Category Archives: USAF

Grey Wolf has achieved IOC

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A 582nd Helicopter Group MH-139 Grey Wolf takes off near Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, Feb. 19, 2026. The 582 HG supports USSTRATCOM’s strategic deterrence mission by enabling airborne security and rapid response capabilities for missile wings across Air Force Global Strike Command. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Nicholas Rowe)

Air Force Global Strike Command announced that the MH-139A Grey Wolf officially achieved Initial Operational Capability on August 10, ushering in a new era of modernization for AFGSC’s nuclear security operations.

An American-made (by Boeing) Leonardo AW139, the Air Force is buying 84 of these sleek choppers at about $21M a pop (although commercial AW139s run like $11M) to replace its elderly Hueys in the three operational squadrons (37th, 40th, and 54th) of the 582nd HG for ICBM field security and convoy use, with extras flown for training/support by the 703rd HS and 413th FTS.

Not sure why $15M UH-60s or $11.5M UH-72s couldn’t do the task, but you have to admit they look sweet. Oh, and they cost a bit less than the $28M fly-away of a UH-1Y Venom as flown by the Marines.

This milestone marks the historic transition from the Vietnam-era UH-1N Huey, a platform that served the Air Force for more than five decades.

The MH-139 Grey Wolf boasts significant capability upgrades: it is nearly 50 percent faster, can carry twice as many troops, and features enhanced defensive systems. These advancements allow security forces to mobilize combat power and arrive on-site sooner than the legacy platform.

Cue that beautiful viz-modded Bell 222. You know you are already thinking it.

Auto Ordnance Keeps up the Nose Art 1911s

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I’ve dug what Pennsylvania-based Auto-Ordnance has done in the past with their WWII-themed M1911A1s, for instance, with their Black Sheep Squadron salute back in 2024.

A functional work of art, underneath the custom Cerakote finish, the Black Sheep 1911 is still an Auto-Ordnance Stainless 1911 in .45 ACP. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

Also, note the “belly” of the gun is left in “the white” to emulate the aluminum body of an F4U Corsair. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

Well, the company is back with two additions to its “Winged Warriors” series: the “Memphis Belle 1911” and the “Red Tails 1911”.  Artwork in Cerakote is hand-done by the artisans at Altered Arsenal.

Price is $1,500, making these limited editions something more for an aviation buff’s man cave or gift to grandpa kinda thing, but it is nice to see them around.

The Hog Slaughter Endures: Davis-Monthan A-10 Unit Inactivations

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On 18 September 2026, the 355th Wing inactivated the remaining A-10 Thunderbolt II units at Davis-Monthan: The 355th Operations Group, 357th Fighter Squadron (“Dragons”), 357th Fighter Generation Squadron, and 355th Training Squadron, capping a half-century of Warthog operations from the Arizona base and casing the unit’s colors.

They had a pair of 47-year-old Idaho Air National Guard and ANG Test Center A-10Cs fly in from Gowen Field and Morris ANGB, respectively, for the inactivation ceremony, as all of the 355th’s ‘Hogs had been retired back in July. The birds were 79-00142 (MSN 0406, former 47th FS “Salomey”) and 79-00185 (MSN 0449, formerly of the 511th TFS).

Two U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft assigned to the Idaho Air National Guard and Air National Guard Air Force Reserve Test Center fly in formation at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, Sept. 18, 2026. The aircraft flew during the A-10 Unit Inactivation Ceremony to honor the legacy of the Thunderbolt II and the Airmen who supported its mission at Davis-Monthan. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Samantha Melecio)

The fact that planes had to be flown in was especially poignant.

At its peak, Davis-Monthan housed something like 85 A-10s assigned to its primary and training squadrons, not counting those in the Boneyard.

How about this sight just four years back:

A 355th Wing A-10 “elephant walk” at Davis-Monthan back in 2022. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Alex Miller)

These days, the USAF only has two active-duty A-10 squadrons (23rd FG’s 74th FS “Flying Tigers” and 75th FS “Tiger Sharks”) at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, and one reserve squadron (442nd FW’s 303rd FS “KC Hawgs”) at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, with 54 primary airframes, and all three units are expected to be sunset by 2030.

