Today in Air Force History

March 10, 1934 The Army suspended Air Corps airmail operations until March 19 to assess the high fatality rate.

March 10, 1959 A Snark missile flew a several-thousand-mile round trip after launching from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

March 10, 1959 The X-15A-1 rocket research plane completed its first captive flight on the wing of a B-52.

March 10, 1961 The 565th Strategic Missile Squadron became the second U.S. war-ready intercontinental ballistic missile unit to achieve operational status.

March 10, 1966 Tactical Air Command accepted its first F-4D at Nellis AFB, Nevada

March 10, 1966 Maj. Bernard Fisher from the 1st Commando Squadron landed an A-1E on A Shau runway, Vietnam, under fire from North Vietnamese troops to rescue a downed pilot, Maj. Dafford W. Myers from the 602nd Fighter Squadron. President Lyndon B. Johnson presented Major Fisher the Medal of Honor for heroism on Jan. 19, 1967 and he became the first Air Force man to be so honored for action in the Southeast Asian conflict.

March 10, 1967 Capt. Merlyn Hans Dethlefsen used his severely damaged F-105 to silence enemy defenses at the Thai Nguygen steel plant in North Vietnam, despite intense enemy ground fire and fighter attacks. For this action Captain Dethlefsen was awarded the Medal of Honor.

March 10, 1967 Capt. Mac C. Brestel, an F-105 pilot with the 355th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Takhli Royal Thai AFB, Thailand, became the first U.S. Air Force pilot to down two MiGs in one mission in the Vietnam War.

March 10, 1977 The first woman navigator candidates report to Mather AFB, Calif., to begin undergraduate navigator training.

March 10, 1995 The 11th Space Warning Squadron, Schriever AFB, Colo., became the first unit with the ability to warn battlefield commanders of incoming theater ballistic missiles, such as the Scud missiles fired by Iraq in Desert Storm. --Air Force, www.af.mil