Attending this year’s Air Mobility Command Rodeo will be three of the nine remaining Doolittle Raiders, the famed World War II B-25 crews who flew the first missions against the Japanese home islands. During the 2009 version of Rodeo, the ultimate air mobility competition, which runs from July 19 through July 24 at McChord AFB, Wash., the Raiders—unnamed in this AMC release—will participate in Rodeo events, including a Town Hall meeting July 22. “We are truly honored and humbled to have these heroic airmen of our nation’s ‘Greatest Generation’ as our guests for this event,” said Maj. Gen. Brooks Bash, AMC director of operations and Rodeo leader. This year’s Rodeo will comprise 2,500 airmen from USAF active, Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve Command, and USMC and seven foreign countries. Another 17 countries plan to send observers.
Lockheed Martin projects more than a billion dollars of losses on a classified program, but company officials said April 23 they are confident it will turn profitable by 2028 and become a "franchise" system in the U.S. military.