Tag Archives: Fighter Pilot

Doolittle Raiders Final Toast will be Live to World

The Air Force has announced that the November 9th final toast of the Doolittle Raiders — an event closed to the public — will be broadcast live on the Pentagon channel.

The remaining Raiders will join for the final time and open the ceremonial bottle of cognac from 1896, the year Jimmy Doolittle was born.

The event is occurring at the National Museum of the Air Force and will include B-25 flybys, a wreath laying, related movies and a book signing.

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USAFA Pulled Poster of Fallen Ace Robbie Risner’s Plane


General Mark Welsh, US Air Force Chief of Staff, announced that retired BGen James Robinson “Robbie” Risner passed away this week.

In a cruel twist of timing, the poster pulled down by USAFA last week (because it offensively said “so help me God”) was of BGen Risner’s F-100F, the “Spirit of St Louis II” — in which he crossed the Atlantic as Charles Lindbergh did, but in only 6 hours.  (The aircraft remains on static display in front of the USAFA Prep School.)

BGen Risner is probably most famous for his time as a POW in Vietnam’s infamous Hanoi Hilton — where he roomed with other well-known men like Col Bud Day and LtCdr John McCain.  BGen Risner, then a LtCol, was the ranking POW and the leader of the men in the prison — and it turns out he might have had an opinion on that “God and honor” thing going on at USAFA [emphasis added]:

When asked what kept him going throughout his imprisonment, Risner said in a 2004 interview on CNN Larry King Live that his survival was due to exercise and his “faith in God and Read more

Air Force Could Save Billions by Cutting A-10

Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) has lifted her hold on the nomination of Ms. Deborah Lee James to the position of Secretary of the Air Force:

An Ayotte aide told Defense News on Thursday that Ayotte will no longer stand in the way of Debroah Lee James’ nomination after carefully reviewing data provided in response to question she submitted to the Air Force.

Part of that data included responses from the Air Force that it could save “billions” of dollars by cutting an entire fleet, rather than “millions” by reducing it or making cuts elsewhere.

General Mark Welsh, Air Force Chief of Staff, provided some personal insight:  Read more

Need an Airstrike? There’s an App for that.

The Air Force Times highlights a smartphone app that could conceivably be used by troops to direct airstrikes:

Draper Laboratory of Cambridge, Mass., is working with the Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, N.Y., on a new program called the Android Terminal Assault Kit, or ATAK, that it said will transform the way troops request air support.

The application will allow troops in the field to open a map and, with a few screen taps, label the locations of enemy troops, civilians, friendly forces and potential evacuation points, and then securely transmit the data to inbound pilots or operations centers.

However, they’re not developing the app for the iPhone, because “the security was better” on the Android OS.

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Senator Retains Hold on SecAF Nominee

The confirmation of Ms. Deborah Lee James, nominee for Secretary of the Air Force, has been delayed (previously discussed) as Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) has continued her “hold” over the issue of A-10s in the Air Force:

An aide to the New Hampshire Republican told Defense News on Tuesday that the senator felt the Air Force failed to sufficiently answer her questions about the A-10 plans. Therefore, Ayotte has decided to keep what’s known as a hold on Deborah Lee James’ nomination, the aide said.

Ayotte has previously said she is concerned the Air Force would retire the A-10 — which her Air Force husband flew — without a suitable replacement for the mission.

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Senator, Wife of A-10 Pilot, Blocks Nominee over A-10 Cuts

On her website, Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) buttresses her national defense credentials by noting she was a military spouse of an A-10 pilot.

Now that the Air Force has basically said it wants to get rid of the A-10 (again), Senator Ayotte has put a “hold” on the nomination of Ms. Deborah Lee James to the position of Secretary of the Air Force:

She…views this as a readiness issue. Until we have Read more

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