AFRC’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron “Hurricane Hunters” from Keesler AFB, Miss., have flown their last mission of the 2005 Atlantic Ocean hurricane season—a record season with more than 145 missions covering 25 storms. (The unit also got displaced to Dobbins ARB, Ga., courtesy of Hurricane Katrina.) The Hunters flew their first storm of the season in May, responding to Hurricane Adrian off the coast of Central America. The last was Hurricane Epsilon earlier this month. Every mission the unit flew this season was in their new WC-130J Hercules, completing a conversion to the J model two years early.
The first flight of the secretive B-21 bomber has slipped to mid-2022, but the program is moving along well, Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office director Randall Walden said in an exclusive interview. The second copy of the B-21, which will be used for structural testing, is now on the production…