The ANG has the 107th FS “Red Devils” in Michigan and the 190th “Skullbangers” in Idaho, which are expected to transition to F-15EXs and Block 40 F-16Cs by 2027-28.

Today, something like 150 A-10 retired airframes are in storage at the other end of the base under the care of AMARG.

Last ‘Hog Flys Last Air Weapons School Training Flight

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The end of an era, boys.

The A-10 Thunderbolt II SN 82-0665 completed its final training sortie with the 66th Weapons Squadron this week, flown by Lt. Col. Ridge Flick, the unit’s commander.

“The flight closed a chapter of providing graduate-level training in advanced close air support with the U.S. Air Weapons School,” as noted Nellis’s PAO.

U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Alex Padilla, a crew chief assigned to the 757th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, conducts postflight maintenance on an A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, August 18, 2026. Maintainers assigned to the 757th AMXS routinely inspect and service aircraft to ensure combat-ready airpower for the joint force. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Jennifer Nesbitt)

U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Ridge Flick, 66th Weapons Squadron commander, conducts postflight procedures in an A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, August 18, 2026. The 66th WPS completed the final A-10 training flight for the U.S. Air Force Weapons School. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Jennifer Nesbitt)

A U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft taxis after its final training flight at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, Aug. 18, 2026. The 66th Weapons Squadron conducted the final training flight. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Jennifer Nesbitt)

Fitting that it was with 82-0665, the last ‘Hog built. According to Baugher’s sheets, 82-0665 (MSN 713) was delivered on 20 March 1984 to the 23rd FW, 74th TFS “Flying Tigers” at England AFB, Louisiana, and has had a full career.

An air-to-air right-side view of a 23rd Tactical Fighter Wing A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft banking toward Cain Lake, a landmark near the base where pilots practice their combat flying tactics. The aircraft is armed with AGM-65 Maverick missiles and an AN/ALQ-119 electronic countermeasures pod. The last production A-10A Thunderbolt II built (S/N 82-0665) was delivered to the TAC’s 74th Fighter Squadron at England AFB. (TSgt Bill Thompson)

Wearing a woodland camo paint livery and EL tail code, 82-665 was part of the TAC A-10 Demo Team and was named “Cool Cat the Last Tiger” to mark the last production A-10A.

She was sent to the Boneyard at AMARC in 2001, then returned to service and converted to A-10C standard before being sent to the 66th WPS.

The 66th, as recently as March, was conducting austere landing training on a dry lake bed outside of Las Vegas. You know, the kind of stuff the A-10 was designed for, and virtually no other combat jet in the world can pull off with style.

A U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft assigned to the 66th Weapons Squadron, U.S. Air Force Weapons School, performs an austere landing at Delamar Dry Lake near Alamo, Nevada, May 28, 2026. The 66th WPS provided close air support and forward air control during a Weapons School Integration mission. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Jennifer Nesbitt)

A U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft assigned to the 66th Weapons Squadron, U.S. Air Force Weapons School, deploys defensive flares during an evasive maneuver over the Nevada Test and Training Range, Nevada, May 28, 2026. The 66th WPS participated in a Weapons School Integration mission, challenging students to develop tactically relevant plans integrating multiple mission partners. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Jennifer Nesbitt)

The squadron is no stranger to change and flying icons.

Initially formed in 1940 as the 66th Pursuit Squadron, just seven months after Pearl Harbor, the outfit was flying its P-40 Warhawks as air cover for Monty’s British 8th Army’s drive across Egypt and Libya into Tunisia to kick the Afrika Korps off the continent.

Converted to the P-47 Thunderbolt, the 66th flew the big “Jug” all over Italy and Southern France for the rest of the war. They shifted airfields no less than 32 times during the war to keep up with the frontline.

Their mascot and emblem was cartoonist Al Walker’s cigar-chomping “Slug the Penguin.”

Cold War service saw the 66th fly F-51s, F-80s, F-94s, F-89s, F-105s, and later F-4s before transitioning to the A-10 in 1977. They have been based at Nellis since 1969 in support of the USAF Weapons School.

