Residents near the memorial site of a B-52 bomber that crashed on Elephant Mountain in Greenville, Maine, on Jan. 24, 1963, are banding together with local members of the Air National Guard and Civil Air Patrol to improve the site. They want the crash scene—where aircraft wreckage is still visible—to continue to stand as a lasting reminder to the seven airmen who died in the mishap. The Bangor Daily News reported that efforts are focused on diverting water from the crash scene, improving the trail to the site, and on moving the bomber’s tail section to a more secure location. Project organizers hope to have the work completed in 2013, the 50th anniversary year of the crash, if not sooner. Several years ago, the site faced another challenge: metal scavengers were stealing pieces of wreckage.
A new think tank analysis finds a hypothetical blended-wing body tanker could offer twice as much refueling performance as the KC-46A Pegasus and recommends the Air Force buy scores of them, as the service prepares to evaluate a BWB demonstrator next year and must juggle its future tanker plans with…