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Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper presented Maj. Jeffrey Olesen, a U-2 pilot from the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale AFB, California, with the 2002 Koren Kolligian Jr. Trophy during a 13 June ceremony at the Pentagon. Olesen successfully landed his U-2 at an alternate air base after experiencing engine problems during an Operation Southern Watch mission over Iraq in October 2001. The Koren Kolligian Jr. Trophy is presented each year in the name and memory of an Air Force pilot who was declared missing in the line of duty when his T-33 aircraft disappeared off the California coast 14 September 1955. The trophy was established to recognize outstanding feats of airmanship by aircrew members who, by extraordinary skill, exceptional alertness, ingenuity or proficiency, averted accidents or minimized the seriousness of accidents in terms of injury, loss of life, aircraft damage, or property damage. The trophy, established in 1958, is the only Air Force individual safety award personally presented by the Air Force chief of staff. |
