An air cooled turbine blade including leading and trailing edges, and pressure and suction side walls extending between the leading and trailing edges. Leading and trailing edge cooling circuits extend spanwise adjacent to the leading and trailing edges, respectively. A forward flow mid-section serpentine cooling circuit extends spanwise and is located between the leading and trailing edge cooling circuits. An axial tip cooling circuit extends in the chordal direction and is located between a tip cap of the blade and the serpentine cooling circuit at an outer end of the serpentine cooling circuit. The axial tip cooling circuit has a forward end receiving cooling air from a final channel of the serpentine cooling circuit and discharges the cooling air adjacent to the trailing edge.