#us air force

After the defeat of Axis forces in Northern Africa, Allied troops prepared to use the territory to launch attacks on Italy and other parts of southern Europe. Here, a U.S. Air Transport Command plane, loaded with war supplies, flies over the pyramids at Giza, near Cairo, Egypt, in 1943. (AP Photo/U.S. Army) [x]

I’m sure it’s just ceremonial, more’s the pity.

itsdarrick:

Order of the SwordbyOfficial U.S. Air Force on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Chief Master Sgt. Bruce Nixon holds the sword that was presented to retired Gen. Norton Schwartz during an Order of the Sword ceremony on Okaloosa Island, Fla., Feb.1, 2013. The Order of the Sword is an honor awarded by the NCOs of a command to recognize individuals they hold in high esteem and for their contributions to the enlisted corps. Nixon is the command chief of 24th Special Operations Wing. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Christopher Callaway)

[I welcome and encourage anyone who can prove me wrong? I really want that claymore to have a honed edge and be forged steel. That would be so fucking Red Ass. -R]

F-35s Grounded as Precaution After Crack Found in Engine Blade

(Article by Jim Garamone of American Forces Press Service, 22 FEB 2013. Source.)

WASHINGTON - All F-35s have been grounded as a precaution after a routine engine inspection revealed a crack on an engine blade, Defense Department officials said here today.

Officials call this a “cautionary suspension of flight.” The Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps fly F-35s.

Inspectors found the crack in an F135 engine installed in an F-35A Lightning II aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. This is the conventional take-off and landing version of the joint strike fighter.

Officials are shipping the engine and its associated hardware to Pratt & Whitney’s engine facility in Middletown, Conn., to conduct more thorough evaluation and root cause analysis.

Officials said the grounding is precautionary. All F-35 flight operations have been suspended until the investigation is complete, officials said, and it is too early to know the fleetwide impact.

“The F-35 Joint Program Office is working closely with Pratt & Whitney and Lockheed Martin at all F-35 locations to ensure the integrity of the engine, and to return the fleet safely to flight as soon as possible,” a Defense Department news release said.
 

soldierporn:

SERE specialist schools the Pedros.

[Left] U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Bobby Colliton, Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape specialist from the 18th Operation Support Squadron on Kadena Air Base, Japan, instructs U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Dane Hatley, a 33rd Rescue Squadron flight engineer, while performing combat survival training during Exercise Pacific Thunder 2012 near Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea.

[Right] U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Bobby Colliton, Survival, Evasion Resistance and Escape specialist from the 18th Operation Support Squadron on Kadena Air Base, Japan, performs combat survival training with a 33rd Rescue Squadron aircrew member during Exercise Pacific Thunder 2012 near Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea.

Pacific Thunder is an annual two-week exercise that involves the 33rd and 31st RQS (Rescue Squadrons) from Kadena AB, Japan, and the 25th Fighter Squadron from Osan. These units work together to practice combat search and rescue (CSAR) tactics to prepare for real-world emergency situations.

(Photos by Staff Sergeant Sara Csurilla, 15 OCT 2012.)

soldierporn:

Red Teams Crew: Know your enemy.

[Top] Airmen from the 133rd Security Forces Squadron play the role of aggressors in Arden Hills, Minnesota.

[Center] Airman 1st Class Bronson Scheff secures Master Sgt. Robben Todd during a refresher Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape training exercise.

[Bottom] Staff Sgt. Justin Schmidt secures the hands of an Airman. Schmidt, along with other 133rd SFS personnel, provided a sense of realism for Airmen from the 109th Airlift Squadron and 109th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron during the Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape training exercise.

(U.S. Air National Guard photos by Tech. Sgt. Amy M. Lovgren, 12 APR 2014.)

USAF SENIOR AIRMAN Katrina Edwards, assigned to the 60th Aerial Port Squadron at Travis Air Force Base, California, fills out an airway bill for a local carrier, 4/10/2002.

Series: Combined Military Service Digital Photographic Files, 1982 - 2007

Record Group 330: Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, 1921 - 2008

Image description: SRA Edwards sits at a desk and copies information from a box onto a form. She is wearing a woodland camouflage uniform, her hair is in a low bun, and she has a French manicure. On her desk is various equipment such as a telephone or fax machine, computer keyboard, and something that may be a printer. 

The first female F-16 Fighting Falcon Pilot, Second Lieutenant (2LT) Kristin L Bass, USAF, gets strapped into her F-16C Fighting Falcon by crew chief Technical Sergeant (TSGT) Kevin J. Jones, 4/4/2002

Series: Combined Military Service Digital Photographic Files, 1982 - 2007

Record Group 330: Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, 1921 - 2008

Image description: Second Lieutenant Bass sits in her fighter jet with the canopy open and her helmet perched on the side of the aircraft. Technical Sergeant Jones is leaning in to connect a buckle behind Bass’s shoulder.

Bagram Re-FuelbyU.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) on Flickr.

                        “There’s the cutest little puppy named George here that you ever saw.”

American aviator in France – Kenneth MacLeish (sadly killed in action in 1918) – The Price of Honor – Image: another WW1 American aviator, Walter Melville Boadway (who survived the war), with a cute puppy, somewhere in Europe. Pasadena Museum of History

nocternalrandomness:

General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark

U.S. Army helicopter pilot

An historic moment as warplanes intentionally takeoff and land on a civilian road in Michigan.

A pair of Boeing B-1B Lancers of the 28th BW/37th BS Tigers and the 28th BW/34th BS T-Birds fly past Devil’s Tower National Monument, Wyoming during a training sortie. 

The B-1 was designed to perform exceptionally well at low-level missions.

(Photo by Ted Carlson/Fotodynamics.com)