The 
last F-16s loaned to Italy under the Peace Caesar program recently touched down at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., for storage. Six F-16s arrived at Davis-Monthan last month, followed by an additional six on June 1, Teresa Pittman, spokeswoman for the base’s 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, told the Daily Report on June 8. The Italian government early last decade approached the US for assistance after it was forced to retire its F-104 Starfighter fleet before its Eurofighter Typhoons were fully operational. Italy received the first of 34 F-16A/Bs under Peace Caesar in 2003 to ensure unbroken coverage of its national airspace until this year. Eurofighter announced last month that Typhoons had assumed sole responsibility for defending Italian airspace. (See also Aviano Gets New Static Display.)
Happy Birthday US Air Force: 78 Today
Sept. 18, 2025
Seventy-eight years ago today, on Sept. 18, 1947, Supreme Court Chief Justice Fred Vinson swore in Stuart Symington as the first ever Secretary of the Air Force, and the Air Force officially became the first new military service since the Revolutionary War.
