JFK+50: Volume 6, No. 1788
JFK ISSUES ORDER TO USAF TO FLY COMBAT MISSIONS AGAINST VCWashington, D.C. (JFK+50) Fifty-four years ago today, December 6, 1961, President John F. Kennedy gave the order to pilots of the United States Air Force to fly combat missions against the Viet Cong in South Vietnam.
The order, however, included the requirement that at least one Vietnamese national be on board the striking aircraft "for training purposes."
President Kennedy originally ordered the USAF to send a combat unit to South Vietnam to assist the Saigon government in developing a counterinsurgency capability.
The first sorties authorized by JFK as part of "Operation Farm Gate" were flown on January 13, 1962. After the Gulf of Tonkin incident, the USAF began using full American markings as part of the 1st Air Commando Squadron.
USAF Douglas B-26B Invader
Operation Farm Gate
USAF Photo
IRISH FREE STATE DECLARED
Dublin, Ireland (JFK+50) Ninety-three years ago today, December 6, 1922, by virtue of the Ango-Irish Treaty signed by British and Irish representatives one year before, the IRISH FREE STATE was declared officially.
The Irish Free State would be a DOMINION or state of the British Empire with equal status as Australia, Canada, Newfoundland, New Zealand and the Union of South Africa.
Northern Ireland "opted out" of the Irish Free State two days later as was permitted by the Anglo-Irish Treaty.
