On 17 September 1787 the Constitution of the United States was signed by the delegates of the convention meeting in Pennsylvania. It would be many months of long debate before the Constitution was ratified.
American military officers are perhaps unique in their sworn allegiance not to their commanders, and not to the President, but to the US Constitution: Read more
In 2009 the Air Force conducted beta classes in which it trained officers who had not previously been pilots to be UAV operators. (It also created new “wings” for the RPA pilots and granted them flight pay.) Earlier this year, the first non-pilots graduated into the RQ-4 Global Hawk, a keyboard-operated UAV.
Now, the first non-prior pilots have graduated to become MQ-9 Reaper operators:
This marks the first time a student pilot Read more
While some question the stability — and the political alliances — of their government back home, a group of Iraqi pilots has become the first to begin training in US F-16s:
Two Iraqis have joined aspiring fighter pilots from the United States, Singapore, Poland, Denmark, Japan and the Netherlands at the U.S. Air Force’s international F-16 schoolhouse at Tucson International Airport.
A “senior delegation” recently visited to “assess their students’ progress.”
Iraq is reportedly expecting to receive F-16s in 2014.
The Navy announced that a US Marine Corps F/A-18C Hornet crashed on Fallon range on Saturday.
The pilot ejected safely from the aircraft and was treated at Banner Churchill Community Hospital in Fallon for minor injuries and has been released.
An Air Force Times article has an interesting summation of the feelings about RPA/UAV pilots in the Air Force:
Becoming a fighter pilot is still a hotly coveted goal at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.
But slowly, a culture change is taking hold.
Initially snubbed as second-class pilot-wannabes, the airmen who remotely control America’s arsenal of lethal drones are gaining stature and securing a permanent place in the Air Force.
The article then says part of the reason for the “draw” to the drone career is the very-public successes of drone missions: Read more
Anna Haney, the widow of F-22 Raptor pilot Capt Jeff Haney, filed a lawsuit in March against the contractors responsible for building the F-22: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Honeywell, and Pratt and Whitney. They have reportedly settled out of court in a sealed result:
According to court documents, Anna Haney, wife of pilot Capt. Jeff Haney, agreed to a binding settlement…after a meeting Aug. 8 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The settlement terms Read more
General Mark Welsh became the 20th Chief of Staff of the Air Force last week.
While he is an immensely popular General already, the video and photos of the ceremony in which he became the chief have inspired a slew of responses with one question more indicative of a high school prom than a military event:
What in the world was the General wearing?
It is reminiscent of the Hap Arnold uniform designed a few years ago — which was shelved. The odd uniform had some commenters nervous that (yet another) Air Force uniform change was on its way, but, to this point, that does not appear to be the case. If that’s the first “issue” the new Chief has, it can’t be that bad…
[Marilyn] Monroe was famous for her quips and sexual innuendos. When asked what three men she’d like to be trapped on a deserted island with, she responded Joe DiMaggio, Albert Einstein and Hoyt Vandenberg – her husband, the scientist and the Air Force general respectively.
Now that’s not something you hear everyday, and from an article written by a wing commander, no less. General Vandenberg was a US Military Academy graduate and the second Chief of Staff of the Air Force. Vandenberg Hall (or “Vandy”), one of the residence halls/dormitories at the US Air Force Academy, is named after him, as is Vandenberg AFB in California. It seems Marilyn Monroe had a thing for him.