Copenhagen Joes

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Filmed 75 years ago in August 1951, this historical video covers the visit to the country of then five-star Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who just four months prior had been named the first Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR).

The occasion of the visit was for Ike to stress how important Denmark was to the new NATO alliance, expressed through the handover of surplus Republic F-84 Thunderjets to the rebuilding Danish Air Force, which would soon be bolstered by 240 new F-84Gs over the next four years– a huge upgrade from their previous force of 40~ WWII surplus RAF Spitfires handed over in 1948.

An especially interesting part of the video for me– which incidentally is about 60 percent in English– is the Danish Army honor guard for the occasion.

Outfitted in British-pattern wool uniforms and American M1 helmets, M1 Garand rifles (adopted as the M/50 GarandGevær) and canvas-holstered Swiss-made SIG P210 pistols (adopted as the M/49), they are very exotic in a sense. Danish by way of Portsmouth, Neuhausen, and Springfield.

The Danes would continue to use the Garand as their primary infantry arm until 1975, when it was replaced by the German-made HK G3, adopted as the Gevær M/75.

Garands would continue to soldier on with the Danish as a second-line and Home Guard rifle through the 1990s, when it would finally be replaced by Colt Canada C7 (M16A2) rifles and C8 (M4A1) carbines, which would be adopted as the Gevær M/95 and Karabin M/96, respectively. As such, the Danes would be the last Western European NATO member to field John Garand’s vaunted 30.06.

Today, the Danish military is expanding once again, waking from a 35-year nap after the end of the Cold War. The country is now drafting women, upping the annual intake from 5,000 to 7,500 18-year-olds, and extending mandatory service from four months to 11.

See this interesting 10-minute doc on conscription in the country recently published by NATO:

It’s all positional

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How about this great series of photos of T/5 Walter Barnett of Oklahoma City, captured in July 1943 at Fort Pepperrell, Newfoundland, showing the correct form for riflery in sitting, prone, and standing positions with an M1 Garand. Note the M1941 “Daisy Mae” Army boonie hat, HBT dungarees, and M1938 leggings.

Photographer: Cpl. Howard Warner, 21st Sig. Serv. Co., Photo Source: U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive. SC 364548

Photographer: Cpl. Howard Warner, 21st Sig. Serv. Co., Photo Source: U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive. SC 364546

Photographer: Cpl. Howard Warner, 21st Sig. Serv. Co., Photo Source: U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive. SC 364549

All the above are great for training on a flat range, but often went out the window in more kinetic situations when the targets moved and returned fire.

For those curious, Fort Pepperrell was one of the British bases in the “Destroyers for Bases” deal between FDR and Churchill in 1940.

The first American troops, the “Old Guard” Regulars of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, arrived the following May, and by late 1942 some 5,500 yanks of all stripes were in attendance, ranging from Coastal Artillery and Army AAA units to Navy stevedores, civilian contractors, the USAAF’s 6604th Air Base Wing, and ground defense battalions. It was used primarily as a stepping stone to ship men and material across the Atlantic to Europe.

Following the post-war drawdown, the base transferred to the newly established USAF as Pepperrell AFB in 1947. Its runways and 208 buildings were handed over to the RCAF in 1961, well short of the original “99-year” lease.

A small portion of the old base is retained by the Canadian Forces as Garrison St. John’s under RCN control, with some 450 full-time military and civilian personnel, 1,500 reservists, and 5,000 cadets. Other sections are preserved as parks and have been developed for commercial use.

As to T/5 Burnett, I believe him to be Walter Loe Barnett, who graduated from Central High School, Oklahoma City, and served in the U. S. Army during WWII. He was 27 in the above photos (note the wedding ring). Post-war, he returned to the Sooner State, worked for Southwestern Bell for 42 years, and passed in 1997, aged 81. He left behind his wife, Peggy, and a host of family.

The Day Old Frankie took the Plunge

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Some 105 years ago, 18 July 1921, off the Virginia Capes

Successive leisurely flights of land-based Army and Navy bombers dropped an assortment of bombs over the moored and abandoned 6,600-ton German Wiesbaden-class scout cruiser SMS Frankfurt, formerly of the Kaiser’s High Seas Fleet, and (eventually) sank same.

