Air Force Research Lab formally activated its new 711th Human Systems Wing at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, on March 25, with its recently named director, Thomas Wells, taking charge. • Pacific Air Forces will stage its first Red Flag Alaska of the season beginning April 3, when more than 1,700 personnel from the US, Australia, Britain, and Canada join in operations at the Pacific Alaska Range Complex; subsequent RFAs will take place in June and October. • Officials at McGuire AFB, N.J and from the Thomas B. McGuire Foundation broke ground last week at the base for the new C-141 Starlifter Memorial Park, to honor the aircraft and the airmen who flew them for some 41 years. • MSgt. Derek Ronning with the 338th Combat Training Squadron at Offutt AFB, Neb., has amassed 7,000 flight hours since he joined the Air Force in 1986 and is currently an airborne systems engineer training superintendent for RC/OC-135s.
The Air Force overall reduced its size by 120 aircraft in fiscal year 2021, but kept about the same number of fighter, bomber and attack aircraft, according to data supplied by the service. The F-35 fleet saw the biggest increase while the B-1B bomber fleet saw the largest decline.