Medal of Honor recipient and US Air Force legend retired Col. Leo Thorsness got to fly the back seat of an F-16 two-ship flying out of Luke AFB, Ariz., recently, reports the Arizona Republic. The base’s 310th Fighter Squadron invited the 74-year-old, who spent six years as a North Vietnamese prisoner of war, to spend a day with the Luke unit. (Read Air Force Magazine’s June 2005 article “Full Day” about Thorsness.)
The Air Force wants to replace 24 F-16 Fighting Falcons at Homestead Air Reserve Base in Florida with an equal number of F-35A Joint Strike Fighters.