Legend says that Colin Kelley sank a Japanese battleship and received the Medal of Honor. Neither assertion is factual. However, Capt. Colin P. Kelley Jr., was a genuine hero. Three days after Pearl Harbor, Kelly’s B-17-lightly armed and without fighter escort-attacked a Japanese landing force in northern Luzon. With the B-17 hit by enemy fighters and burning, Kelly ordered the crew to bail out but the aircraft went down before he could escape himself. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross posthumously.
At AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference, CAE takes Air & Space Forces Magazine behind the scenes of Valiant Shield 26, a Pacific exercise in June and July of 2026 focused on integrated air and missile defense and the defense...
