Military

Nearly 70 years after William Bell flew combat missions during World War II, the former Marine has received his medals. Bell, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, was a 21-year-old pilot during the Philippines’ liberation from Japanese forces in 1945, flying more than 60 combat strike missions. In the space of four months, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross […]

1891 – Birth of Rudolf Berthold, German World War I flying ace. 1918 – British World War I fighter ace John Lightfoot Trollope of the Royal Flying Corps No. 43 Squadron shoots down seven German aircraft in his Sopwith F.1 Camel. 1939 – American pioneer aviatrix Jacqueline Cochran achieves a woman’s altitude record of 30,052 […]

1871 – Birth of Carlo Maria Piazza, Italian early aviator. 1912 – A Wright B Flyer, designated S.C. No. 7, is used to make the first flight of an American military airplane outside the continental U.S. when it is flown in the Philippines. 1918 – Germany launches Operation Michael; in the initial attack against the […]

1919 – Birth of Toshio Ota, Japanese World War II fighter ace. 1932 – Luftschiffbau Zeppelin begins regular trans-atlantic services between Germany and Brazil using the Graf Zeppelin airship. 1950 – Operation Musgrave begins when Royal Air Force Avro Lincoln bombers are sent to Singapore to be used against the Communist guerillas of Malaya in […]