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Flashcards in Chapter 1 ENLISTED HISTORY Deck (50)
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1
Q

Historically, enlisted Airmen comprised about _____ percent of America’s Air Forces.

A

80%

2
Q

When did WWI begin in Europe?

A

August 1914

3
Q

How many air squadrons were fully equipped, manned and organized when the US declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917?

A

ONE

4
Q

Traditionally, commisioned officers served as pilots before WWI. Trained enlisted personnel served in many types of auxiliary capacities, but which one was needed most?

A

Mechanics

5
Q

At first, factories were used as training sites. By the end of 1917, the Aviation Section trained mechanics and others at special schools and technical institutions. Where were the two largest located?

A

St. Paul, MN and Kelly Field, TX

6
Q

In 1940, Congress passed the first _____law in US history.

A

Peacetime conscription

7
Q

The milestones of WWII:

A
  • By March 1944, enlisted men and women were serving virtually independent branch of the armed services.
  • Even though training centers expanded and multiplied from 1939 to 1941, private schools had to help meet the demand for training.
  • In 1938, the total force included fewer than 20,000 enlisted Airmen: by March 1944, air force manpower reached its high point of 2,104,405 enlisted men and women.
8
Q

What was the estimated ratio of support personnel to planes during WWII?

A

70 men to 1 plane (70:1)

9
Q

Women served in the Army Air Force during WWII through the Women’s Army Auxillary Corps (WAAC), created in May 1942 and later remaned the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). What was the top priority for assignment of WAACs during WWII?

A

Serving at aircraft warning service stations

10
Q

What led to the integration of the Air Force?

A

Air Force Letter 35.3 in 1949

11
Q

When did the Third Reich surrender?

A

May 1945

12
Q

The first atomic bomb was dropped on _______, Japan from the ENOLA GAY in August 1945.

A

Hiroshima

13
Q

Three days after Hiroshima, ________dropped the second Nuclear Bomb on Nagasaki, Japan.

A

Bock’s Car

14
Q

What did the Big Three (British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet Premier Josef Stalin and US Franklin D. Roosevelt) meet in 1945 to discuss?

A

Postwar division in Europe

15
Q

What 1946 event led to almost five decades of cold war?

A
  • The Soviet Union veto of the UN plan to eliminate nuclear weapons.
16
Q

When the Soviet Union closed off all surface access to Berlin, Germany in June 1948, Maj Gen William Tunner led the Allied aircraft that “built” an air bridge to supply Berlin rather than forcing the blockade and risking World War III. How long did this airlift last?

A

15 months

17
Q

What was airpower’s most decisive contribution to the cold war?

A

The Berlin airlift

18
Q

Of all the enlisted functions, which was perhaps most critical to the success of the Berlin airlift?

A

Maintenance

19
Q

The Soviets capitulated and dismantled the surface blockage of Berlin without a bomb being dropped. For what did this victory lay the foundation?

A

The NATO

20
Q

The Korean War began with a surprise invasion of South Korea by North Korea on 25 June 1950 and lasted until

A

1953

21
Q

During the Korea War…

A
  • US forces landed at Inchon on 15 September 1950, cutting the North Korean Army supply lines.
22
Q

Enlisted personnel served as gunners aboard the B-26 and B-29 aircraft during the Korean War. Name the NCO who shot down a North Korean YaK-3, the first such victory recorded during the war.

A

SSgt Nyle S. Mickley

23
Q

Which plane performed three new mission - inter-diction, battlefield support and air superiority (counter-airfield) - that hadn’t been considered before the Korean War?

A

B-29

24
Q

On 9 November 1950, who scored the first B-29 victory over a jet by drowning a MiG-15, the first of 27 MiGs shot down by B-29 gunners?

A

Cpl Harry La Vene

25
Q

Name the NCO who shot down TWO MiGs on 12 April 1951, a feat unmatched by any other gunner?

A

SSgt Billie Beach

26
Q

In 1959, Fidel Castro overthrew the dictator of ______ and instituted a socialist dictatorship.

