US bombing of targets in Cambodia cease. In the eight years and two months that Operation Arc Light was carried out, Strategic Air Command crews, flying Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers from Andersen AFB, Guam, released 2.9 million tons of bombs on 124,532 sorties (of the 126,615 sorties launched). Some 55 percent of the sorties were flown against targets in South Vietnam, 27 percent in Laos, 12 percent in Cambodia, and six percent in North Vietnam. During the Arc Light missions, the Air Force lost 31 B-52s-18 to hostile fire over North Vietnam and 13 to “other operational causes.” However, Maj. John J. Hoskins and Capt. Lonnie O. Ratley, flying LTV A-7D Corsair IIs, make the last raids of war in Southeast Asia when they attack targets near Phnom Penh late in the afternoon. A Lockheed EC-121 crew out of Korat RTAB, Thailand, that lands after the A-7 pilots earns the distinction of making the last mission of the war.
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.