The world’s largest landplane, the Convair XC-99, the cargo version of the B-36 bomber, makes its first flight at Lindbergh Field in San Diego, with company test pilots Russell R. Rogers and Beryl A. Erickson at the controls. (This aircraft would lift a record 100,000-pound payload on April 15, 1949.)
F-35As from the Vermont Air National Guard have deployed to Puerto Rico in recent days, continuing a major buildup of U.S. Air Force assets in Latin America aimed at combating drug trafficking and pressuring the regime of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
