DOD has put names to remains of three Army Air Forces airmen who were declared missing in action in 1944. The airmen are: 2nd Lt. David J. Nelson, Chicago; TSgt. Henry F. Kortebein, Maspeth, N.Y.; and TSgt. Blake A. Treece Jr., Marshall, Ark. The three were part of a nine-man B-17G crew flying out of England on Aug. 18, 1944, to bomb Nazi targets in Caen, France. Flak struck the bomber south of Caen, and witnesses saw it explode and crash. Officials ultimately identified remains of all but these three, until July 2004 when a Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command team recovered remains from wreckage site found by a French aircraft wreckage-hunting group.
Boeing’s receipt of the 10th lot contract award for the KC-46 Pegasus this week leaves just three lots left to complete the Air Force’s buy of the tanker, although a further buy of 75 additional aircraft as a “bridge” to the Next-Generation Aerial-refueling System (NGAS) seems increasingly likely.