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  • 78th anniversary of the Doolittle Raid

    April 18 marks the 78th anniversary of the Doolittle Raid, in which Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle, U.S. Army Air Forces, and Vice Adm. William F. Halsey Jr., U.S. Navy, led a joint bombing operation on the Japanese mainland aimed to inflict both material and psychological damage upon the enemy

  • Air Force National Museum’s 75th anniversary of D-Day in May, June

    On June 6, 1944, D-Day - the largest amphibious assault in history - took place as more than 150,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of heavily fortified French coast. Seventy five years later, the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force will

  • Navajo Airman continues family's military legacy at Whiteman

    (This feature is part of the "Through Airmen's Eyes" series on AF.mil. These stories focus on a single Airman, highlighting their Air Force story.)Airman 1st Class Phillip Rock is part of his family’s legacy of military service – a legacy that, in fact, would not have continued if it weren’t for

  • Tributes flow in as nation mourns passing of George H.W. Bush

    President Donald J. Trump declared Dec. 5 as a national day of mourning for former President George H.W. Bush, who passed away Friday night at age 94. Trump joined countless others in paying tribute to Bush and his lifetime of service as a Navy pilot in World War II, congressman, ambassador to the

  • AF Week in Photos

    This week's photos feature Airmen from around the globe involved in activities supporting expeditionary operations and defending America. This weekly feature showcases the men and women of the Air Force.

  • The Flying First

    That young pilot, Capt. Benjamin Foulois, was in one of eight Curtis JN-3 “Jenny” biplanes participating in the search. The planes were powered with 90-horsepower engines that had a rough time just staying airborne, but they led a reconnaissance mission to kick off Gen. John J. Pershing’s punitive

  • Sweet lessons: 70th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift

    The end of World War II brought on a new, different conflict - a cold war. An immediate battleground became the divided country of Germany. The Allies divided the defeated Germany with the French, British and Americans taking the western half of the nation spreading the ideals of democracy, and the

  • Memphis Belle opens at National Museum of the U.S. Air Force

    Seventy five years ago on May 17, 1943, the crew of the B-17F Memphis Belle completed their 25th combat mission in Nazi-occupied Europe. They overcame insurmountable odds by becoming the first U.S. Army Air Forces heavy bomber to complete 25 missions and return to the U.S. Exactly 75 years after

  • Monument dedication honors JB Andrews namesake

    Officials unveiled a memorial monument May 3, 2018 dedicated to Lt. Gen. Frank Maxwell Andrews and crew members of the B-24 Liberator, also known as “Hot Stuff,” which crashed on nearby Mount Fagradalsfjall, Iceland, 75 years ago.

  • Fairfield to the front lines: Honoring Air Force heritage

    The aircraft was a C-5M Super Galaxy assigned to the 22nd Airlift Squadron, and its 11-person crew was all African-American. This historic mission was created to honor the heritage of the Tuskegee Airmen and to showcase the capability of Travis AFB to deliver cargo from the U.S. to the front lines

  • World War II Airman remains recovered

    An Airman who served with 555th Bombardment Squadron, 386th Bombardment Group, 9th Bomber Command, during World War II was accounted for Jan. 22, 2018.

  • 386th AEW celebrates 75 years of history

    On Dec. 1, 2017, the 386th BG, now the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing, celebrates its 75th birthday; a journey that started at MacDill Air Field, Tampa, Florida, in 1942 and continues to this day at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia.

  • 17th ATKS celebrates 75 years of aviation excellence

    For the past 75 years, the 17th Attack Squadron have played an integral part in the defense of the nation by providing combatant commanders with reconnaissance capabilities, and more recently, with precision attack capabilities.

  • 4 FW's greatest heroes: McKennon, Green – The rescue

    The history of the 4th Fighter Wing includes many stories of great wingmen, including the incomparable team of Don Gentile and John Godfrey in World War II. By adjusting their tactics and working closely together in the air combat duels over Europe, they became two of the highest scoring American

  • MQ-1 squadron celebrates 100 years

    The 15th Attack Squadron patch depicting a pigeon clutching a telescope harkens to the squadron’s long history of reconnaissance missions. On May 9, 2017, the 15th ATKS celebrated their 100-year anniversary and reflected on the unit’s extensive and honorable heritage, which coincidentally includes

  • Surviving the Holocaust: Former Soldier, AF civilian tells his story

    Fear. In one word, Bob Behr used fear to describe how he and most of the Jewish community in Germany lived their lives from 1933 until the mid-1940s. In that time, Behr would suffer persecution, work in forced labor, be arrested and sent to the Theresienstadt “camp-ghetto” with his family, and

  • Tuskegee Airmen share life lessons

    Three members of the famed Tuskegee Airmen visited with Airmen at the Pentagon during a meet and greet hosted by Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James Feb. 16. Retired Col. Charles McGee and former Cadets William Fauntroy Jr. and Walter Robinson Sr. shared stories and insights about their lives as

  • Airmen honor WWII veteran's last wish

    Roy Mullinax enlisted in the Air Force shortly after the end of World War II, and his years of military service led to his recognition with a veteran’s pin through his hospice center in Newton, Kansas, by the 22nd Air Refueling Wing Honor Guard.

  • AF twins receive French Legion of Honor for WWII service

    Seventy-one years after their World War II service in the Army Air Forces, identical twin brothers -- retired Air Force Reserve Majs. Raymond "Glenn" Clanin and Russell "Lynn" Clanin -- received the French government's highest distinction, the Legion of Honor medal.

