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Notice how the Russian VDV Airborne Paras jump without d-bags dangling outside the aircraft such that they can jump IN FRONT OF IL-76 JET ENGINES! By using drogue chutes they exit the plane clean and can have timers delay openings for HIGH ALTITUDE mass tactical jumps without trying to teach everyone belabored civilian skydiving stable body position skills. This means more Paras can jump from more doors and land closer together near their BMD light tank/APC to get into action far faster than U.S. Airborne equipment and techniques. And the VDV can jump with their IL-76 jets not having to...

Great tribute to "The Hanoi Taxi" which took our POWs home in 1973.

ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AFPN) -- Since its first flight Dec. 17, 1963, the C-141 Starlifter has enjoyed a prestigious history. The last chapter of that history will be written in October when the Air Force's last C-141 unit, the 445th Airlift Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, starts replacing its Starlifters with the C-5 Galaxy. Over the years, C-141s have carried cargo, passengers and patients around the globe. Air Force reservists flew many of those missions, first in an associate-unit capacity, and later in a unit-equipped role. In 1987, the 459th Military Airlift Wing at Andrews AFB,...

The make of jet plane that for years linked Christchurch to Antarctica has taken its last Ice flight. C-141s were the first jets to land in Antarctica and have transported people and supplies to the United States' McMurdo Station in Antarctic for the past 40 years. Although destined to become scrap metal on its return to the States, the last great old grey StarLifter to make the Ice flight was farewelled with much sentiment by Antarctic personnel yesterday in Christchurch before it flew back to the United States. "It's like men and their cars – you get kind of attached...

Dear Lord, There's a young man far from home, called to serve his nation in time of war; sent to defend our freedom on some distant foreign shore. We pray You keep him safe, we pray You keep him strong, we pray You send him safely home ... for he's been away so long. There's a young woman far from home, serving her nation with pride. Her step is strong, her step is sure, there is courage in every stride. We pray You keep her safe, we pray You keep her strong, we pray You send her safely home...

On September 13, 1997, a U.S. Air Force C-141 collided with a German Tupolev-154 over the South Atlantic, several hundred miles off the coast of Angola, killing all 33 on board both planes. The C-141 was on its way to Ascension Island for refueling before heading back to Maguire air base in New Jersey. Apparently (if my Italian skills are right; I'm getting this from an Italian newspaper), it had just dropped off mine-removal equipment to Namibia, where mines had been scattered over the countryside in its war of independence from South Africa. The Luftwaffe plane was carrying a group...