Chapter 1 ENLISTED HISTORY

Question 1

Historically, enlisted Airmen comprised about _____ percent of America’s Air Forces.

Answer 1

80%

Question 2

When did WWI begin in Europe?

Answer 2

August 1914

Question 3

How many air squadrons were fully equipped, manned and organized when the US declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917?

Answer 3

ONE

Question 4

Traditionally, commisioned officers served as pilots before WWI. Trained enlisted personnel served in many types of auxiliary capacities, but which one was needed most?

Answer 4

Mechanics

Question 5

At first, factories were used as training sites. By the end of 1917, the Aviation Section trained mechanics and others at special schools and technical institutions. Where were the two largest located?

Answer 5

St. Paul, MN and Kelly Field, TX

Question 6

In 1940, Congress passed the first _____law in US history.

Answer 6

Peacetime conscription

Question 7

The milestones of WWII:

Answer 7

• By March 1944, enlisted men and women were serving virtually independent branch of the armed services.
• Even though training centers expanded and multiplied from 1939 to 1941, private schools had to help meet the demand for training.
• In 1938, the total force included fewer than 20,000 enlisted Airmen: by March 1944, air force manpower reached its high point of 2,104,405 enlisted men and women.

Question 8

What was the estimated ratio of support personnel to planes during WWII?

Answer 8

70 men to 1 plane (70:1)

Question 9

Women served in the Army Air Force during WWII through the Women’s Army Auxillary Corps (WAAC), created in May 1942 and later remaned the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). What was the top priority for assignment of WAACs during WWII?

Answer 9

Serving at aircraft warning service stations

Question 10

What led to the integration of the Air Force?

Answer 10

Air Force Letter 35.3 in 1949

Question 11

When did the Third Reich surrender?

Answer 11

May 1945

Question 12

The first atomic bomb was dropped on _______, Japan from the ENOLA GAY in August 1945.

Answer 12

Hiroshima

Question 13

Three days after Hiroshima, ________dropped the second Nuclear Bomb on Nagasaki, Japan.

Answer 13

Bock’s Car

Question 14

What did the Big Three (British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet Premier Josef Stalin and US Franklin D. Roosevelt) meet in 1945 to discuss?

Answer 14

Postwar division in Europe

Question 15

What 1946 event led to almost five decades of cold war?

Answer 15

• The Soviet Union veto of the UN plan to eliminate nuclear weapons.

Question 16

When the Soviet Union closed off all surface access to Berlin, Germany in June 1948, Maj Gen William Tunner led the Allied aircraft that “built” an air bridge to supply Berlin rather than forcing the blockade and risking World War III. How long did this airlift last?

Answer 16

15 months

Question 17

What was airpower’s most decisive contribution to the cold war?

Answer 17

The Berlin airlift

Question 18

Of all the enlisted functions, which was perhaps most critical to the success of the Berlin airlift?

Answer 18

Maintenance

Question 19

The Soviets capitulated and dismantled the surface blockage of Berlin without a bomb being dropped. For what did this victory lay the foundation?

Answer 19

The NATO

Question 20

The Korean War began with a surprise invasion of South Korea by North Korea on 25 June 1950 and lasted until

Answer 20

1953

Question 21

During the Korea War…

Answer 21

• US forces landed at Inchon on 15 September 1950, cutting the North Korean Army supply lines.

Question 22

Enlisted personnel served as gunners aboard the B-26 and B-29 aircraft during the Korean War. Name the NCO who shot down a North Korean YaK-3, the first such victory recorded during the war.

Answer 22

SSgt Nyle S. Mickley

Question 23

Which plane performed three new mission - inter-diction, battlefield support and air superiority (counter-airfield) - that hadn’t been considered before the Korean War?

Answer 23

B-29

Question 24

On 9 November 1950, who scored the first B-29 victory over a jet by drowning a MiG-15, the first of 27 MiGs shot down by B-29 gunners?

Answer 24

Cpl Harry La Vene

Question 25

Name the NCO who shot down TWO MiGs on 12 April 1951, a feat unmatched by any other gunner?

Answer 25

SSgt Billie Beach

Question 26

In 1959, Fidel Castro overthrew the dictator of ______ and instituted a socialist dictatorship.

