The 45th anniversary of the first powered flight is commemorated by the donation of the original Wright Flyer to the Smithsonian Institution. The Flyer was displayed in Britain for many years because of a dispute between the Wrights and the Smithsonian.
Happy Birthday US Air Force: 78 Today
Sept. 18, 2025
Seventy-eight years ago today, on Sept. 18, 1947, Supreme Court Chief Justice Fred Vinson swore in Stuart Symington as the first ever Secretary of the Air Force, and the Air Force officially became the first new military service since the Revolutionary War.