The Department of Defense announced May 27 that it has identified the remains of four airmen who were part of a 14-man AC-130 gunship crew that went missing when their aircraft was shot down by a surface-to-air missile in March 1972 during an armed reconnaissance mission over southern Laos. Two of the airmen were Maj. Barclay B. Young of Hartford, Conn., and SMSgt. James K. Caniford of Brunswick, Md. DOD is withholding the names of the two others at the request of their families. Caniford will be buried today (May 28) in Arlington National Cemetery; Young’s burial date is being set by his family. In addition to the four, remains of other crewmen from the AC-130 that could not be individually identified are included in a group that will be buried together in Arlington. Among the group remains is Lt. Col. Henry P. Brauner of Franklin Park, N.J., whose identification tag was recovered at the crash site in Savannakhet Province, Laos.
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.