Retired Lt. Gen. Gordon M Graham died of a stroke March 22 at his home in Virginia, according to an April 12 Washington Post report. Graham, who was 90, flew 73 combat missions in the P-51 Mustang during World War II, amassing, according to the Air Force Historical Research Agency, seven victory credits. (Note that the Air Force biography credits him with 16.5 credits, but AFHRA stands by its total.) Graham served in a variety of staff and command positions and flew several aircraft, including the F-84F, F-100, and F-4 and RF-4, in which he flew 146 combat missions during the Vietnam War.
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…