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Aviation enthusiast potentially saves pilot's life after seeing sparks coming from his plane
CNN
Photographer and aviation enthusiast Ian Simpson has lived in the East Anglia region of England all his life, and one of his favorite things to do is photograph planes at Royal Air Force bases in the area.
But on the morning of July 13, he realized something wasn't quite right as he watched jets taking off at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, about 70 miles northeast of London. The base is run by the US Air Force and is home to the 48th Fighter Wing, the only US Air Force F-15 fighter wing in Europe. "This plane took off and just before it got to us ... a lot of flames and sparks started coming out the back," Simpson told CNN.
The retired Air Force general announced as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by President Donald Trump after the abrupt Friday night firing of his predecessor is a respected career F-16 pilot who is described by current and former officials who served with him as a professional with a “strong moral center.”
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Over the past 10 days, Vice President JD Vance put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on notice, rattled the confidence of century-old allies in Western Europe during his first foreign trip, decamped to Capitol Hill to help in delicate budget talks and delivered a spirited defense of the Trump administration’s first month to a gathering of conservatives outside the nation’s capital.