The Ye-155, the prototype of the MiG-25, a Mach 3 capable interceptor and reconnaissance platform, makes its first flight. Later given the NATO reporting name “Foxbat,” the MiG-25 is developed in response to the US development of the B-70 bomber. The B-70 project is limited to research prototypes, but development of the MiG-25 continues. About 700 MiG-25s are eventually built.
In 1941, Gen. Henry H. “Hap” Arnold of the then-U.S. Army Air Corps, personally reviewed a jet engine patented by Sir Frank Whittle flying on a Gloster E.28/39 aircraft. Impressed by its design, Arnold arranged for a Whittle engine to be brought back to the U.S. and tasked General Electric…