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Web Site Offers 100 Years of Military Aviation History

  • Published
  • By TSgt. Dan Heaton
  • 127th Wing Public Affairs
SELFRIDGE AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Mich. --  History fans may want to check out a new web page that that has been nearly 100 years in the making.

The page, produced by the 127th Wing at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, tracks the history of both the base and the wing, which operates as a component of the Michigan Air National Guard, serving both state and nation. The page is available at http://www.127wg.ang.af.mil/resources/history&heritage.asp.

The most recent addition to the page is the story the flight of Fox Able One, the first trans-Atlantic deployment in which military fighter aircraft from the U.S. deployed to Europe and flew across the Atlantic Ocean under their own power, rather than being shipped across the ocean. The flight was conceived of and planned at Selfridge and left the base on July 20, 1948, during the Berlin Airlift. The page also provides links that provide facts and figures about Selfridge's role in the response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and a chronology that tracks the story of the famed World War II-era Tuskegee Airmen units that operated at Selfridge and helped bring about the end of racial segregation in the military following the war.

The site also provides details on the Selfridge Military Air Museum and provides links to all of the stories in the award-winning Selfridge Heritage Series, which features information on several key figures in early Air Force history, who spent part of their career serving at Selfridge.

A detailed history of the Air National Guard and a comprehensive set of links to other Air Force history and heritage information is also available.

One of the oldest military air fields in continuous service, the military first took possession of Selfridge Air National Guard Base on July 1, 1917. The first flight took place on July 8 and formal flight operations began on July 16, 1917. Today the 127th Wing of the Michigan Air National Guard is the host unit at the base, which also houses units of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection.