Recollections

AIA

July 29, 1953: SSgt. Donald Hill and Airman 2nd Class Earl Radlein, Jr., were presumed killed when their RB-50G-2 aircraft was shot down off the Soviet coast near Vladivostok. This marked the first loss of USAFSS airborne operators as a result of hostile action.

July 25, 1975: The Turkish government ordered all U.S. operations at Karamursel Air Station shut down immediately because of an arms embargo imposed against Turkey by the United States Congress.

USAF

July 7, 1971: The Strategic Air Command transferred its last C-47 “Gooney Bird” to the USS Alabama Monument Commission.

July 27, 1976: Maj. Adolphis Bledsoe Jr., pilot, and Maj. John Fuller, reconnaissance systems officer, flew an SR-71 at a speed of 2,092.29 miles per hour over a 1,000 kilometer course in the vicinity of Edwards AFB, Calif. In this flight, the two officers set three closed circuit records: (1) world absolute speed; (2) world jet speed with a 1,000 kilogram payload; and (3) world jet without payload.

Cold War

July 27, 1953: United Nations and North Korea negotiators signed an agreement for continuing cease-fire to end the Korean War. It included a long-argued proviso that prisoners would be repatriated on a voluntary basis.

July 24, 1959: Going almost nose to nose, Vice President Richard Nixon and Premier Nikita Khrushchev argued about the comparative merits of U.S. and Soviet life in the Kitchen Debate at a U.S. Trade Fair in Moscow.