Free Republic

After 68 years in the aerospace industry, and having a hand in producing every single C-17 in the Air Force’s inventory, an original Rosie the Riveter got her first flight in one on Monday. Elinor Otto, 98, took to the skies in a C-17 she riveted at March ARB, Calif., in a ceremonial flight flown by Air Mobility Command head Gen. Carlton Everhart. “You are a true inspiration,” Everhart said. “In the day and age where quicker, faster, more is the goal, and job hopping is the norm, it’s inspiring to hear a story about hard work and dedication that...

A man has been arrested after apparently trying to drive through a base used by the US Air Force in Suffolk. Shots were fired by US personnel before the man was detained at RAF Mildenhall. He suffered cuts and bruises and is now in custody of Suffolk Police. The base was temporarily put into lockdown as police responded to reports of what they called a "significant incident." The incident is not thought to be terror related.

A man has been arrested and the National Police Air Service helicopter was dispatched to the base. The incident reportedly started at the base’s main gate. Police describe the event as “a significant incident.”

The commander of the Air Force Thunderbirds has been relieved of command due to loss of confidence in his leadership, the service announced. With the season complete, Brig. Gen. Jeannie Leavitt, 57th Wing commander, relieved Lt. Col. Jason Heard of overseeing the U.S. Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron, Air Combat Command said in a release.

Army leaders decided this was a good time to highlight space because activities are growing and the Army wants to attract more officers to the space career field known as Functional Area 40, or FA40. Over the past year, Army space forces supported more than 16 exercises for every geographic combatant command except U.S. Africa Command. Soldiers are picked for the FA40 career field after a competitive selection process through the "voluntary transfer incentive program," which can occur at the four-year mark of a soldier's career. Besides their technical abilities, soldiers applying for the FA40 are evaluated based on their...

By his own admission, Merrill “Tony” McPeak was the farthest thing from a faceless bureaucrat. The 14th chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force, Gen. McPeak retired 23 years ago, capping a military career that began in 1957 after he graduated from San Diego State University. Recalled today as a gruff gadfly who tried to reshape the Air Force in the wake of the Soviet Union’s collapse, he recently returned to San Diego on a barnstorming book tour for “Roles and Missions,” the final memoir in a trilogy that began with “Hangar Flying” and “Below the Zone.” While those...

Dear Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson: I urge you to restore and protect Colonel Leland Bohannon’s Constitutional right to freely exercise his religious beliefs by reversing the complaint against him and by removing any unfavorable remarks from his record related to this complaint.U.S. Air Force Col. Leland Bohannon was asked in May 2017 to sign a “certificate of spouse appreciation” for a retiring master sergeant in a same-sex “marriage.” As a devout Christian, Bohannon refused to sign the document stating it would violate his religious belief of marriage being between one man and one woman. As a result, the Air...

A group of prominent U.S. senators is coming to the defense of a highly decorated Air Force colonel who could be booted out of the military over his religious views on same-sex marriage. Col. Leland Bohannon, an experienced combat pilot, was suspended from command and orders were handed down recommending he not be promoted after he refused to publicly affirm the same-sex spouse of a retiring subordinate. Bohannon, who was on the verge of being promoted to a one-star general, was punished after the subordinate filed a formal Equal Opportunity complaint which was later substantiated by investigators. “His career is...

The Air Force faces many millions of dollars in potential liability for the mass shooting at a small-town church in Texas earlier this month by a former servicemember, legal experts say. “I think it’s almost inevitable that the Air Force will be sued,” said retired Lt. Gen. Richard Harding, former judge advocate general of the service. “And I think there’s a case that can be made, you bet.” If lawsuits against the Air Force were successful, said Don Christensen, the service’s former top prosecutor, the damages could be huge. “What is being shot while you’re in church, watching your baby...

