AFA Almanac 2023

McConnell Air Force Base has recovered and injuries are few after a violent storm raked the flightline ahead of a large airshow on Aug. 25. Surprisingly little damage was inflicted on the 80 or so static display operational and historic aircraft on display.

The sturdy, flexible C-130 Hercules took its first flight on Aug. 23, 1954, launching a 70-year career that has saved lives and helped fight wars from nearly every corner of the Earth.

The winged dagger of Air Force Special Operations Command will adorn the helmets of Air Force football when it takes on Navy this fall, the latest in a series of uniforms honoring key moments and organizations in the history of airpower. 

Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Joe Henry Engle, test pilot, Apollo-era astronaut, and the only American to fly two different winged vehicles into space, died July 10 at the age of 91. Engle flew more than 185 different aircraft—38 of them fighter/attack types—and amassed more than 15,000 flight hours, including…

Former Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), who chaired the Senate Armed Services Committee for four years, died July 9 at age 89. He was the 2022 recipient of AFA's highest civilian honor, the Stuart Symington Award.

Col. Kenneth Cordier, who served as a Vietnam fighter pilot and endured more than six years as a POW, died June 18 at age 87.

In just over 200 pages, a new book from the command historian at the Air Force Academy covers more than a century of airpower in a concise primer for newcomers and armchair historians.

Astronaut William Anders, who flew around the moon on Apollo 8 and took the iconic “Earthrise” photo, died in a plane crash June 7 at the age of 90. Across his life he was an Air Force pilot and general, an ambassador, head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and an…

An Air Force combat controller earned the Air Force Cross—the service’s second-highest decoration for valor in combat behind only the Medal of Honor—for his actions during a fierce battle in Syria in 2018. His identity, however, remains publicly unknown.