More than 1,500 US military personnel and civilians gathered March 2 at Ft. Sam Houston, Tex., to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of military flight. The Foulois Centennial Military Flight Celebration honored then-Army Lt. Benjamin Foulois, a Signal Corps pilot who took to the skies over Ft. Sam in a Wright B Flyer on March 2, 1910, making military aviation history. “General Foulois marked Ft. Sam Houston and this great city of San Antonio as the birthplace of military aviation,” said Army Maj. Gen. Russell Czerw, post commander. As part of the celebration, two Wright B Flyer replicas performed. One called Brown Bird made several passes over the spectators, while the second airplane, Yellow Bird, taxied in front of them. Amanda Wright Lane, great grandniece of Orville and Wilbur Wright, sat in Yellow Bird. (Ft. Sam Houston report by TSgt. Matthew McGovern)
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.