Commentary by Hasard Lee, via Sandboxx U.S. Air Force Capt. Brad Matherne, 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron pilot, views the flightline inside an F-35A Lightning II before a training mission April 4, 2013, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. The 422nd TES will design the...
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Forget Drones, the Skies Still Belong to Fighter Pilots
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AF Reserve Safety—Back Then: A Detailed Retrospective
By Thomas A. Duke, Lt. Col., USAF (Ret) After five years as Chief of Safety of the Missile Wing at Malmstrom AFB, in 1977 I got lucky and was chosen to become the Director of Safety for the Air Force Reserve Command headquartered at Warner Robins AFB, Georgia. It was...
Flying Right Into Open Architecture
by Kimberly Underwood via Signal Magazine The Navy’s acquisition strategy aims at open architectures in aviation programs. The U.S. military is using open architecture platforms on a greater scale, deploying interchangeable hardware and software systems to its major...
The Air Force wants $48 million to drop commandos into battle from orbit
by David Roza via Task & Purpose Whether they’re in Star Wars, Halo or Warhammer 40,000, I’m a big fan of sci-fi planetary invasions, so my ears perked up when I heard the U.S. Air Force wants to invest $48 million into researching reusable...
U.S. Army buying fewer helicopters to pay for Future Vertical Lift
by Dan Parsons via Vertical Magazine Where the Army budget included funding for 50 remanufactured AH-64E Apache helicopters in the current fiscal year, it plans to buy 30 next year and no new build AH-64Es. U.S. Army Photo by Capt. Kyle Abraham Speedy future...
Sibling Rivalry: Military Services in High-Stakes Tussle Over Long-Range Fires
by Jon Harper via National Defense Magazine Air Force and Army leaders and their supporters are trading barbs over which branches of the military should be investing in long-range strike capabilities. The outcome of the dispute has major implications for service...
Defying the Flying Coffin: The Combat and POW Experiences of B-24 Navigator Harry Fornalczyk
by Gary Fullmer, Pioneer Flight Harry was born in Erie, Pennsylvania on September 9, 1923. As a typical young boy of that period, Harry managed to stay out of serious trouble but was very active in several unexplained happenings around his neighborhood. In his high...
Goodbye A-10s, hello pay raise: Inside the Pentagon’s $715 billion budget wishlist
Commentary by Jeff Schogol via Task & Purpose An A-10 Thunderbolt II prepares to land at Misawa Air Base, Japan, May 26, 2021. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Joao Marcus Costa) The Pentagon’s $715 billion budget request for next fiscal year takes...
Brown on Future Combat: ‘I Can’t Predict the Future, But I Can Shape It’
by Tobias Naegele via Air Force Magazine The defense budget coming out May 28 will contain few big surprises. Plans to retire some older planes have already been reported, and the longer-range plans typically surfacing at budget time—known as the Future Years Defense...
NASA study reveals how human physiology contributes to pilot breathing issues in high performance aircraft
by Lisa Gordon via Skies Magazine From the U.S. Navy’s older T-45 Goshawk jet trainer to the state-of-the-art fifth generation F-35 Lightning II fighter – and every high performance aircraft in between – military pilots are susceptible to breathing problems that could...
Weapons of the future: Trends in drone proliferation
Commentary by Dan Gettinger via Defense News In January 2001, a Predator launched an inert Hellfire missile at a dummy tank, marking the first successful missile test from a drone. Twenty years on, drones have become a feature of warfare to an extent that few at the...
The Homing Pigeon
by Lt.Col. John Larrison, USAF (Ret.) This story took place when I was a captain back in 1962. I was an instructor pilot for the USAF Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) program flying the T-37 at Vance AFB, Enid, Oklahoma. This story involves an air national guard...
Space Force’s First Battle Is With the US Army
by Tara Copp via Defense One The Army’s Kestrel Eye satellite provides imagery from low Earth orbit, where Space Force officials are looking to expand operations. (U.S. ARMY) The fight for control of space is brewing — not the competition with China, but between...
How The Air Force Fires Live Missiles To Make Sure Pilots And Weapons Function In Actual Combat
by Jamie Hunter via The War Zone An F-15E of the 40th Flight Test Squadron fires an AIM-120 AMRAAM. (USAF/SSGT John McCrell) “Fox 3!” a pilot exclaims as a radar-guided missile streaks off the wing of a fighter jet. In seconds the weapon is traveling at supersonic...
US Army aviation exercise unveils unprecedented progress as service preps for future war
by Jen Judson via Defense News DUGWAY PROVING GROUND, Utah — Aircrew in the back of a Black Hawk helicopter performing an air assault mission typically have limited information on the status and layout of a landing zone. But a two-weeklong exercise in the Utah desert...
Bring Back the Air Force Battle Lab
Commentary by Mike Benitez via War on the Rocks The U.S. Air Force has established a new, innovative organization whose charter is to “create an environment where innovative ideas are rapidly harvested and evaluated, leading to swift fielding of proven...
