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Today in History – September 22, 1950 – 1st Jet Fighter crosses the Atlantic

22 September 1950 – Colonel David Schilling makes the first crossing of the Atlantic in a jet fighter, an F-84 Thunderjet. The Republic F-84 Thunderjet was an American turbojet fighter-bomber aircraft. Originating as a 1944 United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) proposal for a “day fighter”, the F-84 first flew in 1946. Although it entered service in 1947, the Thunderjet was

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Today in History – September 21, 1956 – Test pilot Tom Attridge shoots himself down in F-11F

21 September 1956 – Grumman company test pilot Tom Attridge shoots himself down in a Grumman F-11F Tiger, BuNo 138260, during a Mach 1.0 20 degree dive from 22,000 feet. Tom fires two bursts from the fighter’s 20mm cannon during the descent, and as he reaches 7,000 feet (2,100 m) the jet is struck multiple

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