October 1, 1979. All atmospheric defense assets and missions of
 Aerospace Defense Command are transferred to Tactical Air Command
 (TAC). Also on this date, the Aerospace Audiovisual Service becomes
 the single manager for Air Force combat audiovisual documentation.
     March 12-14, 1980. Two B-52 crews fly nonstop around the world
 in forty-three and a half hours, covering 21,256 statute miles,
 averaging 488 mph, and carrying out sea surveillance/reconnaissance
 missions.
     April 24, 1980. In the middle of an attempt to rescue US citizens
 held hostage in Iran, mechanical difficulties force several Navy
 RH-53 helicopter crews to turn back. Later, one of the RH-53s col-
 lides with an Air Force HC-130 in a sandstorm at the Desert One re-
 fueling site. Eight US servicemen are killed.
     May 28, 1980. The Air Force Academy graduates its first female
 cadets. Ninety-seven women are commissioned as second lieutenants.
 Lt. Kathleen Conly graduates eighth in her class.
     February 9, 1981. Verne Orr becomes Secretary of the Air Force.
     April 12, 1981.The space shuttle orbiter Columbia, the world's
 first reusable manned space vehicle, makes its first flight with
 astronauts John Young and Navy Capt. Robert Crippen aboard.  June 7,
 1981. Eight Israeli Air Force F-16s, escorted by F-15s, attack the
 Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad, Iraq, disabling its core. As a
 result, the US imposes a temporary embargo on the supply of new
 F-16s to Israel.
     June 18, 1981. In total secrecy, company pilot Hal Farley makes
 the first flight of the Lockheed F-117A stealth fighter at Tonopah
 Test Range, Nev. The existence of this aircraft would not be public-
 ly revealed until 1988.
     June 26, 1981. The first production Grumman/General Dynamics
 EF-111A, a specially developed ECM tactical jamming aircraft, makes
 its first flight.
     August 1, 1981. CMSgt. Arthur L. Andrews becomes Chief Master
 Sergeant of the Air Force.
 October 2, 1981. President Ronald Reagan reinstitutes the B-1 bomber
 program canceled by the Carter Administration in 1977.
     November 10, 1981. For the first time, US Air Forces in Europe
 and the German Air Force test a section of the autobahn for emer-
 gency landings.
     July 1, 1982. US Air Force activates its first ground-launched
 cruise missile (GLCM) wing, the 501st Tactical Missile Wing, at
 Greenham Common in England.
     July 1, 1982. Gen. Charles A. Gabriel becomes Air Force Chief of
 Staff.
     September 1, 1982. Air Force Space Command is established.
     September 1-30, 1982. H. Ross Perot, Jr., and Jay Coburn com-
 plete the first circumnavigation of the globe by helicopter. Flying
 a modified Bell 206L Longranger, the duo averages 117 mph during
 their 246.5 hours of flight time. The trip starts and ends in Fort
 Worth, Tex.
     November 11, 1982. Vance D. Brand, Robert F. Overmyer, Joseph P.
 Allen IV, and William B. Lenoir lift off in the space shuttle
 Columbia. STS-5 is the first mission to send four astronauts aloft
 at one time.
     February 9, 1983. The first rewinged C-5A makes its first flight
 at Marietta, Ga. It will be delivered to the Air Force at the end of
 the month.
     February 10, 1983. The Cruise Pact is signed by the US and
 Canada, allowing testing of US cruise missiles in northern Canada.
     March 23, 1983. Flight testing of the Rockwell B-1A resumes at
 Edwards AFB,Calif. This aircraft is modified for the B-1B development
 effort.
     May 9, 1983. A C-141 crew from the 18th Military Airlift Squad-
 ron, McGuire AFB, N.J., becomes USAF's first all-female crew to fly
 a round-trip mission across the Atlantic.
     June 17, 1983. The first LGM-118A Peacekeeper (originally MX)
 ICBM is test-launched from Vandenberg AFB.
     June 18, 1983. The first American woman to go into space, Sally
 K. Ride, is aboard Challenger on the seventh space shuttle mission
 (STS-7).
     July 4, 1983. Flying in their new General Dynamics F-16A Fight-
 ing Falcons, the Thunderbirds, the Air Force's aerial demonstration
 squadron, perform before an estimated crowd of two million people at
 Coney Island, N.Y.
     July 22, 1983. Australian Dick Smith, flying a Bell JetRanger,
 completes the first solo flight around the world in a helicopter. The
 35,258-mile trip began August 5, 1982.
     August 1, 1983. CMSgt. Sam E. Parish becomes Chief Master Ser-
 geant of the Air Force.
     August 30, 1983. Two milestones are recorded on the STS-8 space
 shuttle mission: The oldest astronaut, William E. Thornton, fifty-
 four, and the first black astronaut, Lt. Col. Guion S. Bluford,
 USAF, are sent aloft on the space shuttle Challenger with three
 others.
     October 25, 1983. Operation Urgent Fury, the rescue of American
 medical students on the Caribbean island of Grenada, begins. The
 operation will last until November 2.
     November 28, 1983. The ninth space shuttle mission (STS-9) is
 launched. Mission Commander John W. Young becomes the first person
 to make six spaceflights, and Columbia is the first spacecraft to be
 launched with a crew of six. The ten-day flight is also the first to
 use the European Spacelab module.
     February 3-11, 1984. Navy Capt. Bruce McCandless becomes the
 first human satellite as he takes the self-contained Manned Maneu-
 vering Unit (MMU) out for a spin while in Earth orbit on space
 shuttle mission 41-B.
 End of Part-32
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