December 19, 1991. Navy Lt. Cmdrs. Eric Hinger and Matt Klunder
 set a recognized class record for altitude with a 1,000-kilogram
 payload (turboprop aircraft) of 41,253.6 feet in a Grumman E-2C
 Hawkeye at NAS Patuxent River, Md. The record still stands.
     December 21, 1991. The first Rockwell new-generation AC-130U
 gunship is flown for the first time.
     December 25, 1991. The Soviet Union ceases to exist.
     January 18, 1992. Air Training Command receives its first T-1A
 Jayhawk trainer aircraft at Reese AFB, Tex. With the T-1A, ATC will
 implement its new specialized undergraduate pilot training program.
     January 31, 1992. The Navy takes delivery of the last production
 Grumman A-6 Intruder attack aircraft, closing out thirty-one years
 of Intruder production.
     February 10, 1992. Operation Provide Hope, the delivery of food
 and medical supplies to the former Soviet Union, begins.
     February 28-29, 1992. Four Air Force crews set recognized class
 time-to-climb records (jet aircraft) in a Rockwell B-1B at Grand
 Forks AFB, N.D. Twelve of the records still stand.
     April 1, 1992. The Community College of the Air Force graduates
 its 100,000th student, TSgt Gordon J. Wiese.
     April 9, 1992. The Air Force's new Variable Stability In-Flight
 Simulator Test Aircraft (VISTA), a modified General Dynamics F-16,
 designated NF-16, that will replace the forty-plus-year-old NT-33,
 is flown for the first time at the General Dynamics facility in Fort
 Worth, Tex. The flight lasts fifty-three minutes.
     May 12, 1992. Lockheed Aeronautical Systems Co. delivers the
 2,000th C-130 Hercules transport in ceremonies at Marietta, Ga. The
 milestone aircraft, a C-130H, is later delivered to the Air National
 Guard's 123d Airlift Wing at Standiford Field, Ky.
     June 1, 1992. SAC, TAC, and MAC are deactivated. Bomber, fighter,
 attack, reconnaissance, and electronic combat/electronic warfare
 aircraft and all ICBMs regroup under Air Combat Command (ACC). Lifter
 and tanker aircraft regroup under Air Mobility Command (AMC).
     June 1, 1992. US Strategic Command is established, with respon-
 sibility for planning, targeting, and command of US strategic forces.
     July 1, 1992. Air Force Systems Command and Air Force Logistics
 Command are merged to create Air Force Materiel Command, which is to
 provide "cradle to grave" management of weapon systems.
     July 1, 1992. Air Force begins Operation Provide Promise, flying
 humanitarian relief missions into Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina. It
 is the longest-running air supply effort in history, officially end-
 ing January 4, 1996.
     August 26, 1992. Air Force begins Operation Southern Watch to
 enforce a ban on Iraqi aircraft operations south of the thirty-second
 parallel.
     December 9, 1992. Operation Restore Hope, an international hu-
 manitarian operation in Somalia, begins. More than 28,000 troops are
 sent to safeguard food, supplies, and aid workers, from armed fac-
 tions trying to seize power. Thirty-three Air Force active-duty and
 Reserve units take part in the initial deployment.
     December 16-18, 1992. Capts. Pamela A. Melroy and John B. Norton
 along with company pilots William R. Casey and Charles N. Walls, set
 a number of recognized altitude records with payload (for two dif-
 ferent subclasses of jet aircraft) in a McDonnell Douglas C-17A
 Globemaster III at Edwards AFB, Calif. A class record for greatest
 load carried to 2,000 meters of 133,422 pounds is also set on the
 flight. Thirteen of the records still stand.
     December 19, 1992. Capt. Jeff Kennedy and crew set a recognized
 class record for great circle distance without landing (jet aircraft)
 of 10,083.11 miles in a Boeing KC-135R. The record still stands.
     December 19, 1992. An AMC KC-135R crew from the 97th Air Mobility
 Wing, Altus AFB, Okla., flies more than 8,700 miles from Kadena AB,
 Japan, to McGuire AFB, N.J., to set an aircraft class record for
 nonstop, unrefueled flight.
     December 27, 1992. While flying combat air patrol in Operation
 Southern Watch, two F-16 pilots from the 363d Fighter Wing, Shaw AFB,
 S.C., intercept a pair of Iraqi MiG-25s flying in the United Nations-
 imposed no-fly zone over southern Iraq. One of the pilots, flying an
 F-16D, fires an AIM-120A AMRAAM and downs one of the MiGs, marking
 the first use of the AIM-120A in combat and the first USAF F-16 air-
 to-air victory.
     January 13, 1993. USAF Maj. Susan Helms, flying aboard Endeavour,
 becomes the first US military woman in space.
     March 1, 1993. Lockheed Corp. completes acquisition of General
 Dynamics Fort Worth Division. The $1.5 billion purchase gives Lock-
 heed control of the F-16 fighter line and increases the corporation's
 share of the F-22 program to 67.5 percent.
     March 9, 1993. A Lockheed SR-71A "Blackbird" reconnaissance air-
 craft comes out of retirement to fly its first scientific flight for
 NASA at the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB. The air-
 craft, fitted with an ultraviolet video camera in the nose bay, is
 flown to an altitude of approximately 83,000 feet and collects more
 than 140,000 images of stars and comets.
     April 12, 1993. NATO Operation Deny Fight begins, enforcing a
 ban ordered by the UN Security Council on aircraft operations in the
 no-fly zone of Bosnia-Hercegovina. The operation ends December 20,
 1995.
     April 28, 1993. Secretary of Defense Les Aspin lifts the long-
 standing ban on female pilots flying US combat aircraft, including
 Army and Marine Corps attack helicopters.
     April 29, 1993. German test pilot Karl Lang makes the first
 demonstration of a high-angle-of-attack, post-stall, 180 turn known
 as a Herbst Maneuver while flying the Rockwell/MBB X-31A EFM demon-
 strator. The turn is completed in a 475-foot radius.
 End of Part 38
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