The Air Force dutifully accepted an award from the Anti-Defamation League on Monday for combating intolerance, but buried the fact that the recent hysteria over racist writings at its Academy Preparatory School turned out to be a total hoax.The ceremony took place in San Francisco at the ADL’s Never is Now Summit on Monday, during which time Scott Levin, director of the ADL’s Mountain States’ Region, heaped praise on the Academy for “swiftly, clearly and forcefully accessing the racial slurs at the Air Force Academy Preparatory School.”Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria then accepted the award, according to the Air Force’s...

A once-empty parking lot at Northrop Grumman Corp.’s top secret aircraft plant in Palmdale, Calif., is now jammed with cars that pour in during the predawn hours. More than a thousand new employees are working for the time being in rows of temporary trailers, a dozen tan tents and a huge assembly hangar at the desert site near the edge of urban Los Angeles County. It is here that Northrop is building the Air Force’s new B-21 bomber, a stealthy bat-winged jet that is being designed to slip behind any adversary’s air defense system and deliver devastating airstrikes for decades...

The Air Force’s failure to report Texas church shooter Devin Kelley’s domestic violence conviction to the FBI -- a misstep that left the door open for Kelley to buy weapons -- is a systemic issue in its criminal investigations unit, according to a 2015 Pentagon analysis and a former Air Force agent who spoke to Fox News.

The Air Force Academy says racial slurs posted outside the dorm rooms of five black students were written by one of those students.

Devin Kelley, the man accused of killing 26 people in Texas Sunday, was court-martialed in 2012... the Air Force confirmed to the Daily News Sunday night. In 2012, he was court-martialed after being accused of assaulting his spouse and child, spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said. Kelley was confined for 12 months and was reduced to E-1 rank, airman basic, which is the lowest rank possible.

<p>Devin P. Kelley, who was court martialed from the U.S. Air Force, was identified as the gunman who walked into the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday morning and murdered at least 26 people, wounding many more in the tiny, rural community near San Antonio...</p>

Before he killed 26 people, Devin Kelley was sentenced to confinement and discharged from the military. Last week, he ominously showed off an assault rifle on Facebook. Devin Patrick Kelley has been identified as the gunman who killed at least 26 people at a church in Texas, a U.S. official told The Daily Beast. A week before he committed the worst massacre at a place of worship in American history, Kelley posted a photo of a semiautomatic rifle to Facebook with the caption: “She’s a bad bitch.” Kelley entered First Baptist Church at approximately 11:30 a.m., witnesses reported, and opened...

MILILANI, OAHU (HawaiiNewsNow) - At a secure, classified location on Oahu, 230 Hawaii Air National Guard member keep a constant watch over the state. They work at what's unofficially called "NORAD of the Pacific" -- after the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado. They play a critical role in tracking threats to the state -- are considered the first line of defense against another Pearl Harbor. And on Friday, ahead of President Trump's visit to Hawaii, they'll be watching Air Force One closely and anything that may get near it. The group's official name: The 169th Air Defense Squadron...

The United States Air Force could recall as many as 1,000 retired military pilots to active-duty service to address an acute shortage in its ranks. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday allowing the Air Force to call back to service up to 1,000 retired aviation officers who wish to return, the White House and the Pentagon announced.

Two supersonic bombers reportedly drilled alongside allies in Northeast Asia Saturday, reaffirming U.S. commitment to its partners and sending a message to North Korea and other challengers.B-1B Lancers, powerful aircraft carrying the largest conventional payload of guided and unguided munitions of any Air Force bomber, departed Andersen Air Force Base in Guam for the Korean Peninsula Saturday. They first joined up with two Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-2s before joining up with two Republic of Korea Air Force F-15K fighters, the Pacific Air Forces Public Affairs Office said in an official statement.The bombers conducted a flyover during the 2017 Seoul International Aerospace...

The U.S. Air Force’s Small Diameter Bomb II program has seen such large cost overruns that the service will force the manufacturer, Raytheon, to absorb some of the increases, amounting to nearly $40 million. Both parties insist that the present production and delivery schedule won’t suffer, which is important given the present plan is for the precision guided munitions to become a core weapon system for a variety of American combat aircraft, especially the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. On Oct. 18, 2017, the Air Force acknowledged that Raytheon had run out of “financial liability” in its deal to develop the...