Benefactors of Malmstrom AFB, Mont., donated a rare Norden Bombsight to the base’s museum collection in memory of their father, a B-17 bomber crewman who trained at the base during World War II. “The first mission of what is now Malmstrom Air Force base was training B-17 groups, and part of this was using a new optical sighting system called a Norden Bombsight,” explained museum director Curt Shannon during the presentation ceremony. “It’s quite an astounding feat to get one because there [are] not a lot of them out there,” he added. Highly classified during WWII, the bombsight revolutionized accuracy by allowing the bombardier to stabilize, compensate, and guide the aircraft through the bomb-run via linkage to a bomber’s autopilot. Brothers Bill Selling and Mike Hanlen presented the family heirloom, Aug. 19. (Malmstrom report by A1C Katrina Heikkinen)
Lt. Gen. Stephen L. Davis, the Department of the Air Force’s top internal watchdog, has been nominated to lead Air Force Global Strike Command, which oversees the service’s bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles.