Under the command of Maj. Albert D. Smith, four JN-4s fly from San Diego to Jacksonville, Fla., to complete the Army’s first transcontinental flight. Only Smith’s airplane manages to make the entire trip.
The Air Force awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…