Another B-52 has arrived at Andersen AFB, Guam, to keep up the continuous bomber presence following a ground mishap that severely damaged a Stratofortress last month. The bomber, deployed from Minot AFB, N.D., arrived June 2 at the base, according to photos released by Pacific Air Forces. A B-52 deployed from Minot’s 69th Bomb Squadron on May 19 was severely damaged upon landing after a training mission at Andersen, with all seven crew members escaping without injuries before the bomber was almost completely engulfed in flames. Air Force B-52s deployed at a high rate so far this year, with two more arriving this June 1 at RAF Fairford, England, to kick off a rotation through Europe, according to US Air Forces in Europe. B-52s are also still deployed to the Middle East for the ISIS fight in Iraq and Syria.
Retired Col. Carlyle "Smitty" Harris, known for introducing the "tap code" by which American POWs in North Vietnam could surreptitiously communicate with one another, died July 6. Harris was brutalized by the North Vietnamese over almost eight years of captivity.