DALLAS — Retired Lt. Col. Richard “Dick” Cole, the last of the 80 Doolittle Tokyo Raiders who carried out the daring U.S. attack on Japan during World War II, has died at a military hospital in Texas. He was 103.

A spokesman says Cole died Tuesday at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. Robert Whetstone, a BAMC public affairs official, had no immediate additional details.

Cole, who lived in Comfort, Texas, had stayed active even in recent years, attending air shows and participating in commemorative events including April 18, 2017, ceremonies for the raid’s 75th anniversary at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force near Dayton, Ohio.

Cole was mission commander Jimmy Doolittle’s co-pilot in the attack less than five months after the December 1941 Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.

 

Boeing orders tumble
as Max jet grounded

DALLAS — Orders and deliveries of Boeing’s 737 Max plunged in the first quarter as the plane was grounded around the world following a second deadly crash.

Boeing disclosed Tuesday that it received no new orders for the Max in March. It took 29 net orders for 737s in the first three months of the year, but it appeared that only 10 of those involved the Max, the latest version of Boeing’s best-selling plane. The buyers were not identified.

In the first quarter of last year, Boeing took 122 orders for 737s, including 112 for the Max, led by large orders from Southwest Airlines and Ireland’s Ryanair.

Boeing suspended Max deliveries in mid-March after regulators grounded the planes. First-quarter deliveries of all 737s including Max models fell to 89 from 132 in the same period last year.

 

Company that destroyed
bump stocks sues govt.

FORT WORTH — A Texas gun company that destroyed more than 73,000 bump stocks when a federal ban on the rapid-fire devices took effect has sued the U.S. government claiming millions of dollars in losses.

RW Arms of Fort Worth on Monday announced the lawsuit and said the government took its property “without just compensation.” Co-founder Mark Maxwell said Tuesday that RW Arms’ losses totaled more than $20 million. Last month’s lawsuit seeks fair market value compensation.

RW Arms drew attention March 26, when the ban took effect , by transferring thousands of bump stocks to law enforcement for shredding. Officials initially said about 60,000 items were destroyed.

President Donald Trump’s administration supports the ban on bump stocks, which in 2017 were used by a gunman to kill 58 people in Las Vegas.