Company pilot Jean “Skip” Ziegler makes the first flight of the North American T-28 Trojan at Inglewood, Calif. While its career as a trainer will be relatively short, the T-28 will later be used as an attack aircraft in the early stages of the US involvement in Vietnam.
Amid a high-profile recruiting crisis, Air Force leaders and experts have increasingly noted the challenging long-term trends the service will face in enticing young Americans to sign up—decreasing eligibility to serve, less propensity to do so, and less familiarity with the military. But while those same leaders say there’s no “silver…