Features

  • Awards ceremony recognizes revolutionary research of cadets, faculty

    Analyzing Nigerian refugee camps to create long-term sustainable solutions, and timely famine response while working in Silicon Valley, was one of three projects earning Cadet 1st Class Saylor Gilbert the top cadet summer research program award, Jan. 26. Gilbert’s work was among cadet and faculty

  • 10th SFS Airman gets $Million view, life experience at USAFA

    How does an airman first class get an office bigger than the superintendent’s?  Earn a spot as an Elite Sentry with the 10th Security Forces Squadron, like Giovanni Fiorella.  Fiorella considers the 18,500-acre base, with its sweeping view of the Front Range Mountains, to be his office. “I get a

  • Soaring Program pioneers stage fall visit to Academy

     Two soaring program pioneers took a stroll through history with cadets and staff this fall at the 94th Flying Training Squadron, home to the Air Force’s only Soaring Program.Retired Lt. Col James Leland helped create the soaring program and retired Lt. Col. Richard Trail, a 1959 Academy graduate,

  • Service and survival: Pearl Harbor vet visits Prep School Jan 6

    Retired Navy Lt. Jim Downing is many things: World War II and Korean War veteran and, at 103, the second oldest known survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Colorado Springs resident shared his story of military service with scores of Air Force Academy Preparatory School students here Jan.

  • The Contrails: Aircraft, Weapons Systems: MQ-1B Predator

    Manufacturer: General AtomicsFunction: Armed Reconnaissance, Airborne Surveillance and Target AcquisitionService Date: 1996Speed: Up to 135 mphCrew (GCS): TwoProduction: 186 Inventory: 126Commentary: An operational Predator system includes four air vehicles, a ground control station (GCS), satellite

  • The Contrails: Aircraft Weapons Systems: U-2S/TR-1 Dragon Lady

    Manufacturer: Lockheed MartinFunction: High-AltitudeReconnaissance Service Date: 1955Speed: 410+ mphCrew: 1Production: 35 Inventory: 33Commentary: Although the U-2 was designed initially in the 1950s, current aircraft were produced primarily in the 1980s, when the production line was reopened to

  • The Contrails: Aircraft, Weapons Systems: HH-60G Pave Hawk

    Manufacturer: SikorskyFunction:Special Operations/Personnel Recovery Service Date: 1982  Speed: 184 mphCrew: FourProduction: 105 Inventory: 99Commentary: The HH-60 is a specially modified version of the H-60 Blackhawk used primarily for combat search and rescue, also aeromedical evacuation, casualty

  • The Contrails: Aircraft, Weapons Systems: CV-22A Osprey

    Manufacturer: Bell Helicopter and BoeingFunction: Special Operations Long RangeSpeed: 277 mph (cruising speed)Crew: FourProduction: 50 (planned)Inventory: 17 Commentary: The USAF received its first aircraft in January 2007. IOT&E was completed by summer 2008. The first operational deployment, to

  • The Contrails: Aircraft, Weapons Systems: VC-25 Air Force One

    Manufacturer: BoeingFunction: Presidential Air TransportService Date: 1990Speed: 630 mphCrew: 26Production: 2 Inventory: 2Commentary: The VC-25 is most famous for its role as Air Force One, the call sign of any US Air Force aircraft carrying the President of the United States. The two aircraft