Operation Provide Comfort begins. It was a humanitarian air operation to protect and supply Kurds in northern Iraq threatened by Saddam Hussein after the Gulf War. By July 15, USAF C-5, C-141, and C-130 aircraft airlift more than 7,000 tons of relief supplies. Subsequent increments of the operation include the deny flight mission over northern Iraq to ensure the Kurds could safely return home. The operation ends finally on Dec. 31, 1996, when it is replaced by Operation Northern Watch.
The Air Force is on track to reach its annual goal of graduating 1,500 new pilots that had proved elusive to this point, one year after the service launched a sweeping overhaul of its undergraduate pilot training program, Air Education and Training Command said Sept. 14.
