Nearly 100 airmen and six F-16s from the 35th Fighter Wing at Misawa AB, Japan, arrived at the Japan Air Self Defense Force’s base at Chitose on the northern island of Hokkaido, according to a release. The Misawa contingent, which touched down on July 8, is there for a week of air combat training with Japanese F-15Js as part of an aviation training relocation mission, states the July 9 release. As part of the training, the F-16s simulated an incursion into the airspace around Chitose, to which the F-15Js responded. (Misawa report by SrA. Derek Van Horn)
Gene Smith, Former POW and AFA Chair, Dies at 91
Jan. 19, 2026
Lt. Col. Richard “Gene” Smith, who overcame five and a half years as a prisoner of war in the notorious Hanoi Hilton from 1967 until 1973, died Jan. 16. He was one day short of his 91st birthday.
