Honoring the Alaska-Siberia Ferry Crews:
During World War II, there were American and Russian aircrews that ferried some 8,000 US aircraft from Montana to Russia by way of Alaska and Siberia. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, along with assorted other officials, on Aug. 27 helped dedicate a memorial to these intrepid fliers in Fairbanks, Alaska. Severe weather caused the crash of 133 aircraft in North America—flying from Montana across Canada to Fairbanks—and another 44 in Siberia. The US Army Air Forces 7th Ferrying Squadron flew the US leg, turning the aircraft over to their Russian counterparts at Army Ladd Airfield, now known as Ft. Wainwright.
In the face of Chinese war plans to disrupt U.S. command-and-control networks in the event of a conflict, the Air Force needs to focus less on its “connect everything” efforts and prepare its combat aviators to fight without a constant connection to higher-ups, according to a new report from AFA’s…
