tecnician Act of 1968 becomes
 a public law, placing full-time Air and Army Guard technicians under
 Federal Civil Service Retirement.
     August 16, 1968. The first test launch of a Boeing LGM-30G
 Minuteman III ICBM is carried out from Cape Kennedy AFS, Fla.
     August 21, 1968. NASA pilot William H. Dana becomes the last
 pilot to fly into space in the North American X-15 research aircraft.
 One of seven pilots to earn their astronaut wings in the X-15, Mr.
 Dana atttains an altitude of 264,000 feet and a speed of Mach 4.71
 in the flight over Edwards AFB, Calif.
     September 1, 1968. Lt. Col. William A. Jones III leads a rescue
 mission near Dong Hoi, North Vietnam. Finding the downed pilot,
 Colonel Jones attacks a nearby gun emplacement. On his second pass,
 Colonel Jones's aircraft is hit, and the cockpit of his Douglas A-1H
 is set ablaze. He tries to eject, but the extraction system fails.
 He then returns to base and reports the exact position of the downed
 pilot (who is rescued the next day) before receiving medical treat-
 ment for his burns. Colonel Jones dies in an aircraft accident in
 the US before he can be presented the Medal of Honor for his actions
 the day of the rescue.
     October 11-22, 1968. Apollo 7, the first test mission following
 the disastrous Apollo 1 fire, is successfully carried out. Navy Capt.
 Walter M. Schirra, Jr., USAF Maj. Donn F. Eisele, and R. Walter
 Cunningham stay in Earth orbit for ten days, twenty hours, nine
 minutes.
     October 24, 1968. With NASA test pilot William H. Dana at the
 controls, the North American X-15 makes the type's 199th and final
 flight, completing ten years of flight testing. The plane reaches
 a speed of Mach 5.04 and an altitude of 250,000 feet.
     November 1, 1968. President Johnson halts all bombing of North
 Vietnam.
     November 26, 1968. While returing to base, lst. Lt. James P.
 Fleming and four other Bell UH-1F helicopter pilots get an urgent
 message from an Army Special Forces team pinned down near a river-
 bank. One helicopter is downed and two others leave the area because
 of low fuel, but Lieutenant Fleming and another pilot flying in an
 armed Huey press on with the rescue effort. The first try fails, but
 not willing to give up, Lieutenant Fleming lands again and is suc-
 cessful in picking up the team. He then lands at his base near Duc
 Co, South Vietnam, nearly out of fuel. Lieutenant Fleming is later
 awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions.
     November 30, 1968. The Air Force's aerial demonstration squadron,
 the Thunderbirds, fly their 471st and last show in the North American
 F-100D Super Sabre. Except for six shows in 1964 when they flew
 F-105s, the team had been performing in "Huns" for thirteen years.
     December 21-27, 1968. Apollo 8 becomes the first manned mission
 to use the Saturn V booster. Astronauts USAF Col. Frank Borman, Navy
 Cmdr. James A. Lovell, and USAF Maj. William Anders become the first
 humans to orbit the moon.
 End of Part-27
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