The Defense Department has announced that the remains of nine airmen missing in action since 1968 have been recovered and returned to their families. These airmen were buried with full military honors June 10 at Arlington National Cemetery. They are: Col. William H. Mason, Camden, Ark.; Lt. Col. Jerry L. Chambers, Muskogee, Okla.; Maj. William T. McPhail, Chattanooga, Tenn.; Maj. Thomas B. Mitchell, Littleton, Colo.; CMSgt. John Q. Adam, Bethel, Kan.; CMSgt. Calvin C. Glover, Steubenville, Ohio; CMSgt. Thomas E. Knebel, Midway, Ark.; CMSgt. Melvin D. Rash, Yorktown, Va.; and MSgt. Gary Pate, Brooks, Ga. The airmen were aboard a C-130A transport that went down May 22, 1968, during an evening flare mission over northern Salavan Province, Laos. Four excavations were held in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam, between 1989 and 2008 that led to the recovery and subsequent identification of their remains.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.