A once retired B-52H Stratofortress known as Ghost Rider, tail number 61-007, returned to Minot AFB, N.D., Tuesday after more than seven years at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz. The aircraft has been undergoing rehab work to make it the first B52-H regenerated back into the fleet. The process began when a cockpit fire damaged an operational Stratofortress in 2014. Ghost Rider was previously stationed at Minot in the 1990s, and its primary crew chief from that time, Robert Crane, 5th Logistics Readiness Squadron vehicle management flight chief, was on hand for its return. (See also Ghost Rider Resurrected and Boneyard BUFF Heads Back to Service.)
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.