Robert Giles, who, as a B-17 navigator, saved a crewmate’s life in the skies over Berlin, Germany, on April 18, 1944, has received the Distinguished Flying Cross, another form of long-overdue recognition for his heroism that day nearly 67 years ago. Last April, Giles received the Air Medal for those same actions. Then a second lieutenant, Giles managed that day to help the B-17’s severely wounded bombardier safely escape the doomed aircraft after German fighters had ripped it up. Giles himself had sustained a broken arm. Upon reaching the ground, the Germans captured both airmen; they remained POWs until May 1945. “I never thought that I did anything that any person wouldn’t have done under the same circumstances,” said Giles, who received the DFC during a Dec. 29 ceremony at Kirtland AFB, N.M. (Kirtland report by John Cochran)
The last remaining T-1 Jayhawk at JBSA-Randolph, Texas, took its final flight to the "Boneyard" at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., on July 15. The 99th Flying Training Squadron will train pilots using T-6 and simulator until it gets T-7 Red Hawk in fiscal 2026.