To help with aimpoints, she even conveniently had two round targets painted on her deck, fore and aft.

From the Alfred A. Cunningham Collection (COLL/3034) at the Archives Branch, Marine Corps History Division

Frankfurt, commissioned in October 1915, survived Jutland specifically, the Great War as a whole, and even scuttling at Scapa Flow.

She was hard to kill.

The German Wiesbaden-class scout cruiser SMS Frankfurt, late 1918, Scapa Flow. IWM (Q 64195)

Ceded to the U.S. as a war prize on 11 March 1920 in England, commissioned there on 4 June as USS Frankfurt, she was towed to the East Coast and disposed of via SINKEX.

Capable of over 27 knots on a 31,000shp plant, she was built for speed, not to take punishment. Her armor scheme only included a 2.4-inch belt and deck coverage over her vitals (magazines and fire/engine rooms), and 3.9 inches on the conning tower.

Moored about 50 miles, 83 degrees true, off the Virginia Capes, the bombing took place from 0912 that morning until 1651 that afternoon.

A total of 74 bombs, a mix of 250, 500, 520, and 600-pounders, were dropped in sticks by the Navy and singly by the Army, with only two direct hits and 10 very near misses (counted as hits). She settled on the bottom 28 minutes after the final drop. The average passing speed for the lumbering bombers was about 85 knots.

From an Air Service report:

The tests of the Frankfurt began with an attack by Navy planes carrying 250-pound bombs. Twenty-four of them were dropped, scoring five direct hits. This was followed by an attack by Army planes which dropped twenty-nine 500-pound bombs, registering two hits. Navy planes then dropped seven 520-pound bombs, of which three were hits. The final attack, with fourteen 600-pound Army bombs, scoring two hits, resulted in sinking the vessel.

It would be fair to conclude, then, that attacks upon light cruisers should be with bombs of 500 pounds or heavier. Of the Navy bombs scoring hits, none of the 250-pound bombs detonated, and one of the 550-pound bombs failed. All Army bombs detonated.

NH 44010

NH 44015

NH 44012

NH 44017

NH 44026

The final dive. NH 44016

Frankfurt now rests in about 400 feet of water in the Southern Drill Grounds. 70 miles off the Virginia Capes, and has been extensively surveyed by NOAA.

SOCOM’s Black Arrow in the Quiver

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From yesterday’s DOD/DOW contract announcements, emphasis mine:

Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia, is being awarded a $27,202,497 fixed-price incentive (firm-target) contract modification (H9240826CE001P0001), for the procurement of All Up Rounds for the AGM-190A Small Cruise Missile program, in support of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). Fiscal 2025 procurement funds in the amount of $548,665; and fiscal 2026 procurement funds in the amount of $23,653,832, will be obligated at time of award. The total award amount is $24,202,497. The work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama, and is expected to be completed by Feb. 26, 2029. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. USSOCOM, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity.

Meet the AGM-190A Small Cruise Missile

In the interest of “quantity has a quality all its own,” the AGM-190 Black Arrow SCM is almost as basic as it gets.

It weighs right at or under 200 pounds.

The above means the warhead is probably around 50 pounds, but you have to add all the kinetic energy behind it as a bonus factor. That’s more than enough to flatten a medium-sized building, sink or at least disable a patrol boat, obliterate a small bunker, destroy a SAM or radar installation in the open, get a ground kill on any size aircraft not in a hardened shelter, end any armored vehicle, et al.

It has a published 400nm range when air-launched at altitude (which means it probably goes further) using Pratt & Whitney’s proven 150-pound-thrust TJ150-7 one-stage turbojet, which is used in several target decoys (the MALD) and UAVs. 

It can be used as either pylon ordnance dropped from things such as an MQ-9 Reaper UAV, used in a roll-on/roll-off palletized Dragon Cart-style system from the back of a C/KC/AC/MC-130, and so on. It can reportedly also be launched from HIMARS, though with a shorter range.

While the actual cost-per-unit is not advertised, it is believed the Black Arrow runs somewhere in the $150-$300K (still pennies on the dollar compared to a $3M TLAM or $1M JASSM), a figure that can be whittled down through large buys.