The Airplane Changed Our Idea of the World
by Paul Glenshaw via Air & Space Magazine Six years after Wilbur Wright wowed the crowds at LeMans, Henri Salmet pilots his Blériot XI-2, The Daily Mail, along the scenic beaches of Nice in 1914. Though by that time airplanes were beginning to be more common, they...
Army Wants To Accelerate FTUAS Drone
by Sydney J. Freeberg, Jr. via Breaking Defense The Army is asking industry if it can accelerate delivery of a new scout drone, FTUAS, to replace the aging RQ-7 shadow after a successful year of field tests of four competing prototypes, culminating...
Don’t make space harder than it needs to be
by Matthew Jenkins via The Space Review In February, White House press secretary Jen Psaki called the Space Force “the plane of today”—a reference to media interest in the paint scheme of the new Air Force One—when asked whether the new administration supported the...
From Mon Valley to the Moon: A Life Well Lived
Colonel Thomas J. Tredici, USAF (Ret.): August 27, 1922 to April 28, 2021 by Lt.Col. Bill Ercoline, USAF (Ret.) Colonel (Doctor) Tredici in front ot a B-17 in 1987 Thomas J. Tredici was born in 1922 in the small steel producing town of Monessen. The town is located in...
Why We Need the Advanced Battle Management System
Commentary by Gen. David Allvin, U.S. Air Force Vice Chief of Staff, via Defense One 6th Special Operations Squadron during an exercise showcasing the capabilities of the ABMS at Duke Field, Fla., Dec. 17, 2019. U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO BY TECH. SGT. JOSHUA J. GARCIA As...
US spaceflight at 60: A lot has changed since NASA’s 1st crewed mission
by Elizabeth Howell via Space.com Alan Shepard’s lift off on May 5, 1961. It was 60 years ago today that the United States’ first spaceflyer urged nervous flight controllers to ”fix your little problem and light this candle” to send him into...
The F-35 Question – Value vs. Price Tag
By Stew Magnuson via National Defense Magazine F35 front view close up flying to the camera with chem trails The knives are out again for the F-35 joint strike fighter. For anyone who has followed this program, periodic flurries of criticism are fairly regular...
Sun Tzu Versus AI: Why Artificial Intelligence Can Fail in Great Power Conflict
By Captain Sam J. Tangredi, U.S. Navy (Retired) via Proceedings by the U.S. Naval Institute In today’s Pentagon, the promise of artificial intelligence (AI) has become the equivalent of what logistics was to Admiral Ernest King, U.S. Fleet Commander and Chief of Naval...
Astronaut Michael Collins, Apollo 11 pilot, dies at 90
by Jessica Gresko, the Associated Press via Air Force Times In this June 19, 1969, file photo, Apollo 11 command module pilot astronaut Michael Collins takes a break during training for the moon mission, in Cape Kennedy, Fla. (AP) Apollo 11 astronaut Michael...
The USAF’s Bad Bets on Pilot Retention Show It Needs Outside Help
by Bryan Kruchkow and Tobias Switzer via DefenseOne Despite the pandemic, the Air Force is still short of pilots, thanks to low retention and strong airline hiring. Before COVID-19 reached the United States, the Air Force had a deficit of more than 2,000 pilots,...
Huge Navy Unmanned-Focused Experiment Underway Featuring Live Missile Shoot And ‘Super Swarms’
by Joseph Trevithick via The Warzone The U.S. Navy will fire a missile at a surface target using information from a combination of manned and unmanned aircraft and surface vessels during a first-of-its-kind experiment that kicked off yesterday. The...
The World’s Oldest Living Air Force General Just Turned 107
by Oriana Pawlyk via Military.com Read about Daedalian Life Member 1,514, Lt. Gen. Harry E. Goldworthy in this feature on his life and service on the recent occasion of is 107th birthday. In 1960, then-Col. Harry Goldsworthy and his team were given the near-impossible...
The U.S. system created the world’s most advanced military. Can it maintain an edge?
Commentary by Missy Ryan via the Washington Post EVERETT, Wash. — As they conduct bombing and surveillance missions around the globe, today’s U.S. military pilots rely on aerial refueling aircraft built as early as 1957, when the Soviet Union dominated American...
End of the High-Low Mix?
by John A. Tirpak via Air Force Magazine The Air Force is launching a new tactical aviation study in an attempt to rationalize its swelling portfolio of manned and unmanned combat aircraft programs. The goal is to harmonize its efforts with those of the other...
One of Those Moments of Stark Terror
by Lt.Col. (then Captain) John Larrison, USAF (Ret.) A-1E Skyraider making a napalm run in Vietnam Sometimes flying has been described as “hours and hours of boredom separated by moments of stark terror.” I guess I have had very few of those moments but one of...
“Querer es poder”: A Conversation with Lt. Col. Olga Custodio, USAF (Ret.)
Interview conducted via telephone by Taylor E. Watson on Wednesday, March 24th, 2021. Lt. Col. Olga Custodio, USAF (Ret.) Lt. Col. Olga Custodio, USAF (Ret.) is a former Air Force aviator and American Airlines pilot. Of Puerto Rican descent, her family traveled around...
