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Events / Join us for the 2009 Air Force Historical Foundation Symposium

By late spring of 1999, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic’s campaign against civilians in Kosovo had taken an ominous turn. The U.S.-led NATO air campaign Operation Allied Force responded with 78 days of strategic and tactical strikes against Yugoslav targets in Serbia and Kosovo, bringing about Milosevic’s surrender and acceptance of NATO’s conditions for peace.

The Air Force Historical Foundation’s day-long 2009 Symposium will address “The Balkans Air Campaigns in the 1990s and Their Influence Since 2001,” examining the Air Force’s critical role in ending the Serbian conflict, and how the implications of this involvement are still felt today.

The Symposium – to be held at the Sheraton National Hotel, 900 South Orme Street, Arlington, Virginia on October 8 – is the highlight of the Foundation’s calendar and advances its essential mission: to preserve and promote the history and heritage of the U.S. Air Force and its predecessors, and to make that history come alive for Americans in and out of uniform.

This year’s event features an impressive line-up of presentations, discussions and debates with distinguished speakers and experts, including Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz and former Gen. Michael E. Ryan, USAF (Ret.) – who as 16th Air Force Commander was responsible for air operations in Bosnia, and who was USAF Chief of Staff from 1997 to 2001. Maj. Gen. Charles J. Dunlap, Jr., USAF, and the RAND Corporation’s Dr. Benjamin Lambeth will deliver keynote speeches.

A morning panel focusing on air operations in Bosnia and Kosovo will feature papers presented by Maj. William A. March, CD, MA, of the Canadian Armed Forces – as well as two civilian historians in the U.S. Air Force history program, Dr. Daniel Haulman and Mr. Chris Mayse.

Highlighting the conflict’s effect on air warfare since 2001, the afternoon panel will include papers presented by Dr. Rebecca Grant of IRIS Independent Research and the Air Force Association’s Mitchell Institute; Lt. Col. Erik Rundquist, an active Air Force officer and scholar-warrior experienced in special operations in Iraq; and Col. Mike Isherwood, a combat veteran of Operation Desert Storm and current analyst with the Northrop Grumman Corporation.

The Foundation also stimulates interest in America’s air power history and heritage by sponsoring several awards that honor the making – and documentation – of Air Force history. During the Symposium’s evening banquet, the Foundation will recognize two individuals with its most prestigious honors. The third annual General Carl “Tooey” Spaatz award will be presented to Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Stafford, USAF (Ret.). Named for the first president of the Foundation and first chief of staff of the Air Force, this award is given to an individual for a sustained, significant contribution to the making of Air Force history during a lifetime of service.

Mr. Herman S. Wolk will be given the third annual Major General I.B. Holley Award, which recognizes a sustained, significant contribution to the research, interpretation, and documentation of Air Force history during a lifetime of service. This honor is named for the distinguished professor who taught military history at Duke University for over six decades, served as an active and reserve Air Force officer, and influenced several generations of military historians.

The Air Force Historical Foundation’s Air Power History Best Article Award for 2008 also will be presented during the Symposium. This year’s winning article is “Setting the Record Straight Regarding Lieutenants White and McCullin, Tuskegee Airmen,” by Joseph D. Caver, Jerome A. Ennels, and Wesley Phillips Newton. The article appeared in Air Power History, Vol. 55, No. 3.

In addition, Donald Caldwell and Dr. Richard Muller will receive the annual Best Air Power History Book Award for The Luftwaffe Over Germany: Defense of the Reich – which was published by Greenhill Books, London, in 2007.

AGENDA

Please note: The new location for the 2009 Symposium is the Sheraton National Hotel in Arlington, Virginia

(Timing subject to change)

Use our convenient online registration form to reserve your seat for the 2009 Symposium today.

Tables, continental breakfast, breaks, and the reception are available for corporate sponsorships.  Further information is available by contacting Lt Col Jim Vertenten at execdir@afhistoricalfoundation.org or by calling (301) 736-1959.

The Air Force Historical Foundation relies on your generosity to carry out its mission. Please help make the 2009 Symposium a success with a donation. Contributors will be recognized in the Symposium program.

See more information on Air Force Historical Foundation-sponsored awards.