June 14, 1989. The first Martin Marietta Titan IV heavy-lift
 space booster is successfully launched from Launch Complex 40 at
 Cape Canaveral AFS. The booster, nearly twenty stories tall,
 carries a classified military payload.
     July 6, 1989. The nation's highest civilian award, the Presi-
 dential Medal of Freedom, is presented to retired Air Force Gen.
 James H. Doolittle in White House ceremonies.
     July 6, 1989. The 169th and last MGM-31 Pershing 1A intermed-
 iate-range ballistic missile is destroyed at the Longhorn Army
 Ammunition Plant near Karnack, Tex., under the terms of the
 intermediate nuclear forces (INF) treaty.
     July 17, 1989. Northrop Chief Test Pilot Bruce Hinds and Air
 Force Col. Richard Couch, director of the B-2 Combined Test Force,
 make the first flight of the Northrop B-2A advanced technology bom-
 ber, flying from Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, to the Air Force
 Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB.
     August 2, 1989. The Navy successfully carries out the first
 undersea launch of the Lockheed UGM-133A Trident II (D5) sea-launched
 ballistic missile. The missile is launched from USS Tennessee
 (SSBN-734) while cruising off Florida.
     August 6, 1989. As further evidence of the thaw in US-Soviet
 relations, two MiG-29 fighters and the giant An-225 transport land
 and refuel at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, on their way to an air show in
 Canada.
     August 8-13, 1989. The thirtieth mission in the US space shuttle
 program is carried out, as the crew of five service astronauts
 launches a classified payload from the orbiter Columbia. It is the
 longest military shuttle flight to date.
     August 24, 1989. The Voyager 2 space probe completes its grand
 tour of the solar system as the 1,787-pound vehicle passes within
 3,000 miles of Neptune. Voyager 2 was launched in August 1977.
     September 14, 1989. The Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor air-
 craft achieves its first conversion from helicopter mode to airplane
 mode while in flight.
     September 15, 1989. McDonnell Douglas delivers the 500th AH-64
 Apache helicopter to the US Army at the company's plant in Mesa,
 Ariz.
     October 1, 1989. Air Force Gen. Hansford T. Johnson, pinning on
 his fourth star and assuming command of US Transportation Command
 and MAC, becomes the first Air Force Academy graduate to attain the
 rank of full general. He is a member of the Academy's first graduat-
 ing class of 1959.
     October 3, 1989. The last of thirty-seven Lockheed U-2R/TR-1A/B
 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft is delivered to the Air Force.
     October 4, 1989. A crew from the 60th Military Airlift Wing,
 Travis AFB, Calif., lands a Lockheed C-5B transport at McMurdo
 Station in Antarctica. This is the first time an aircraft so large
 has landed on the ice continent. The C-5B, carrying seventy-two
 passengers and 168,000 pounds of cargo (including two fully as-
 sembled Bell UH-1N helicopters), lands without skis.
     October 7, 1989. Wayne Handley sets the recognized US record for
 longest inverted flat spin with the most rotations (sixty-seven) in
 a Pitts Special acrobatic aircraft at Salinas, Calif.
     December 3, 1989. Solar Max, the first satellite to be repaired
 in orbit, is destroyed as it reenters the atmosphere over Sri Lanka.
     December 14, 1989. MAC approves a policy change that will allow
 female aircrew members to serve on C-130 and C-141 air-drop\
 missions.
 December 20, 1989. Operation Just Cause begins in Panama. The Air
 Force plays a major role, ranging from airlift, airdrops, and aerial
 refueling to bringing Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to the US.
 In Just Cause, the Lockheed F-117A Stealth fighter is used opera-
 tionally for the first time.
     January 25, 1990. The Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird" high-altitude,
 high-speed reconnaissance aircraft is retired from SAC service in
 ceremonies at Beale AFB, Calif. SR-71 crews flew more than sixty-
 five million miles, half at speeds above Mach 3.
     January 31, 1990. Coronet Cove, the Air National Guard's rota-
 tional deployments to defend the Panama Canal, ends after more than
 eleven years. More than 13,000 sorties, totaling 16,959 hours, had
 been flown since the operation began.
     February 21, 1990. The Air Force returns to dual-track pilot
 training. The team of McDonnell Douglas, Beech, and Quintron is
 selected over two other teams to provide the Tanker/Transport Train-
 ing System. This turnkey operation will train pilots going on to fly
 "heavies" using the T-1A Jayhawk.
     March 1, 1990. The Rockwell/MBB X-31A Enhanced Fighter Maneuver-
 ability (EFM) demonstrator rolls out at Rockwell's facility at Air
 Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif. A joint venture between the US
 and West Germany, the X-31 is designed to prove technologies that
 will allow close-in aerial combat beyond normal flying parameters.
     March 6, 1990. Lt. Col. Ed Yielding (pilot) and Lt. Col. J.T.
 Vida (reconnaissance systems officer) set four speed records, in-
 cluding a transcontinental mark of 2,112.52 mph (one hour, eight
 minutes, seventeen seconds elapsed time) over the 2,404.05-statute-
 mile course from Oxnard, Calif., to Salisbury, Md., on, what was at
 the time, the last Air Force flight of the Lockheed SR-71.
     March 26, 1990. Grumman rolls out the first production-standard
 version of the improved F-14D Tomcat for the US Navy at its plant
 in Calverton, Long Island, N.Y.
     April 2, 1990. Air Force pilot Maj. Erwin "Bud" Jenschke demon-
 strates in-flight thrust reversing for the first time while flying
 the McDonnell Douglas NF-15B S/MTD (STOL/Maneuvering Technology
 Demonstrator) aircraft over Edwards AFB, Calif.
     April 4, 1990. McDonnell Douglas turns over the last of sixty
 KC-10A Extender tanker/cargo aircraft to the Air Force at its plant
 in Long Beach, Calif.
 End of Part 35
 ===
--- DB 1.39/004487
---------------