From the Archives: Daedalian Founding Documents
From the important documents of the Order of Daedalians, 1934-1939, are some founding documents of our organization, including the organization’s history, information about our name and motto, and the legend of Daedalus, our namesake. As World War I opened in...
Don’t Rush To JADC2: Army Gen. Murray
By Theresa Hitchens and Sydney J. Freeberg, Jr. via Breaking Defense Gen. Mike Murray WASHINGTON: The military must avoid getting swept away in a “rush to lockdown requirements” for the Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) strategy, cautions Gen. Mike...
From the Archives: ‘To Look Back with Pride’ An Interview with Kathy LaSauce
by Master Sgt. Annette Crawford, USAF (Ret.) Capt. Kathy La Sauce stands in front of a C-141 Starlifter at Norton AFB, California, in the 1980s. Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Kathy La Sauce can’t remember a time when being a woman stopped her from achieving her goals. In...
Redefine Readiness or Lose
Commentary by Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. and Gen. David H. Berger via War on the Rocks In the halls of the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill, military, civilian, and congressional leaders regularly discuss the “readiness” of our armed forces. Department of Defense...
The Air Force Wants to Outsource Some of Its Pilot Training to Private Companies
by Oriana Pawlyk via Military.com Second Lt. Rafael Galvoa, 37th Flying Training Squadron student pilot, and 1st Lt. Thomas Buckley, 37th FTS instructor pilot, conduct pre-flight checks on a T-6 Texan II at Columbus Air Force Base, Miss., Jan. 24, 2020. (Davis...
Reflections of a Space Pioneer: A Conversation with Col. Eileen Collins, USAF (Ret.)
Interview conducted via telephone by Taylor E. Watson on Thursday, March 4th, 2021. Col. Eileen Collins, USAF (Ret.) Col. Eileen Collins, USAF (Ret.) is a former astronaut and military instructor and test pilot. An Irish-American native of Elmira, New York, she was...
It’s a Family Affair: The Danielsons Legacy of Service
Ben Danielson as a Lieutenant, in front of his T-38 trainer. Cadet William Danielson is a junior in the AFROTC program at Washington State University. He was awarded a Daedalian Foundation matching scholarship tied to Inland Empire Flight 41 in December. However, the...
TRUST AND TECH: AI EDUCATION IN THE MILITARY
by Joseph O. Chapa, via War on the RocksCommentary originally published March 2, 2021 The average life expectancy of a non-instrument trained pilot in instrument conditions is 178 seconds — or so says a 1954 study that pilots have referenced ever since. The...
Desert Storm: 30 Years Later
The AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies is pleased to release a special report on the 30th anniversary of the start of Desert Storm, Desert Storm: 30 Years Later. According to the U.S. Government Accounting Office, the Persian Gulf War of 1991 “was...
Why Was the A-1E Used In-Lieu-Of Jet Aircraft in Vietnam?
by Lt. Col. John Larrison, USAF (Ret.) To answer this question, we need to go back to the French battles with the Viet Minh at Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam. The French used the B-26 in their failed combat actions to save the garrison at Dien Bien Phu. With the downfall of...
‘Dearest Sweetheart’: The passion and poignancy of wartime love letters
“Darling, I hope you like this rather weird pose. This was the surprise I had for you and I do hope you like it. I love to keep you well supplied with pictures, so you won’t ever have a chance to forget me … so this photo is from me … Lots of...
The Old Man and the New Plane
by Lt. Col. Michael A. Buck, USAF (Ret.), Former Commander 186th Fighter Squadron A History of the 186th Aero Squadron in the Great War, Part 3 28 August – 30 October 1918 The 186th left Le Havre, France, by rail on the morning of 29 August 1918. The men rode...
Bureacracy Never Dies
Shared by our friends at the DCMA Boeing Seattle Contract Management Office (CMO) Col. Corkille Col. John D. Corkille was an early U.S. Army Air Corps aviator who flew in WWI, the 1923 Bendix Air Races, the ill-fated Martin Bomber flight to Alaska, and was lead test...
His Storied Life: James Wiley, Tuskegee Airman and American War Hero
This was our first date. Even so, the stories swirled around us. I suppose, as older singles, there was a lot of life for Bill and me to draw from. We sat in the morning sun over coffee, exchanging snippets of our lives, honest achievements. Still, each of us was...
T-6 Gear Check via a Control Tower Fly-By
by Lt. Col. John Larrison (USAF, Ret.) It is not uncommon for a pilot to request a control tower “Fly-By” for the tower personnel to provide a “visual” check of his landing gear when the pilot questions his cockpit indicators. The following story took...
Daedalians Twelve Days of Christmas
by Taylor E. Watson Can you complete our Twelve Days of Christmas...
NORAD Santa Tracker Celebrates 65th Anniversary
Taylor E. Watson NORAD celebrates its 65th year of tracking Santa this December 24th. The tradition began in 1955 when a child dialed a misprinted number from a newspaper ad encouraging kids to call Santa. The phone was picked up by Colonel Henry Shoup, Director of...