A Missouri airman is being honored for a dangerous flight he flew last year to supply special forces fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Air Force Major Bradley Downs of Ferguson flew a modified C-130 transport at night, without the benefit of terrain cover, to drop 22,000 pounds of supplies close enough to NATO forces for them to retrieve the supplies without the supplies falling into enemy hands.

The Pentagon plans to award Downs and his crew the Air Force Cheney Award, named for a pilot killed in 1918. It’s given each year for an act of self-sacrifice in a humanitarian interest.