Short answers, pulled from the story.
The United States Air Force was officially established as an independent service branch on the 18th of September 1947, when the first secretary of the Air Force, W. Stuart Symington, was sworn into office. The National Security Act of 1947, which created the Department of the Air Force, was signed on the 26th of July 1947, but the branch's formal existence is dated to Symington's swearing-in.
The United States Air Force controls 400 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles with 800 available nuclear warheads, plus 1,005 nuclear weapons deliverable by aircraft. Together these account for 49% of the US nuclear stockpile and 19% of the global nuclear stockpile.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates fired both Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Chief of Staff General T. Michael Moseley on the 5th of June 2008, citing systemic decline in nuclear mission focus and performance. Two specific incidents triggered the action: a B-52 flew from Minot Air Force Base to Barksdale Air Force Base carrying nuclear weapons that were not authorized for that flight, and nuclear weapons components were accidentally shipped to Taiwan.
The five core missions of the United States Air Force are air superiority, global integrated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control. These missions have remained consistent since the branch became independent in 1947, though they have evolved in articulation and execution.
The Air Force stopped appointing warrant officers in 1959 and the last active duty Air Force warrant officer, CWO4 James H. Long, retired in 1980. The last Air Force Reserve warrant officer, CWO4 Bob Barrow, retired in 1992. Warrant officer grades were reintroduced in 2024 for cyber and IT fields, and on the 6th of December 2024-30 airmen graduated from the Warrant Officer Training School at Maxwell Air Force Base, becoming the first Air Force warrant officers in over 30 years.
The United States Air Force operates approximately 5,500 military aircraft in total, of which an estimated 4,131 are in active service. This includes the world's largest strategic bomber force at 130 aircraft and the world's largest crewed stealth aircraft force at 636 fighters and bombers.