The Nati
onal Aviation Hall of Fame on July 18 enshrined three USAF airmen among the four names selected for its class of 2009. The USAF inductees are: the late Brig. Gen. Jimmy Stewart, World War II bomber pilot and one of the early officers of the Air Force Association, as well as Academy Award winning actor; ret. Col. Eileen Collins, USAF test pilot and the first woman to command a space shuttle; and the late Lt. Col. Edward White III, who died in the 1967 Apollo I fire on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. NAHF also inducted Russell Meyer Jr., former chairman and CEO of Cessna Aircraft Company. (NAHF release)
A half-dozen pilots from one of the Air Force’s premier F-16 units, the 20th Fighter Wing at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., have been awarded one of the service’s highest decorations for their role in Operation Midnight Hammer, the June 2025 strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.