Retired Lt. Gen. James F. Record, who commanded 12th Air Force and Air Forces Southern prior to his retirement in 1997, died Dec. 22 from a form of leukemia. He was 71. Record entered the Air Force in 1961 through ROTC at Purdue University in Indiana and earned his pilot wings in 1962. He flew as a forward air controller in O-1 and O-2 aircraft and was an F-100 instructor pilot in Vietnam, accumulating 616 combat missions. Over his career, he commanded three fighter wings and an air division and served as first deputy commander of Joint Task Force Middle East in the late 1980s and commanded the Joint Task Force Southwest Asia from November 1992 to March 1993. The Arizona Daily Star reports that, after retiring from USAF, Record joined Hughes Aircraft and remained with the company (acquired by Raytheon) until 2007.
An Air Force F-16 pilot designed a collapsible ladder that weighs just six pounds and folds into the unused cockpit map case.