The prototype for the Mitsubishi A6M1 Reisen, or “Zero Fighter” (Allied code name “Zeke”) makes its first flight at Kagamigahara, Japan. The Zero would serve with distinction from Pearl Harbor until the end of the war and is probably Japan’s most famous World War II aircraft. Almost 10,500 were built.
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…