Brazil's air force helped defend the South Atlantic by flying antisubmarine patrols, and the United States used some Brazilian naval and air bases, including a major air field at Natal that provided the closest link between the Americas and Africa.
Dr. Ginsberg's real job is chief executive of On Time Systems, in Eugene, Ore., whose software, used by the United States Air Force, helps in tasks like calculating the most efficient flight paths for aircraft.
When the navy appeals to the air force for help, the situation is equally dire.
Angry passengers invaded runways and demanded to be put on planes, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called in the Brazilian Air Force to help ferry passengers.
The Pentagon says a renovated air force could help the country combat militant groups, such as those that killed four Americans at the U.S. embassy in Benghazi in 2012.
These efforts include an attempt to build a private, mercenary air force with help from Blackwater-era associates.
Nine years before that, the Rev. Thomas Doyle, then a canon lawyer at the Vatican Embassy in Washington (and now an American Air Force chaplain), helped draft a prescient protocol intended to counter the priesthood's looming child-abuse crisis.
Michael Haas, who is a former senior airman with the U.S. air force and helped guide missiles to their targets, according to the Guardian, discussed his experience serving under the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, which included working as an instructor.
(U.S. air power helped force the Serbs out and also led to today's independent Kosovo).
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called in the nation's air force yesterday to help transport airline passengers on an emergency basis.
The appointment of Tang Fei, 68, a former air force general, may help persuade Beijing that Mr. Chen does not intend to make radical changes in policy toward the mainland.
