January 1 in U.S. military history
1929: A modified Fokker C2-3 trimotor airplane dubbed the Question Mark lifts off from Van Nuys, Calif. for a record-setting flight that lasts 150 hours and 40 minutes. Former World War I fighter pilot – and future Air Force Chief of Staff – Maj. Carl A. Spaatz commands the plane and his chief pilot is future commanding general of the Eighth Air Force, Capt. Ira C. Eaker. The Question Mark takes on 5,700 gallons of fuel from 43 risky in-flight refuelings as it flies a 110-mile circuit between San Diego and Santa Monica, Calif., including a flyover of the 1929 Rose Bowl between Cal and Georgia Tech.
1945: After two weeks of weather delays, the German Luftwaffe musters all available pilots and aircraft to execute their top-secret operation to wipe out Allied air forces and gain air superiority over France, Holland and Belgium. 120 Royal Air Force and 20 American warplanes are destroyed on the ground, but one-quarter of the German force – 200 aircraft – are lost, many of which to friendly fire. The last-ditch Operation “Bodenplatte” will be the Luftwaffe’s final major strategic operation of the war.
1946: A solitary U.S. soldier registering American graves on Corregidor is interrupted by 20 Japanese soldiers waving a flag of surrender. The men had lived in a tunnel on the island and learned of Japan’s surrender months before by spotting a newspaper while on a foraging mission.
1951: Half a million Communist Chinese and North Korean troops launch a new offensive, hammering away at the UN forces falling back from the 38th Parallel. As the South Korean capital of Seoul is about to fall into enemy hands a second time, Gen. Douglas MacArthur informs the Japanese that they may have to rearm due to the threat. However, the overextended and exhausted communists break off the attack by month’s end.
1962: U.S. Navy SEAL Teams “One” and “Two” are established. The special warfare operators, created for guerilla and counter-guerilla operations, are drawn from the ranks of the Navy’s Underwater Demolition Teams. Team One is headquartered at Naval Amphibious Base (NAB) Coronado on the West Coast and Two at NAB Little Creek on the East Coast.