  • Remembering Pearl Harbor: A ‘body blow’ to America

    When the first bombs exploded on a nearby airfield, marking the start of the Japanese sneak attack on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Edward Davis and others scrambled from a chow hall. The 94-year-old Army veteran said he and other Soldiers were having breakfast at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, when

  • Allies in a new era

    Two captains stationed at Kadena Air Base, Japan, discovered that their military roots go deeper than they had anticipated. Both Airmen are descendants of sailors who fought in the Battle of Midway in World War II, although fighting on opposite sides.

  • Yesterday's Air Force: Reverse Lend-Lease

    The logistics of war are complicated and having the right aircraft at the right place and time is a key to victory. At the beginning of U.S. involvement in World War II the Reverse Lend-Lease program set the U.S. up for success.

  • WWII flying ace encounters new generation of aircraft

    Seventy five years ago, a 20-year-old Tom "Ginger" Neil flew a Hawker Hurricane for the Royal Air Force, shielding his homeland against thousands of German bombers in the Battle of Britain -- the first ever battle decisively fought in the air. This month marks the 75th anniversary of the end of the

  • Yesterday’s Air Force: Flak-Bait

    During World War II, Martine B-26 Marauders dropped thousands of bombs and one of those aircraft survived more missions and dropped more bombs than any other — the Flak-Bait.

  • Yesterday’s Air Force: The B-36

    After World War II the threat of nuclear weapons was felt by every man, woman and child in the country. America knew it needed a platform to help deter a nuclear strike, and the solution was the B-36 Peacemaker.

  • Greatest generation honored during wreath laying, AF band concert

    As the sun began to set over the National Capitol Region, several hundred people gathered at the Air Force Memorial with the District of Columbia-city landscape as the backdrop to witness a wreath-laying event, followed by a concert performed by the United States Air Force Band Aug. 14.

  • World War II Airman's remains identified

    The remains of an Airman missing since World War II, have been identified and are being returned to his family for burial with full military honors, said the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency in a Defense Department news release issued Aug. 6.

  • Yesterday's Air Force: Luxembourg

    On July 12, 1944, two U.S. B-17 Flying Fortress bombers collided over the small town of Perle, Luxembourg.Though 71 years have passed, the event has changed the lives of many people, including Roger Feller, who witnessed the crash. He has since dedicated his life to never forgetting the American

  • Yesterday’s Air Force: The Enola Gay

    The thought of using a nuclear weapon is a heavy one, and when the first nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, it sparked conversations all over the world. What does it mean to have nuclear power? How should it be used? All this started with one aircraft: the Enola Gay.

  • Airmen missing from World War II accounted for

    The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of service members missing in action from World War II have been accounted for and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

  • Born to wave the flag

    Blaine Yelton was born Aug. 12, 1915, when World War I was in its second bloody year.

  • Airman discovers grandfather's World War II story

    An Airman here recently discovered that his grandfather was among a small group of Americans who joined the Canadian military to thwart the tyranny of Nazi Germany prior to America entering World War II.

  • Look past 1947 for Air Force roots

    Maybe it's a genetic thing I share with them, but I agree that Air Force history predates Sept. 18, 1947, and think we should do a better job of recognizing that. The problem is, of course, what to use as a starting date for such remembrances?

  • Airman's grandfather part of post-Normandy air campaign

    D-Day. The mere mention of the epic invasion can evoke a barrage of images in people's minds spanning the spectrum between horror and glory. For Master Sgt. Matthew Carey, 28th Bomb Wing Treaty Compliance Office superintendent, it conjures thoughts of a man he barely knew and whose grandest

  • WWII vet gives final salute to friend, lifesaver

    June 6, 1944, was a day forever marked in history books as D-Day, the invasion of Normandy, France. There are many tales of heroism from that particular day, but one account has surfaced regarding the day after the initial invasion, about a Soldier's search for the man who saved his life.

  • Ramstein Airmen rekindle piece of D-Day history

    Seventy years ago, young men from the 37th Troop Carrier Squadron at RAF Cottesmore, England, prepared their aircraft and themselves for what would soon be known as one of the most significant and meaningful days in the history of the world...D-Day.

  • Tinker epitomized Native American strength, leadership

    The highest ranking Native American general, Maj. Gen. Clarence L. Tinker, used his strength and leadership qualities to lead Airmen in the Pacific during the early days of World War II. As a member of the Osage tribe in Oklahoma, Tinker believed that leadership meant leading his Airmen into battle,

  • Candy Bomber drops in 65 years after Berlin Airlift

    It was 1948, World War II was over and the Cold War had begun. For many German families, living conditions were tough and food was scarce. But for the children of Berlin, there was a glimmer of hope, and it came from the sky. Army Air Corps 1st Lt. Gail Halvorsen, a C-47 pilot stationed in Germany

  • Technology helps remember fallen, ensures memories live on

    It was a damp, foggy morning in October, amidst a sea of marble headstones; the sound of bells chiming out seemed to echo the air of somberness all around at Madingley American Cemetery, near Cambridge. The whole scene was humbling.

  • AF Heritage: Gen. Tinker still honored by native Indian tribe

    During the early days of World War II, an Army Air Corps major general, who was an Oklahoma native, and member of the Osage Indian tribe, was named to lead the air effort in Hawaii following Pearl Harbor. Maj. Gen. Clarence L. Tinker managed to stay close to his tribe during his 30 plus years as a