Company test pilot Lowery Brabham makes the first flight of the Republic XP-47B Thunderbolt at Farmingdale, N.Y. The P-47, the heaviest single-engine fighter ever built in the US, will see action in every theater in World War II as both a high-altitude escort fighter and as a low-level fighter bomber.
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
