Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz is now an honorary member of the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II fame. Retired Brig. Gen. Leon Johnson, Tuskegee Airmen Inc., president, bestowed Schwartz with an honorary membership during a ceremony in the Pentagon last week attended by six original Tuskegee members. Byron Morris, Tuskegee Airmen East Coast Chapter president, also presented Schwartz with a Tuskegee Airmen red jacket. Schwartz joined Gen. Merrill McPeak and Gen. Ronald Fogleman as the only Air Force Chiefs of Staff to be honorary members in the famous group of black airmen who flew fighter escorts during World War II and helped to break down racial barriers in the US military. (Air Force photo caption by Scott M. Ash) (For more background, read Tuskegee Airmen from the Air Force Magazine archives.)
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.