Bombs Away a Ric Mixter Lecture

The Great Lakes have been home to military installations since1755, and aircraft have flown from this region nearly since the first engined aircraft took to the sky. Selfridge Air National Guard (ANG) is named for the first casualty in powered flight, a young lieutenant named Thomas Selfridge who crashed flying with Orville Wright. Selfridge was also home to the Tuskegee Airmen, an elite group of African American pilots who flew in World War II. Today that base is the last of five in this region that flew airplanes in support of the United States of America. Documentary producer Ric Mixter was born at K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base (AFB), and as a journalist was invited to fly training missions on B-52 bombers to hit practice targets in Wisconsin, Scotland and the Netherlands. He also was selected among dozens of journalists to fly with the Air Force Thunderbirds during their final visit to Wurtsmith AFB, and he was the only journalist to fly the last mission of the most decorated bomber in Desert Storm to the AMARC facility in Arizona. Ric was also selected to fly as the only journalist when Michigan’s final airbase closed at his birthplace of K.I. Sawyer AFB. That bomber flew to Minot, North Dakota in November of 1994. Bombs Away chronicles the most famous missions of four air bases; Sawyer, Wurtsmith, Selfridge and Kincheloe, which was home to nuclear armed B-52s from 1961 to 1977. This base was also among the first for a missile defense network called BOMARC that once shielded North America from Soviet threats. Ric’s lecture features the Tuskegee Airmen, bomber activity in Viet Nam, and long range missions that quickly ended the war in Iraq. Also highlighted is bomber production in Michigan, where “Rosie the Riveter” assembled B-24 Liberators used in World War II.