World War II

WWII airplanes to fly over Arlington Cemetery Friday

By Stephen Losey on October 10, 2014 History

If you’re near the Pentagon or Arlington National Cemetery today, you might want to watch the skies around lunchtime. About 30 T-6 Texan aircraft — a two-seater used for advanced pilot training during World War II — are going to take off from Culpeper Regional Airport in Virginia around noon, and fly over Northern Virginia in formation. The Potomac Flight is scheduled to swing by Andrews Air Force Base, before flying over Arlington National Cemetery and the Pentagon in formation around 12:30. The T-6s will then return to Culpeper. The ceremonial flight is part of this weekend’s Culpeper Air Fest,…

Two missing World War II airmen identified

By Oriana Pawlyk on September 12, 2013 Air Force, Defense Department, History

Two World War II airmen are finally headed home. The Defense Department’s POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that two U.S. service members missing in action in WWII have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors, according to a Defense Department release. Army Air Force 2nd Lt. Valorie L. Pollard of Monterey, Calif., and Sgt. Dominick J. Licari of Frankfort, N.Y., will be buried as a group in a single casket on Sept. 19 at Arlington National Cemetery. The individually-identified remains of Licari were buried on Aug. 6 in Frankfort, N.Y. Pollard and…

This week in history

By Oriana Pawlyk on August 7, 2013 Air Force, History, Nuclear weapons, Photos

Reviewing history in the military, the Air Force and triumphs and misadventures in airpower. On Aug. 6, 1945, during World War II, an American B-29 bomber dubbed “Enola Gay” dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb, nicknamed the “Little Boy,” over the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing approximately 110,000 Japanese citizens. Three days later, the U.S. dropped the second atom bomb on Japan, at Nagasaki, leading to Japan’s surrender in WWII. The U.S. had originally planned to drop the bomb, nicknamed “Fat Man,” on Nagasaki on Aug.11, five days after the first was dropped on Hiroshima, but weather forced crews…

“Here’s Why” of the week

By Oriana Pawlyk on June 18, 2013 Defense Department, Here's Why, History, Pentagon, Washington

Taking our “Here’s Why” from the paper to the blog. An explanation for why something is the way it is in the Air Force/military. The façade of the Supreme Court. The Taj Mahal. The Leaning Tower of Pisa. All iconic landmarks. All composed of marble. An iconic building to military personnel and the world’s largest office building — the Pentagon — could have been made out of marble, but building planners said, “No way.” Why? According to the Pentagon tours website, the Pentagon has no marble because “it was built during World War II, and Italy, the source of marble, was…

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