This Day in FAA History: July 3rd

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19260703: A congressional joint resolution authorized the President to detail officers of the Army Air Corps to the Commerce Department to help in promoting civil aviation, provided the details did not exceed one year.
19450703: CAA created the new position of private pilot examiner to meet the anticipated flood of postwar demands for private pilot examinations.
19680703: PATCO president Michael J. Rock announced “Operation Air Safety,” which he described as a campaign among PATCO members to maintain FAA-prescribed separation standards between aircraft. Rock said that FAA supervisors were violating these standards to accommodate the high levels of traffic, but that thereafter PATCO-affiliated controllers would “go by the procedures in the manual.” (See January 1968, and July 19, 1968.)
19880703: U.S.S. Vincennes mistakenly shot down an Iran Air A-300 Airbus over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 persons aboard. The Navy ship fired two missiles, seven minutes after the flight took off from Bandar Abbas. Before firing, Vincennes had sent electronic identification requests and voice warnings to the plane over civilian and military radio channels.
19970703: The Federal Trade Commission decided not to block the merger between the Boeing Company and McDonnell Douglas Corporation. The newly strengthened Boeing would control two-thirds of the world’s airplane market. August 1, the two companies formally merged. (See December 15, 1996.)