The U.S. Air Force Reserve’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron had a rough ride this week in Hurricane Melissa, having to turn back early twice due to unusually strong turbulence. The early return of the second flight, just before the storm made landfall in Jamaica, forced an inspection of the plane's integrity.

Both the Air Force and the U.S. Navy began flying aircraft into hurricanes with the purpose of locating the centers of the storms in 1944. That was one year after a bet in a bar during World War II led to Colonel Joseph Duckworth flying a T-6 Texas aircraft into a storm, calling the bluff of British pilot cohorts who said the plane wouldn't survive such an encounter.

28 hurricane hunters were killed in the next 10 years

The path to recording weather data from within hurrica

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