The Air Force recognized the service of SSgt. Merle Y. Strang, a chaplain’s assistant assigned in 1950 to 5th Air Force in South Korea, by awarding a Bronze Star posthumously to his brother Homer Strang in Brewer, Maine. Sergeant Strang assisted with a Korean War airlift that saved nearly 1,000 orphans.
The Air Force has embraced new technical approaches like open mission systems and rapid software updates for cutting-edge aircraft like the B-21 and Collaborative Combat Aircraft. Increasingly, though, the service is also working to apply these to its older, “legacy” aircraft, officials said this week.