Maj. Paul J. Gilmore and 1st Lt. William T. Smith became the first Air Force pilots to destroy a MiG-21. Flying escort for F-105 Thunderchiefs near Hanoi, North Vietnam, when the flight is attacked, the F-4C pilots down the MiG with an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile.
In the final few hours before the Senate adjourned for its Memorial Day recess on May 26, lawmakers approved a raft of some 3,400 pending military nominations, including a number of high-profile Air Force and Space Force generals to assignments that will significantly reshape some of the upper echelons of…