USAF weather operators paid belated tribute in an Oct. 6 ceremony to an Army Air Forces combat weatherman for his heroic service during the D-Day invasion of France, June 6, 1944. As an 18-year old Army draftee, Eugene Levine became a combat weather observer aboard gliders with the 82nd Airborne Division. On D-Day, he played a vital role in getting communications equipment to the division. Presiding over the ceremony was Brig. Gen. Lawrence Stutzriem, who gave Levine an American flag and a 60th anniversary D-Day medallion. Both items had been carried by 7th Weather Squadron’s SSgt. John Lee, who parachuted into St. Mere Eglise, France, in a 2004 re-enactment of D-Day’s airborne attack.
The Air Force conducted its first successful test of the Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon, or ARRW, on May 14, snapping a streak of three consecutive failed tests and giving the beleaguered hypersonics program a much needed boost. Off the coast of Southern California, the AGM-183A ARRW separated from the wing…