Capt. Charles “Chuck” Yeager becomes the first pilot to reach supersonic speeds in level flight when he reaches a speed of Mach 1.06 (700 miles per hour) at an altitude of 45,000 feet in the rocket-powered Bell XS-1 (later redesignated X-1) over Muroc Dry Lake, Calif. His aircraft was released by a B-29 mother ship in midair.
Less than a day after arriving in the Middle East, F-15E Strike Eagles from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C. defended Israel from an Iranian attack in April 2024. DUDE flight, four F-15Es from the 335th Fighter Squadron, downed two dozen Iranian drones in roughly 45 minutes.