A

CUBA

27
Q

The CIA planned the 1961 invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in hopes that the Cuban people would over-throw Castro. Who were used as troops?

A

Cuban exiles

28
Q

After the crushing defeat at the Bay of Pigs, which country increased economic and military aid to Cuba in 1961 and began constructing missile complexes there in 1961?

A

The Soviet Union

29
Q

How was Soviet construction of missile complexes in Cuba first confirmed?

A

High-altitude U-2 aircraft

30
Q

How did the US respond to the Cuban Missile Crisis?

A
  • Strategic Air Command (SAC) and Tactical Air Command (TAC) geared up for a possible invasion of Cuban War.
  • President Kennedy imposed a naval blockage to prevent any more material from reaching Cuba.
  • President Kennedy negotiated with Soviet Premier Ni-kita Khrushchev to remove missles.
31
Q

During the Cuban Missile Crisis:

A
  • the US agreed not to invade Cuba in exchange for removal of Soviet missiles.
32
Q

Which US President first authorized American intervention in Vietnam?

A

President Harry S. Truman

33
Q

All of the following were included in the aid sent to Vietnam between 1950 and 1953.

A
  • C-119 transports (aircraft only)
  • eight C-47 transports
  • the US Military Assitance Advisory Group (MAAG)
34
Q

What 1953 Viet Minh action (under Ho Chi Minh’s direction) led President Eisenhower to send the C-119 transports to the area?

A
  • Their major offensive advanced into Laos and menaced Thailand.
35
Q

What was the first sustained bombing campaign of the war against North Vietnam?

A

Operation Rolling Thunder

36
Q

Airman performed a variety of duties as the war in Vietnam expanded, including support, combat and rescue. What did REDHORSE teams do?

A

Provided long-range civil engineer services

37
Q

As guerilla attacks continued, air base defense in Vietnam became a monumental undertaking performed almost exclusively by

A

Air Force security police squadrons

38
Q

SSgt William Piazza, of the 3d Security Police Squadron, earned the ______ for heroics while helping defend Bien Hoa during the North Vietnamese Tet Offensive in 1968.

A

Silver Star

39
Q

During the Vietnam Conflict…

A
  • American responsibility in the Vietnamese conflict became primarily combat after the Gulf of Tonkin incident and the Senate resolution in 1964.
40
Q

The enlisted Airmmen trained South Vietnamese operational and training crews as Vietname’s air force grew to become the _______ largest in the world.

A

Fourth

41
Q

In 1972, Communist forces crossed the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Vietnam, taking advantage of reduced US ground presence. How did President Nixon respond?

A

He ordered the harbors mined.

42
Q

What air operation finally convinced the North Vietnamese to resume negotiations?

A

Operations Linebacker II

43
Q

A cease-fire agreement was hammered out with the North Vietnamese by…

A

28 January 1973

44
Q

Although there was no victory and no end to fighting, the US withdrew from Vietnam. When did the last US troop leave the country?

A

29 March 1973

45
Q

When did the military draft ended?

A

27 January 1973

46
Q

How long after the first cease-fire were North and South Vietnam officially unified under a Communist re-gime?

A

After only four years

47
Q

Many early domestic humanitarian flights were flown in response to winter emergencies. However, one of the first known uses of airlift to render assistance was droppong food to ______ flood victims in 1919.

A

Rio Grande

48
Q

Which describes a humanitarian mission to a foreign nation flown by Army aircraft before the independent Air Force was established?

A
  • Dropping diptheria vaccine to prevent a shipboard epidemic on a British aircraft carrier in 1943
  • Dropping food to starving French citizens in 1944
  • Delivering food to the Netherlands in Operation Chowhound in 1945.
49
Q

What operations in 1956 and 1957 airlifted more than 10,000 Hungarian refugees to the US for sylum after the Soviets crushed an anticommunist uprising in Hangary?

A

Operation Safe Haven I and II

50
Q
A