August 6

What happened on August 6 in aviation and space history.

• August 6, 1959

  Last active-duty USAF B-17 mission

  Institutional — On 6 August 1959, a DB-17P radio-directed a QB-17G as an aerial target for an AIM-4 Falcon missile fired from a McDonnell F-101 Voodoo — the last operational USAF B-17 mission, flown out of Holloman AFB, New Mexico. A retirement ceremony followed days later and the aircraft passed to the Planes of Fame museum in Chino, California. The bulk of the fleet, however, had already been withdrawn from front-line USAAF service right after the war, in 1945.