At a time when B-52 heavy bombers are frequent flyers over the Korean peninsula (see: North Korea shenanigans) it’s nice to know that they’re keeping ready. Six B-52 Stratofortresses from Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, took part in Exercise Combat Hammer, an annual air-to-ground combat training exercise which tests bombing capability, according to a release from Minot. “We exercise to ensure we are able to hit a target that the Air Force tells us to hit, with weapons they tell us to use, at a time they want it to be hit,” Maj. Ryan Cox, 5th Operations Support Squadron chief of wing…
Browsing: B-17D Flying Fortress
Reviewing history in the military, the Air Force and triumphs and misadventures in airpower. One could say no man loved the seagull more than Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker … and for good reason. The American WWI fighter ace and Medal of Honor recipient was a civilian supporting WWII aboard a B-17D Flying Fortress on Oct. 21, 1942. He was traveling to Hawaii for a base inspection tour when, en route to the refueling point on Canton Island, the aircraft’s faulty navigation forced Rickenbacker and the crew to ditch the aircraft due to fuel exhaustion. The crewmen ended up drifting in life…