The 559th Flying Training Squadron at Randolph AFB, Tex., shed its last T-37 Tweet, saying so long to the 42-year veteran during a special ceremony April 6. Last month, Randolph had marked the last graduating class of T-37 instructor pilots, who will teach student pilots on T-37s at other Air Education and Training Command bases until they, too, change their Tweets for the new T-6A Texan II. The 559th FTS commemorated the event with remembrances from one of its early commanders, retired Col. Robert Hermanson, a T-37 and T-6 flyby, and unveiling of a board with signatures of IPs, maintainers, and others who shared the Tweet heritage.
Fixing the Air Force’s chronic combat pilot shortage will require more aircraft in the fleet, more flying hours to squadron operations, and retaining more pilots within Reserve components, according to a new paper from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.