The F
-22 Raptor Team has been selected as the recipient of the National Aeronautic Association’s 2006 Collier Trophy, the most prestigious award in aviation. Although the F-22 has long been in development and its capabilities well known, its performance in last summer’s Northern Edge exercise in Alaska, where it led Blue forces to a 241-0 kill ratio, made 2006 the year in which the Raptor’s promises came true. The trophy resides in the National Air & Space Museum in Washington; annual winners get a smaller duplicate.
The Air Force has finished resurrecting a B-1B Lancer, completing a yearslong process to transform a bomber that had been stored for parts in the Arizona desert into the new flagship of the 7th Bomb Wing at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas.