Charles Everett Bullard, now 87, was a C-47 maintainer back in World War II with the 440th Troop Carrier Group that operated from Pope Army Air Field, N.C. Sixty-five years later, Bullard has taken a ride on a C-130 transport flown by the airmen of Air Force Reserve Command’s 440th Airlift Wing, the current incarnation of his old unit at Pope, now an Air Force base. Bullard got this opportunity as part of a visit sponsored by the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve initiative that gives employers and business leaders who employ USAF reservists an up-close look at the units in which their employees serve. Bullard was honored as a 440th AW honorary command chief for his July flight. (Pope report by Jerry Green)
With upgrades, F-16s can serve as a numbers-builder in the combat air forces until the 2040s, and it’s not necessary to launch its successor yet, program officials said at an industry conference. “We anticipate hundreds of F-16s in active service for decades to come,” meaning into the 2040s, Col. Tim…