The second test of the Army Wright airplane is completed: a 10-mile cross-country flight over a stipulated course from Ft. Myer, Va., to Alexandria, Va., and back, at a speed of 42.583 mph, for which the Wrights receive a bonus of $5,000 (10 percent of the base price of $25,000 for each mile per hour over 40), making the purchase price $30,000.
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.