Fallen Airman Identified

The Department of Defense on April 10 identified TSgt. Anthony L. Capra, 31, of Hanford, Calif., as the airman who died April 9 of wounds suffered when he encountered an improvised explosive device while supporting combat operations near Golden Hills,...

Air Force Cross Awarded for Vietnam War Heroism

Retired Air National Guard CMSgt. Dennis Richardson has been awarded the Air Force Cross for his actions aboard a HH-53 rescue helicopter during a perilous mission over Vietnam in March 1968. Richardson received the award, USAF’s second highest honor for...

‘Fighter Gap’ Now a Problem

Testifying before a Senate panel April 9, two Air Force generals said the service faces a “fighter gap” in the years ahead that could leave it drastically short of its requirement for 2,250 fighters in its force structure. Based on...

Squeezing out More F-22s

The Air Force wants Congress to press forward on keeping the F-22 production line open. During the April 9 hearing of the Senate Armed Services AirLand Subcommittee (see above), Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) asked the Air Force witnesses, Lt. Gen....

Predator Crashes, UAVs Strike in Iraq

An Air Force MQ-1 Predator armed unmanned aerial vehicle crashed April 9 northwest of Balad, Iraq, at about 7:10 p.m. local time, the Air Force announced that same day. The Predator took off from Ali Base, Iraq. Mechanical failure is...

The Fate on the Nine F-15Cs

The Air Force intends this year to repair five of its nine F-15Cs found to have cracked longerons, two senior generals told a Senate oversight panel in written testimony April 9. (See above) It will retire the four remaining airplanes...

A New Generation of Raptor Mechanics

The Air Force April 7 graduated the first class of F-22 maintenance students at Sheppard AFB, Tex., attending the 13-week aircraft armament systems course straight from basic military training. “This is such a historic day for Sheppard AFB and the...

Can It Be So

Predictions of a potentially bad recruiting year are being proved wrong as all the services meet or exceed their goals once again, according to the latest statistics from the Pentagon. The active Air Force and Air Force Reserve are even...

Pave Low From Son Tay Raid Retires

An Air Force Special Operations Command MH-53 helicopter flew its last combat mission in Iraq March 28 and is being retired after 38 years of service. This particular airframe, tail number 68-10357, has a distinguished past, having been the lead...

Airman Reaches 10,000 Hour Milestone

SMSgt. Robert Fisher, a KC-10A flight engineer deployed in Southwest Asia with the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing’s 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, surpassed 10,000 flight hours during a tanker sortie March 29. “It feels excellent to be among such a...

Air Sorties From SWA

Air Sorties in War on Terrorism, Southwest AsiaApril 8, 2008 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 30 4 34 2,659 CAS/Armed Recon 61 44 105 8,041 Airlift 105 105 11,986 Air refueling 39 39 3,690 Total 316 26,376...