Attending this year’s Air Mobility Command Rodeo will be three of the nine remaining Doolittle Raiders, the famed World War II B-25 crews who flew the first missions against the Japanese home islands. During the 2009 version of Rodeo, the ultimate air mobility competition, which runs from July 19 through July 24 at McChord AFB, Wash., the Raiders—unnamed in this AMC release—will participate in Rodeo events, including a Town Hall meeting July 22. “We are truly honored and humbled to have these heroic airmen of our nation’s ‘Greatest Generation’ as our guests for this event,” said Maj. Gen. Brooks Bash, AMC director of operations and Rodeo leader. This year’s Rodeo will comprise 2,500 airmen from USAF active, Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve Command, and USMC and seven foreign countries. Another 17 countries plan to send observers.
The U.S., South Korea, and Japan flew an unusual trilateral flight with two U.S. B-52H Stratofortress bombers escorted by two Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-2s, and two ROK Air Force KF-16 fighters—both countries’ respective variants of the F-16—July 11. That same weekend, the top military officers of the three nations…