The MH-53 Pave Low helicopter that was the lead command-and-control platform for the daring Son Tay raid into North Vietnam in November 1970 went on permanent display July 7 at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, the museum reported yesterday. This airframe, dubbed “Magnum” because its tail number shared the same last three digits as the famous 357 gun, flew for 38 years, including stints in Bosnia and Iraq, in addition to Vietnam. Its final combat mission before retirement was in Iraq on March 28.
A three-month continuing resolution that ended in December inflicted less pain on the Department of the Air Force than it had expected, as procurement and construction continue in the new year. The federal government operated under a stopgap spending measure that stretched from the beginning of the fiscal year on…