[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 118 (Monday, July 20, 2026)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E703]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  RECOGNIZING THE SERVICE AND SACRIFICE OF MAJOR BRAD ``SLATE'' HOVEY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ZACHARY NUNN

                                of iowa

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 20, 2026

  Mr. NUNN of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Major Brad 
``Slate'' Hovey of Adel, Iowa, who was killed on June 15, 2026, when 
his B-52 crashed on takeoff during a test flight at Edwards Air Force 
Base in California. Seven fellow airmen were lost with him. Brad was 35 
years old. His family says his life was woven with threads of bravery, 
integrity, and service--inspiring all who knew and loved him.
  Brad was born on March 5, 1991, in Algona, Iowa, and came to Adel in 
2001. At Adel Desoto Minburn High School, he did it all--football, 
track, choir, band, mock trial, drama--and with Adel Troop 152, he 
earned Scouting's highest rank of Eagle, fixing with him a love of the 
outdoors he never lost. Adel is also where Brad met his wife, Megan, in 
the ninth-grade band. They married in 2012.
  Brad's love of airplanes led him to Iowa State University, where he 
studied aerospace engineering and served in the Air Force ROTC with 
Detachment 250. After graduating in 2014, he was commissioned by his 
own father-in-law--a fitting start for a man who never drew a line 
between family and service.
  He earned his wings in 2015. Through 12 years of service, Brad served 
as a B-52 and B-1 bomber pilot, completing three combat deployments and 
flying over 200 combat hours across 20 combat sorties.
  In 2022, Brad and Megan moved their family to Edwards, where he was 
selected for the United States Air Force Test Pilot School with Class 
23A--one of the most demanding schools in American aviation. With the 
419th Flight Test Squadron, Brad flew B-52 and B-1 test missions to 
ensure the next crew in the cockpit had safe, lethal and combat-ready 
equipment ready to fly in defense of our Nation. Over the course of his 
career, Brad logged more than 1,890 total flight hours and over 350 
sorties across 29 distinct airframes.
  Mr. Speaker, as a 20-year Air Force Veteran, I know I speak for my 
fellow airmen when I say that the flight test is some of the hardest 
and least recognized work we do. On the morning of June 15, 2026, Brad 
took a sixty-year-old bomber into the sky with a new radar on it so the 
crews who fly it next would know it worked. He did that without fanfare 
and with mission first.
  He is survived by his wife, Megan, and their two children; his 
parents, Kent and Sondra; and his brothers, Lane and Kyle, who will 
remember him for his love of the stars and the sky, his devoted service 
to his Nation, and, most of all, the way he loved them.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Major Brad 
``Slate'' Hovey--a devoted husband, a loving father, a distinguished 
Airman, and a proud Iowan--and in keeping his family and the families 
of all eight Americans lost that day in our prayers. Iowa will remember 
their sacrifice.

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