The Defense Department has identified remains found in a search conducted in 2000 and 2005 of a crash site in Vietnam as those of Col. Eugene D. Hamilton of Opelika, Ala. Hamilton was flying an F-105D on an armed reconnaissance mission under Operation Rolling Thunder when enemy fire struck his fighter. Airborne searches of the area at the time found no trace of the fighter or the pilot, but Hanoi radio broadcast that it had shot down an F-105.
The Air Force has finished modifying and testing the new VC-25B Bridge aircraft that will serve as a temporary Air Force One, the service announced May 1. All that’s left now is to finish painting the jet before it starts flying this summer.