It is known the Pentagon wants somewhere around 10,000 of these little gems, with 3,000 to start, but if you even try to apply those quantities to the $27 million award, you are looking at more like $2,500-$9,000 a pop, which is too insane to be true especally when you see P&W selling commercial TJ-150 powerpacks for $79,999 apiece, so this week’s buy is probably for a lot fewer missiles. Like for maybe the first block of 100 or 200.

AFSOC debuted the Black Arrow as Havoc Spear quietly last month during SOF Week, describing it as “a low-cost, mission adaptable, modular-design cruise missile that can be rapidly produced.”

Could prove very interesting.

A model AGM-190A small cruise missile stands on display inside Air Force Special Operations Command headquarters at Hurlburt Field, Florida, May 14, 2026.(U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Brandon DeBlanc)

Hunter’s Fountain

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Some 85 years ago this week, the 10,000-ton Dutch Java-Pacific Lijn/VNS passenger steamer SS Jaegersfontaine pulled out of San Francisco on 10 July and, steaming West across a wide and nervous ocean, arrived a little over 8,000 miles away at Rangoon in British Burma on the 28th, making it in a handy 18-knot average.

Built in 1934 at Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Mij NV, Amsterdam, Jagersfontein means “Hunter’s fountain.” She was a lucky ship, but it was a quirky kind of luck.

Among the accumulated cargo and passengers aboard Jagersfontein on her July 1941 trip to Rangoon were 300 young American men, most slim with sharp eyes and short hair, all civilian employees of the Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company, or CAMCO. Among them were 99 pilots and 201 assorted ground crewmen and support personnel. Nine of the latter were Chinese-American mechanics specifically recruited from New York and San Francisco’s Chinatowns and rushed through a quick school at Allison Engine Works in Indianapolis on one particular powerplant: Allison’s liquid-cooled V-1710-33 twelve-cylinder V-type 1,040 hp piston engine.

You know, the one in the P-40B Warhawk/Tomahawk IIA

Soon after making Burma, Claire Chennault’s 1st American Volunteer Group, better known as the Flying Tigers, was becoming the stuff of legend.

Claire Chennault Flying Tiger P-40 Artist Darrell Lum USAF DF-SC-84-04112

However, as it is with every irregular group on the fringes of institutionalized military logic, they soon were disbanded and absorbed by the regulars, and on 4 July 1942 the crumbs that were left became the USAAF’s 14th Air Force’s brand new 23rd Fighter Group, which, all these years later, is still around as part of the now USAF.

Based at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, they have flown the A-10 Warthog since 1992, and recently painted one of their birds in the livery of White 48, the Panda Squadron P-40B flown by Army Air Corps Brig. Gen. David Lee “Tex” Hill, an original Flying Tiger (originally a Naval Aviator) who rolled over to the 23rd as a major in 1942 and would finish WWII with 18.25 confirmed victories, 12.25 of those carried over from the AVG.

The A-10C includes the iconic shark teeth nose art and a literal flying tiger over olive drab, a big departure from the rest of the 23rd’s gray-on-gray Compass Ghost schemes.

A heritage A-10C Thunderbolt II is positioned on the flight line at Moody Air Force Base, Ga., April 28, 2026. The aircraft now displays the distinctive Flying Tigers-inspired paint scheme applied by airmen assigned to the 23rd Maintenance Squadron. (Air Force Senior Airman Savannah Carpenter)

A heritage A-10C Thunderbolt II is positioned on the flight line at Moody Air Force Base, Ga., April 28, 2026. The aircraft now displays the distinctive Flying Tigers-inspired paint scheme applied by airmen assigned to the 23rd Maintenance Squadron. (Air Force Senior Airman Savannah Carpenter)

Ever heard a for real strafing run from a P-40?

In related news, the Soaring by the Sea Foundation jumped through a year’s worth of FAA and ATF hoops required to re-install six working M2 .50 cal machine guns into a restored Curtiss P-40N Warhawk in Flying Tigers’ Adam & Eve Squadron livery and, well, did the thing with live ammo, expending approximately 7,000 rounds across ground testing and two days of airborne firing while under the control of Lt. Col. Ray “Hollywood” Fowler, an F-16 pilot with combat tours in the sandbox.

