The remains of 2nd Lt. Howard Enoch Jr., an Army Air Forces pilot from Marion, Ky., missing since World War II, have been identified, DOD announced yesterday. Enoch went missing on March 19, 1945 when his P-51D fighter crashed while engaging enemy aircraft about 20 miles east of Leipzig, near the village of Doberschütz, Germany. In 2004, a DOD team surveyed a possible P-51 crash site near Doberschütz and found aircraft wreckage. Two years later, another DOD team excavated the site and recovered aircraft wreckage and human remains that forensic analysis proved to be those of Enoch.
The Air Force is spending heavily on F-22 improvements through the end of the decade, suggesting it may not retire the jet in 2030 as it previously planned. New sensors, fuel tanks, communications, and electronic warfare systems are among the upgrades that comprise the package.