The U.S. Air Force retired the T-1A Jayhawk on Aug. 20, quietly ending more than three decades of service for the twin-engine jet that trained generations of pilots bound for the airlift and tanker fleet. The last operational aircraft departed Vance Air Force Base for Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, where it will be received into the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, known widely as the boneyard.
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Media, airmen held at gunpoint while covering event at Vandenberg
Vandenberg Space Force Base’s public affairs office spent this week addressing fallout from an incident that left invited journalists and two of the base’s own service members held at gunpoint, disrupting coverage of a groundbreaking ceremony for a new Sentinel missile training facility.
Photo: USAF
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Whiteman AFB case signals shift in how USAF polices base security
A Chinese national who returned to photograph Whiteman Air Force Base, home to the U.S. Air Force’s fleet of B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, after being warned to stop has been sentenced to six months in federal custody, in a case that Air Force officials say reflects a broader shift in how the service is policing activity around its most sensitive installations. Whiteman is located in west-central Missouri, roughly 65 miles southeast of Kansas City, and is the only base in the country that hosts the B-2.
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U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Hailey Farrell, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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When no vendor would build the part, the U.S. Air Force built it themselves
A U.S. Air Force C-17 grounded after a severe storm drove two private jets into its fuselage returned to service Jul. 30, thanks to a repair process that Air Force officials say cut what could have been a two-year fix down to about five months.
U.S. Air Force courtesy image
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Inside the Voyager: How the RAF’s tanker doubles as a flying hospital at Pitch Black
On the flight line at RAAF Base Darwin, the RAF Voyager sitting among the fighter jets of Exercise Pitch Black looks, at first glance, like the support act. It is not built to dogfight. Its job is to keep other aircraft fueled, to move people and freight across long distances, and, when needed, to carry patients home. But spend twenty minutes walking through its cabin, as a group of journalists did last week, and it becomes clear the aircraft is doing more heavy lifting in this exercise than its size in the formation might suggest.
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