1D 1.12 Flashcards
Air Force Independence and the Cold War
When did President Harry S. Truman sign into law the Nat’l Security Act of 1947, which provided for a separate Dept of the Air Force?
(1.12.1)
26 July, 1947
On 18 Sep 1947, who became the first Secretary of the Air Force and officially established the USAF as an independent, coequal service?
(1.12.1)
Stuart Symington
Who was the first Chief of Staff of the Air Force?
1.12.1
General Carl A. Spaatz
When were the distinctive blue uniforms of the USAF introduced?
(1.12.2)
Only after large stocks of Army clothing were used up
By what year had Airman’s lives changed so they were eating in “dining halls,” rather than “mess halls,” dealing with “air police,” instead of “military police,” and buying necessities at the “base exchange,” instead of the “post exchange?”
(1.12.2)
By 1959
What rank was removed from NCO status in 1950?
1.12.3
Corporal
When the new Air Force established specialty codes as standard designations for functional and technical specialties, what became part of the criteria for promotion?
(1.12.3)
Qualification for an advanced AF specialty code
By what year had Airman’s lives changed so they were eating in “dining halls,” rather than “mess halls,” dealing with “air police,” instead of “military police,” and buying necessities at the “base exchange,” instead of the “post exchange?”
(1.12.2)
By 1959
What rank was removed from NCO status in 1950?
1.12.3
Corporal
When the new Air Force established specialty codes as standard designations for functional and technical specialties, what became part of the criteria for promotion?
(1.12.3)
Qualification for an advanced AF specialty code
What operation tailed 277,804 flights and delivered 2.3 million tons of supplies into West Berlin? This nonviolent use of air-power defused a potentially disastrous confrontation.
(1.12.4)
Operation Vittles
What commander organized an airlift by US Air Forces in Europe to deliver food, medicine, and coal into West Berlin on a precise schedule of flights every three minutes, 24 hours a day?
(1.12.4)
General Curtis E. LeMay
After the first month of the Berlin Airlift, who assumed command of an expanded effort that would include 300 American and 100 British a/c flown by aircrews who would apply lessons learned while flying the “Hump” during WWII?
(1.12.4)
Major General William H. Tunner
What operation tailed 277,804 flights and delivered 2.3 million tons of supplies into West Berlin? This nonviolent use of air-power defused a potentially disastrous confrontation.
(1.12.4)
Operation Vittles
What was the first bomber with intercontinental range?
1.12.6
Convair B-36 Peacemaker
Why did the AF conduct a highly secret, extensive electronic recon program that included covert flights over the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics?
(1.12.6)
To assess Communist air defenses
The 1948 Berlin Crisis and 1949 Soviet detonation of an atomic device motivated the AF to improve their war readiness. What did General LeMay emphasize as the new Strategic Air Command Commander?
(1.12.16)
a) Rigorous training
b) Exacting performance standards
c) Immediate readiness
What was the first bomber with intercontinental range?
1.12.6
Convair B-36 Peacemaker
Why did the AF conduct a highly secret, extensive electronic recon program that included covert flights over the Union of Soviet Socialist Replublics?
(1.12.6)
To assess Communist air defenses
What was the Air Force’s first operational Jet Fighter, introduced in December of 1945?
(1.12.7)
Lockheed P-80
On 14 Oct 1947, who seized headlines as the first man to break the sound barrier?
(1.12.7)
Charles “Chuck” Yeager
His Bell X-1 :Glamorous Glennis” reached Mach 1.06 at 43K ft after a launch from a B-29 mother ship. Who piloted this a/c?
(1.12.7)
Charles “Chuck” Yeager
What was the first major flare-up of the Cold war?
1.12.8
Korean conflict
On _____, Communist North Korea launched a massive invasion of US-backed South Korea
(1.12.8)
25 June 1950
