An F-35 Lightning II completes a series of night flights, testing the ability to fly the jet safely in instrument meteorological conditions where the pilot has no external visibility references.

via: Business Insider

America’s Air Force is celebrating its 67th anniversary today. The youngest of the four sister service branches, has 324,820 active duty airmen, along with another 9,860 in reserves, operating approximately 13,700 aircrafts in active service.

The U.S. Air Force continues to play an important role in giving ground and amphibious forces the flexibility to attack and a means to escape enemy fire. 

“Since the Korean War, this nation has deployed about 7 million men and women at arms to different contingencies around the world,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh said in December of 2013, according to the Department of Defense.

Since its founding on September 18th 1947, the U.S. Air Force is the world’s leading force of its kind, with one of the highest budgets of the four branches and the most expensive acquisition in military history currently in its grasp.

To celebrate America’s airmen we’ve selected some of the most incredible photos ever captured by Air Force photographers.

Geoffrey Ingersoll contributed to this report.

A member of the 22nd Special Tactics Squadron climbs into a U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter during open ocean operations.
Aircrew members admire their MC-130E Combat Talon during the plane’s final flight before retirement. The last five MC-130s in the Air Force belong to the 919th Special Operations Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
A C-17 Globemaster III crew prepares an air refueling mission on Sept. 27, 2012, at Joint Base Charleston, SC.
Staff Segeant Welby Ramos, a combat controller with the 22nd Special Tactics Squadron out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., watches as other members of his team land after parachuting 13,000 feet for training.
An F-22 Raptor backs away from a KC-135 Stratotanker during a training mission over central New Mexico. The Raptor is assigned to the 49th Fighter Wing at Holloman Air Force Base, NM., and the KC-135 is from McConnell Air Force Base, Kan.
The Thunderbirds Diamond Formation performs a pass in review maneuver during a training sortie over a range in Nevada.
A B-2 Spirit flies over St. Louis’s Gateway Arch
USAF aircraft of the 4th Fighter Wing (F-16, F-15C and F-15E) fly over Kuwaiti oil fires, set by the retreating Iraqi army during Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

To see the rest of these amazing pictures, link here.

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