You better believe there is video.

NASA’s (Private) F-5 Tiger Team

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In a follow-up to the 250th Color Birds of NASA post on Monday, we would be remiss not to bring up the fact that the agency has a four-plane aerial demonstration team made up of privately owned (not a misprint) F-5 Tigers.

Do what?

Current NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, 45, is a tech billionaire entrepreneur, alum of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical, a noted private pilot with 7,000 hours in over a dozen types, a commercial astronaut (via SpaceX’s Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn, which he funded), and co-founder of “red air” defense contractor Draken International (which owns 130 jets including A-4Ks, Mirage F1s, and MiG-21s).

He’s also donated over $35 million to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville and the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola to support youth programs.

Talk about a flight nerd!

Isaacman personally owns at least three 1970s vintage F-5s, which he recently had painted in a red-white-and-blue Freedom 250th anniversary NASA livery (with the classic NASA “worm”) and has been using them for incentive flights for agency employees as well as some remarkable flyovers that will live on in aviation art for sure. While the titles haven’t been transferred, they are under “NASA control.”

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman is seen flying his personal F-5 aircraft, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. If you look close, he is wearing a helmet with an Imperial “cog” in TIE fighter style. Photo Credit: (NASA/John Kraus)

One of NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman’s personal F-5 aircraft is seen during an employee incentive flying event, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Rachel Kraft, Artemis communications lead at NASA Headquarters, was flying in the back seat. Photo Credit: (NASA/John Kraus)

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman flies in his personal F-5 aircraft, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Isaacman was joined by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth in the back seat for a flight around Launch Complex 39B, the Vehicle Assembly Building, and surrounding areas at Kennedy. Photo Credit: (NASA/John Kraus)

Isaacman’s personal F-5E (FAA N591EM) is a former USAF aircraft (77-1777) registered to his investment company, JDI Holdings LLC of Easton, Pennsylvania, while two of the other NASA Tigers, N592EM (78-0803) and N593EM (79-1918), are two-seater F-5Fs also owned by JDI.

All three had been sent to the Royal Jordanian Air Force soon after construction, then were among 21 RJAF F-5E/F aircraft brought to the U.S. in 2017 by Reno-based Tactical Air Support Inc, which already had five ex-Canadian CF-5Ds at the time and has acquired more of the type since. A private red air contractor founded in 2005, TacAir uses the F-5s (and other types) to support U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force adversary contracts.

A fourth privately owned F-5 has recently joined the NASA squad in the same livery but is not a JDI-registered airframe.

The FAA currently has 37 privately-owned Tigers (two F-5As, four F-5Bs, 23 F-5Es, seven F-5Fs, and one NF-5B) active with TacAir (TASLO)/United States Aviation Museum owning 23 of those. Comanche (Maverick) Air in Houston, the second largest operator, owns four F-5Es.

The type usually runs around $1M a pop on the commercial market, making them one of the most obtainable “fast movers.” Further, the Navy still operates the type as a MiG-28-style aggressor (supported by TacAir) while some 500 T-38Cs still fly with the USAF, as we have covered recently. 

The NASA F-5 team, flying out of Andrews, made the news in their recent overflight of the National Mall on the 4th for the Freedom 250 events, although the FAA had originally frowned on the plan due to safety concerns.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman leads a flyover featuring his personally owned F-5 Tiger over the Great American State Fair, Saturday, July 4, 2026, on the National Mall in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman leads a flyover featuring his personally owned F-5 Tiger during the Great American State Fair, Saturday, July 4, 2026, on the National Mall in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

It wasn’t their first air expo, as they flew in Sun n’ Fun in Florida in April.

NASA Freedom 250 at Sun n Fun 26 over Lakeland, Florida (NASA/John Kraus)

NASA Freedom 250 at Sun n Fun 26 over Lakeland, Florida (NASA/John Kraus)

They also plan to attend four more events.

  • July 23–24: EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
  • August 23: Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C.
  • October 3–4: Pacific Air Show in Huntington Beach, California.
  • October 31–November 1: Commemorative Air Force Wings Over Houston Air Show
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