[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1349 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1349

Congratulating the United States Air Force on the occasion of its 75th 
                              anniversary.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 14, 2022

 Mr. Garamendi (for himself, Mr. Turner, Mr. Kinzinger, and Ms. Castor 
 of Florida) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                    the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Congratulating the United States Air Force on the occasion of its 75th 
                              anniversary.

Whereas the United States Air Force celebrates its 75th birthday on September 
        18, 2022;
Whereas the military has always been a leader in technological innovation, with 
        aviation roots in the aerial balloons used in the Civil War, inspired to 
        powered flight by the patent issued to the Wright brothers, and then 
        evolving to space capabilities;
Whereas the storied history of the Air Force spans milestones over the past 
        century and around the world, with notable landmarks and advances 
        breaking new boundaries;
Whereas the Air Force is a strong champion of joint operations and the support 
        necessary between military branches to effectively sustain modern 
        combat, and has led the exploration and expansion into space operations;
Whereas, in May 1908, Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge became the first officer to 
        fly solo in an aircraft for a distance of more than 240 feet in the 
        ``White Wing'' in Hammondsport, New York;
Whereas, on March 19, 1910, the Wright Brothers Flying School opened in 
        Montgomery, Alabama, as a civilian flight school in a location that 
        eventually became Maxwell Air Force Base;
Whereas, on September 14, 1944, Colonel Floyd B. Wood, Major Harry Wexler, and 
        First Lieutenant Frank Reckord became the first crew to deliberately fly 
        into a hurricane to collect scientific data, bringing back findings that 
        the eye of a hurricane has strong upward currents and the perimeter has 
        a strong down current;
Whereas, on October 14, 1947, merely a month after the Air Force was officially 
        created as a separate service, Air Force Captain Charles ``Chuck'' 
        Yeager broke the sound barrier in level flight for the first time;
Whereas, in 1948 and 1949, the Air Force embarked on ``Operation Vittles'', now 
        known as the Berlin Airlift, to transport more than 1.7 million tons of 
        supplies and 62,000 passengers into the isolated, Western-controlled 
        section of Berlin during the 15 months of the largest humanitarian 
        airlift operation in history;
Whereas, on May 3, 1952, Air Force Lieutenant Colonels Joseph Fletcher and 
        William Benedict became the first pilots to land an aircraft at the 
        North Pole, along with navigator First Lieutenant Herbert Thompson and 
        crew members Staff Sergeant Harold Turner and Airman First Class Robert 
        Wishard, as they carried out scientific observations of ocean depth and 
        gravity field strength in the polar area;
Whereas, in December 1958, the Air Force launched the first communications 
        satellite, which President Dwight Eisenhower used to broadcast a 
        Christmas message, the first time a human voice was heard from space;
Whereas, in October 1962, at the beginning of the Cuban Missile Crisis, U-2 
        pilots Major Richard Heyser and Major Rudolf Anderson, Jr., flew 
        exceedingly difficult reconnaissance missions over Cuba to prove that 
        the Soviet Union was constructing missile sites;
Whereas, on June 18, 1981, the F-117 Nighthawk, the world's first stealth combat 
        aircraft, flew for the first time, representing a new age of innovative 
        design and construction for fighter and attack aircraft;
Whereas, on April 27, 1994, the Air Force officially declared the satellite 
        network of the Global Positioning System operational, marking the start 
        of a new age of useful military electronics that had applicability to 
        civilian lives;
Whereas, on August 30, 2005, the Air Force, Air Force Reserve, and Air National 
        Guard dedicated more than 8,000 airmen to begin Hurricane Katrina relief 
        operations, efforts that expanded to include the evacuation of almost 
        27,000 displaced persons, medical evacuations of 2,600 patients, and the 
        airlift of 11,500 tons of relief supplies;
Whereas the Space Force was established on December 20, 2019, ushering in a new 
        age of a military service focused solely on pursuing superiority in the 
        space domain;
Whereas the Air Force has long been an organization that attracts successful and 
        pioneering individuals, including great heroes who sacrificed 
        significantly for the good of the Nation, proving that a culture of 
        success is best aided by celebrating diversity within the ranks;
Whereas, on March 11, 1918, Army Air Service Lieutenant Paul Baer became the 
        first American pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft, earning the 
        Distinguished Service Cross;
Whereas, on April 2, 1939, the National Defense Act of 1940 was signed, 
        authorizing the Air Corps to train African-American pilots, and the 
        Tuskegee Institute in Alabama began flight training with 12 African-
        American pilot candidates in July of 1941;
Whereas, in August 1942, Lieutenant Colonel Jacqueline Cochran was appointed as 
        the director of the new Women Airforce Service Pilots, known as WASPs, 
        and was the first woman to break the sound barrier in 1953;
Whereas, on August 13, 1945, First Lieutenant Oscar Perdomo became an ``Ace in a 
        Day'' and the final Ace of World War II by shooting down 5 enemy 
        aircraft in a single day, and received a Distinguished Service Cross for 
        extraordinary heroism in action and an Air Medal with an oak leaf 
        cluster;
Whereas Major Richard Bong, the top United States Ace of all time and known as 
        the ``Ace of Aces'', officially shot down 40 enemy aircraft over the 
        course of WWII while flying a P-38 in the Pacific theater and earning a 
        Congressional Medal of Honor;
Whereas, following President Truman's Executive Order 9981, the Air Force became 
        the first branch to enact a plan for racial integration of all personnel 
        and units;
Whereas, in 1948, the Women's Armed Service Integration Act was enacted, 
        inspiring Staff Seargent Esther Blake, who had previously experienced 
        both of her sons being shot down in combat but returned safely by the 
        end of World War II, to sign up in the first minute of the first day of 
        eligibility;
Whereas, in 1954, the former Tuskegee Airman General Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., 
        became the first African-American general in the Air Force;
Whereas, in June 1965, Major Edward White became the first United States 
        astronaut to conduct an extravehicular ``walk'' in space while embarked 
        in Gemini 4;
Whereas General Daniel ``Chappie'' James, Jr., a veteran of 3 wars, became the 
        first African American to reach the rank of four-star general on 
        September 1, 1975;
Whereas, on June 28, 1976, the Air Force Academy admitted the first female 
        cadets of whom one member, General Janet Wolfenbarger, would later 
        become the first female four-star general in the Air Force in 2012;
Whereas, in January 1978, Colonel Ellison Onizuka became an astronaut candidate 
        and later became the first Asian American in space on the Space Shuttle 
        Discovery in 1985;
Whereas Lieutenant Colonel Guion S. Bluford became the first African-American 
        astronaut to enter spaceflight on the Space Shuttle Challenger on August 
        30, 1983, for the first of his 4 shuttle missions;
Whereas, on June 10, 1989, Captain Jacquelyn Parker became the first woman to 
        graduate from the Air Force Test Pilot School;
Whereas, on October 3, 1993, Technical Sergeant Timothy Wilkinson ran through 
        enemy fire as a pararescueman to extricate dead and wounded special 
        operations forces in Mogadishu, Somalia, during the longest sustained 
        fire fight in over 20 years; and
Whereas, on July 23, 1999, Colonel Eileen Collins became the first female 
        commander of a space shuttle mission when Space Shuttle Columbia 
        launched: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) commends the stalwart spirit of the Air Force to adapt 
        to new technology and societal changes;
            (2) honors the Airmen past and present who have so 
        honorably served the Nation and the world; and
            (3) congratulates the United States Air Force on the 
        occasion of its 75th anniversary.
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