The all-jet powered Messerschmitt Me-262 Schwalbe (“Swallow”) prototype makes its first flight at Leipheim, Germany. (A piston-engine powered version had been flown the previous year). The Me-262 is the world’s first jet to enter operational service. In just over a month in 1944, Jagdverband a squadron hand assembled by Gen. Adolf Galland, the Luftwaffe’s chief of fighters, shoots down 45 Allied bombers.
The Air Force is targeting August 2027 for its new T-7A Red Hawk trainer jet to reach its initial operational capability. To get there, the head of Air and Education Training has three milestones he needs to see the program hit.
