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  • Sgt. 1st Class Harold O. Nicholls

    Distinguished Service Cross, 1919Sgt. Nicholls repeatedly volunteered to act as a balloon observer in the last offensive of World War I. Three times he rose up beneath a hydrogen-filled balloon only to narrowly escape after it was hit by incendiary bullets. Fortunately, Nicholls survived to accept

  • Sgt. 1st Class Fred C. Graveline

    Sergeant First Class Fred C. GravelineFirst Enlisted Recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross, 1919Sergeant First Class Fred C. Graveline was part of a small group of enlisted men who flew combat missions in World War I, and the first of only two enlisted men to receive the Distinguished Service

  • Sabre Pilot

    Air Force F-86 pilots wore a mix of World War II and newly-issued flight gear. This pilot has a flying suit and goggles from WWII, but he is also wearing a newer B-15 flight jacket and a post-WWII hard-shell helmet.He is equipped with an oxygen mask for the thin air at high altitude, and a "g-suit"

  • Soviet Pilots over MiG Alley

     The opening of archives in the former Soviet Union confirmed a fact that had long been denied -- the USSR provided many of the MiG-15 pilots and units that fought in MiG Alley. Like their U.S. Air Force opponents, several of these Soviet pilots were World War II combat veterans.Before the Korean

  • Strategic Bombing: New Flexibility

    "Practically all of the major military industrial targets strategically important to the enemy forces and to their war potential have been neutralized." - Lt. Gen. George E. Stratemeyer, FEAF Commander, less than two months into the Korean WarAfter destroying North Korea's industry in the first two

  • Special Operations: In the Enemy's Backyard

    "We started dropping people way up north. We would fly eight-hour missions in a C-47, dropping people all over."- Capt. (later Brig. Gen.) Harry "Heinie" AderholtDuring the Korean War, Air Force personnel conducted highly-classified special operations in enemy territory, including partisan

  • Sikorsky UH-19B Chickasaw

    The UH-19B is a U.S. Air Force version of the Sikorsky S-55, an aircraft used by all U.S. military services in the 1950s and 1960s. After the first helicopter flew in November 1949, the USAF ordered production 50 H-19As in 1951. The USAF later acquired 270 H-19Bs with increased engine power, and in

  • Sikorsky YH-5A Dragonfly

    The H-5, originally designated the R-5 ("H" for "Helicopter;" "R" for "Rotorcraft"), was designed to provide a helicopter with a greater useful load, endurance, speed and service ceiling than the earlier R-4. The first of four XR-5s made its initial flight in August 1943. In March 1944 the U.S. Army

  • Staff Sergeant Pilot Jacket

    *Artifacts from this exhibit have been temporarily removed for conservation.A-2 jacket, goggles, sergeant stripes and helmet. Jacket was issued to the donor upon his assignment to Colorado Springs Army Air Base in August 1942 following graduation as a staff sergeant pilot. Promoted to flight officer

  • Sergeant Pilot WWI-Era Uniform

    *Artifacts from this exhibit have been temporarily removed for conservation. Sergeant pilot William Beigel's World War I-era uniform trousers and coat. The enlisted pilot wing and propeller insignia is on the right sleeve. He was post sergeant-major at Rich Field in Waco, Texas, in 1919 when he