Week of 19-25 July

This is your official Air Force Academy History Update for the Week of Jul 19th through the 25th — 

This week, back in 1939 — Lieutenant Colonel Dwight Eisenhower, while serving as a military aide to the Philippine Commonwealth Government, writes in his diary “So now I’m a licensed pilot.  While I’ll never be good and after going to the States perhaps I’ll never get a chance to handle a stick — still I’ve realized one ambition.”  Later, as President, he would sign the legislation that established the Air Force Academy, of which he was a strong supporter.    

…Also this week, back in 1971 — Chemistry Professors Lieutenant Colonel Lowell King and Major David Seegmiller are awarded a 1970 Air Force Research and Development Award for creating a battery which produced more energy and was more practical than existing battery power systems. 

…And, this week back in 1994 –– Sheila Widnall, the Secretary of the Air Force, becomes the first secretary in Academy history to visit Jacks Valley overnight to observe Basic Cadet Training. 

…Finally, this week back in 2011 — The Space Shuttle Atlantis lands at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, concluding the final flight in the Space Transportation System program that consisted of 135 missions over thirty years.  Thirty-six Air Force Academy graduates flew aboard missions on NASA’s space shuttle fleet – Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour. 

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