Answer 26

CUBA

Question 27

The CIA planned the 1961 invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in hopes that the Cuban people would over-throw Castro. Who were used as troops?

Answer 27

Cuban exiles

Question 28

After the crushing defeat at the Bay of Pigs, which country increased economic and military aid to Cuba in 1961 and began constructing missile complexes there in 1961?

Answer 28

The Soviet Union

Question 29

How was Soviet construction of missile complexes in Cuba first confirmed?

Answer 29

High-altitude U-2 aircraft

Question 30

How did the US respond to the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Answer 30

• Strategic Air Command (SAC) and Tactical Air Command (TAC) geared up for a possible invasion of Cuban War.
• President Kennedy imposed a naval blockage to prevent any more material from reaching Cuba.
• President Kennedy negotiated with Soviet Premier Ni-kita Khrushchev to remove missles.

Question 31

During the Cuban Missile Crisis:

Answer 31

• the US agreed not to invade Cuba in exchange for removal of Soviet missiles.

Question 32

Which US President first authorized American intervention in Vietnam?

Answer 32

President Harry S. Truman

Question 33

All of the following were included in the aid sent to Vietnam between 1950 and 1953.

Answer 33

• C-119 transports (aircraft only)
• eight C-47 transports
• the US Military Assitance Advisory Group (MAAG)

Question 34

What 1953 Viet Minh action (under Ho Chi Minh’s direction) led President Eisenhower to send the C-119 transports to the area?

Answer 34

• Their major offensive advanced into Laos and menaced Thailand.

Question 35

What was the first sustained bombing campaign of the war against North Vietnam?

Answer 35

Operation Rolling Thunder

Question 36

Airman performed a variety of duties as the war in Vietnam expanded, including support, combat and rescue. What did REDHORSE teams do?

Answer 36

Provided long-range civil engineer services

Question 37

As guerilla attacks continued, air base defense in Vietnam became a monumental undertaking performed almost exclusively by

Answer 37

Air Force security police squadrons

Question 38

SSgt William Piazza, of the 3d Security Police Squadron, earned the ______ for heroics while helping defend Bien Hoa during the North Vietnamese Tet Offensive in 1968.

Answer 38

Silver Star

Question 39

During the Vietnam Conflict…

Answer 39

• American responsibility in the Vietnamese conflict became primarily combat after the Gulf of Tonkin incident and the Senate resolution in 1964.

Question 40

The enlisted Airmmen trained South Vietnamese operational and training crews as Vietname’s air force grew to become the _______ largest in the world.

Answer 40

Fourth

Question 41

In 1972, Communist forces crossed the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Vietnam, taking advantage of reduced US ground presence. How did President Nixon respond?

Answer 41

He ordered the harbors mined.

Question 42

What air operation finally convinced the North Vietnamese to resume negotiations?

Answer 42

Operations Linebacker II

Question 43

A cease-fire agreement was hammered out with the North Vietnamese by…

Answer 43

28 January 1973

Question 44

Although there was no victory and no end to fighting, the US withdrew from Vietnam. When did the last US troop leave the country?

Answer 44

29 March 1973

Question 45

When did the military draft ended?

Answer 45

27 January 1973

Question 46

How long after the first cease-fire were North and South Vietnam officially unified under a Communist re-gime?

Answer 46

After only four years

Question 47

Many early domestic humanitarian flights were flown in response to winter emergencies. However, one of the first known uses of airlift to render assistance was droppong food to ______ flood victims in 1919.

Answer 47

Rio Grande

Question 48

Which describes a humanitarian mission to a foreign nation flown by Army aircraft before the independent Air Force was established?

Answer 48

• Dropping diptheria vaccine to prevent a shipboard epidemic on a British aircraft carrier in 1943
• Dropping food to starving French citizens in 1944
• Delivering food to the Netherlands in Operation Chowhound in 1945.

Question 49

What operations in 1956 and 1957 airlifted more than 10,000 Hungarian refugees to the US for sylum after the Soviets crushed an anticommunist uprising in Hangary?

Answer 49

Operation Safe Haven I and II