MINOT AIR FORCE BASE More than 200 airmen and two B-52 bombers from Minot Air Force Base's newest B-52 squadron will deploy next week for Guam, said base officials.   This will be the first deployment for the 69th Bomb Squadron, which was reactivated at the Minot base Sept. 4, 2009.   Historically, it is the first time the 69th will deploy to Andersen AFB, Guam, since the Vietnam War. The 69th is a distinguished unit that also had deployments of its bombers during World War II.   Led by Lt

FORGET Riverfire – the upcoming Ipswich Mayor's Christmas Carols by Candlelight will feature the final F-111 dump-and-burn.   The RAAF Base Amberley-based jets are set to be decommissioned next month and their replacements, the F/A-18F Super Hornet, cannot perform the crowd-pleasing stunt. Wing Commander Micka Gray, Commanding Officer No 6 Squadron, said a dump-and-burn would be performed at the carols event as a thank-you to the Ipswich community. He said the city had always supported the j

When Cpl. Austin McGee climbed into the cockpit of the vintage F4U Corsair parked on the flightline outside the squadron's hangar, he said he couldn't be more proud to be a part of the “most famous squadron” in the Marine Corps.   “I wanted to see what it was for the people who came before me,” said McGee, an avionics technician from Vilonia, Ark., stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma. “It isn't very often that you get to step back into the past with a piece of history such as this.”  

Jodhpur: A MiG-27 fighter plane of the IAF on Wednesday crashed near Jodhpur in Rajasthan shortly after take off for a routine sortie, but the pilot bailed out safely.   The crash occurred at 1320 hrs, 15 minutes after the aircraft took off from Jodhpur air base. The pilot, Flight Lieutenant A Patni, who is safe, had reported trouble in the aircraft, a defence official said, adding there is no damage on the ground.   >>FULL ARTICLE<<

"The S-3 parked recently in a hangar at Jacksonville Naval Air Station looked like it just returned from the 1942 Battle of Midway. Very odd, given that the Viking is a two-engine jet that served as a sub hunter, tanker and much more during its 33-year career beginning in 1975. But the plane's newly applied retro paint job was actually meant to evoke the epic sea battle that turned the World War II Pacific campaign in America's favor.   "We were going for a Midway effect," said Don Lockwood,

Telegraphindia -- SUJAN DUTTA   New Delhi, Oct. 20: New Delhi has decided to play hardball on military pacts with the Pentagon after expectations were raised that the pending agreements may be signed during the visit of Barack Obama in about two weeks from now. “We are in consultation with the armed forces about the benefits and utility of these (agreements),” defence secretary Pradip Kumar said here