This week in history: April 27 - May 1

Published May 1, 2009
By John Murphy
436th AW historian

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. -- May 1, 1954: Dover Air Force Base begins its new mission, global airlift, when the 1607th Air Transport Wing received its first C-124 Globemaster II aircraft.

April 27, 1967: The 436th Military Airlift Wing wins the Military Airlift Command Commander's Trophy for Aircraft Maintenance annual award. Maj. Gen. Donald W. Graham, 21st Air Force commander, presented a trophy to Brig. Gen. John B. Wallace, 436th Military Airlift Wing commander during a ceremony held on Dover Air Force Base. The award recognized the wing's aircraft maintenance program as the best in the command.

April 28, 1973: A Dover C-141 Starlifter, tail number 64-0626, performed a historic mission to the People's Republic of China. Lt. Col. Robert O. Wray, the 20th Military Airlift Squadron chief pilot, commanded the aircraft. This Executive Branch-directed airlift mission transported a total of 17 tons of furniture and office equipment to the newly established United States liaison office in Peking.