Air Combat Command officials say the command had only four Class A flight mishaps over the past fiscal year, compared to 12 in 2005. Col. Kelly Fletcher, ACC chief of flight safety, says that is the lowest flight mishap rate in 16 years—encompassing ACC and its predecessor Tactical Air Command.
In 1941, Gen. Henry H. “Hap” Arnold of the then-U.S. Army Air Corps, personally reviewed a jet engine patented by Sir Frank Whittle flying on a Gloster E.28/39 aircraft. Impressed by its design, Arnold arranged for a Whittle engine to be brought back to the U.S. and tasked General Electric…