Ralph Hoehn, a B-24 bomber pilot who took part in 35 missions over Europe in World War II, is scheduled to receive a much-belated Distinguished Flying Cross on June 25 during a ceremony at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Hoehn served with the 491st Bombardment Group and began flying bombing missions in Europe after D-Day. “We were shot at on almost every mission,” he explained. “Sometimes,” he continued, “the skies would be dark with smoke from flak [antiaircraft fire] ahead of us and behind us. The flak would shake the plane. It was especially thick if we hit the same target twice—the Germans were ready for us the second time.” Hoehn’s award ceremony is part of the Air Force Materiel Command Freedom’s Call Tattoo 2010 that kicks off that same day. (Wright-Patterson report by Mike Wallace) (Freedom’s Call Tattoo 2010 Web page)
Due to the prolonged delay in deliveries of the Tech Refresh 3 version of the F-35 fighter, Denmark is pulling six of its TR-2-configured F-35 jets stationed in the U.S. back to home base in order to consolidate aircraft and get better training for its pilots and maintainers, the Danish…