Capt. Shannon Lippert, an F-15E pilot with the 336th Fighter Squadron at Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., has received the American Fighter Aces Association’s Francis S. Gabreski Award. She is the first female pilot to win the award, which honors the most outstanding performer of the year during a basic course in a formal training unit. Lippert took possession of her award June 27 during a ceremony in Austin, Tex. (Seymour Johnson report by SrA. Shane Dunaway)
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.