Margaret A. Hamilton Tunner, a member of the World War II-era Women’s Airforce Service Pilots program, died Oct. 13 at her home in Virginia at age 92. During the war, she flew P-39, P-40, P-47, B-17, and B-24 aircraft, ferrying them from the factory to either coast. She also piloted a new P-51 to Canada. After the war, she served with US occupation forces in Japan, and, in 1951, married Lt. Gen. William Tunner, the architect of the Berlin Airlift. Her interest in flying continued and in her 70s she learned to fly ultralights, while at 78 she co-piloted an F-15 out of Langley AFB, Va., courtesy of the Clinton Administration. Congress just this past summer approved a special Congressional Gold Medal recognizing the service of all the WASPs. (An obituary from the Richmond Times-Dispatch and this obituary from WASP on the Web ) (For more background on the group, read The WASPs)
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.
