Navy Lt. Frank Akers makes a blind landing in a Berliner-Joyce OJ-2 at College Park, Md., in a demonstration of a system intended for aircraft carrier use. In subsequent flights, he makes takeoffs and landings between NAS Anacostia, D.C., and College Park under a hood without assistance.
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.
