Retired SMSgt. Norman R. “Jack” Matthews died March 8 at age 92, reports the Suffolk News-Herald. Matthews was an aerial gunner sent to the Philippines with other airmen in late 1941 to await their airplanes during World War II. They joined with land forces to fight the Japanese when they invaded the island. Matthews survived the infamous Bataan Death March and served 27 years in the Air Force. (Read more on the death march in Air Force Magazine’s 1995 Valor article)
The Air Force has finished modifying and testing the new VC-25B Bridge aircraft that will serve as a temporary Air Force One, the service announced May 1. All that’s left now is to finish painting the jet before it starts flying this summer.