Then everything happened so fast it seems unbelievable. [1] Mr. Nortonarrived fresh from navigation school as a 2nd Lieutenant at Wurtsmith Air ForceBase in the fall of 1985. After one week in the bunker on ready alert the flight crew would be relieved. If your base is not on the map or list above, this does not mean you were not exposed to PFAS chemicals from firefighting foam. [4] Its mission was to, maintain half of the fleet on a 15 minute alert, meaning the plane could be in, the air in 15 minutes, to reduce vulnerability to a Soviet preemptive missile, strike. My ex wife has thyroid disease and auto immune disease. [5] One crew flew 29, mission out of Jeddah, setting the record for most missions flew by a bomber, crew in theater. Typically, brown-ish water occurs when there is large change in pressure/flow in a distribution system. Deliveries of the first P-6s were late, the first example not appearing until October 1929. In 1977 the 379th Bomb Wing upgraded the B-52H fleet to B-52G, During the Gulf War B-52s from Wurtsmith Air Force Base were flown. Maximum speed was 178 mph at sea level, 171 mph at 10,000 feet. If you, a friend, or loved one has been injured or died as a result of the contamination at a DOD Superfund Site please follow the steps that are outlined at Get Help. Just run the water until it clears up. There is an ongoing project to decontaminate the area. 1970 - The Air Force knew that some of the Webb Air Force Base Family Housing units, located in Big Spring Texas, were contaminated with and the occupants exposed to a large quantity of chlordane. USVCP Staff Writers . "The Department of Defense is evaluating [cleanup standards], and we take our lead from what the Department of Defense says," said Stephen TerMaath, who leads the Air Force division in charge of Wurtsmith cleanup. The Losinskis are divers David has been diving since 1977; his son, Drew, since 2002 and both are former members of the St. Clair County Dive Team. Pieces include the engine, the tail, part of the door and the 37-millimeter cannon that fired through the propeller hub. From: Members of the ground crew move a maintenance cart into position next to a B-52 Stratofortress aircraft parked on the flight line. Now, I have been diagnosed with Stage 5 kidney failure and congestive heart disease, I am currently on dialysis awaiting a kidney transplant. There are a lot of stories to tell. They also were known as the Red Tails because they painted the tails of their aircraft red. I kept up with all this for a while then gave up. When the Gulf War started in 1990, the 379, Bomber Wing sent B-52s as well as their accompanying KC-135s into the Middle East. She gave Kelly the rundown of the base. [1] This meant that there was always at least three, B-52s armed with nuclear bombs, ready to take off at a moments notice. During the Cold War, the base became part of Strategic Air Command. This unfortunately happened on October 11. , 1988 when KC-135 crashed with 6 crew members and 10 passengers on board. Im using a combination of several source materials to tell the history of the area. Drinking Water At Wurtsmith AFB Contaminted. The base is located in Oscoda, Iosco County, Michigan. During the Pacific conflicts personnel and the KC-135Stratotankers were deployed to forward bases in the Pacific to support landoperations. March 7, 1942: The first class of Tuskegee Airmen graduate from U.S. Army Air Force Tuskegee Army Air Field, Alabama. [1], Over the course of Mr. Nortons career as both a KC-135 Navigator, and a DC-10 Pilot, Mr. Norton served as a flight commander, served numerous, deployments during the Gulf War escorting fighter squadrons from the United, States into theater, supporting fighter squadrons and bomber squadrons in, theater, served multiple temporary duty assignments to England, Spain, Saudi, Arabia, Alaska, and other Air Force Bases around the globe. The site of Wurtsmith Air Force Base is located 2 miles Northwest of Oscoda, Michigan, about 150 miles North of Detroit. There is a lot of open runways still today that can be rented out for a multitude of events. Powerplant: 1 Allison V-1710-85 liquid-cooled V-12, 1,200 hp (895 kW), Maximum speed: 376 mph (605 km/h) (Redline dive speed was 525 mph), Range: 525 miles on internal fuel (840 km). The main mission of Oscoda Army Air Field, at the time, was to defend Sault Ste. I was stationed there 1978 -81 lived on base they never told us about the water being contaminated . This is a short video about the small museum located at the decommissioned Wurtsmith AFB in Oscoda Mi.http://www.rv-project.com OSCODA, Mich. - Oscoda residents and PFAS activists today held a press conference on the shores of Van Etten Lake to set the record straight on the Air Force's contamination of their community from the former Wurtsmith Air . Testing by the Air Force has found high levels of the toxic chemical PFOS in the foam near a plume coming from the former nuclear bomber base. [3], www.nytimes.com/1988/10/12/us/six-are-killed-in-crash-of-an-air-force-tanker.html, www.wurtsmithairmuseum.org/Wurtsmith_AFB/wurtsmith_afb.html, www.strategic-air-command.com/bases/Wurtsmith_AFB.htm, www.strategic-air-command.com/wings/0379bw.htm, http://ss.sites.mtu.edu/mhugl/2015/10/11/wurtsmith-air-force-base/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wurtsmith_Air_Force_Base. After being relieved, the flight crew had until the following Monday morningoff. [1] Wurtsmith Air Force Base was 2nd Lt. Nortons first, permanent duty station in the United States Air Force. Drew said, Dad, thats an airplane., You could see the wings. 1942 -- Camp Skeel is renamed Oscoda Army Air Field and becomes a P-47 fighter base. They have been detected in air, water, soils, sediments, and in rain at levels that would be considered unsafe in drinking . The military has not begun cleanups at any of the 50 Department of Defense sites Congress has identified as highly contaminated with the "forever chemicals" known as PFAS - and it could be years before cleanups are complete. This includes extra parts, munitions, fuel, and flight crews. They resumed the investigation last spring. The ready alert flight crews were rotated on a three week cycle. USVCP Not A U.S. Government Publication. Thisflight crew would spend one week in the bunker and be confined to an undiscloseddistance from the bunker. To all who are interested in the Camp Skeel/Oscoda AAF/Wurtsmith AFB History. The landing gear was changed from rubber-block shock absorbers inside the fuselage to oleo-and-spring units mounted in the outer forward strut. Home Buyers Guide; Find a Real Estate Agent; Price: $299,000. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality released a report Thursday, Aug. 30, concluding that Wurtsmith wells were 'likely impacted' by PFAS contamination between 1978 and 1997, when municipal water from Lake Huron was brought to the base. [4] On August 1st 1958 the 4026th Strategic Wing was formed at Wurtsmith Air Force Base. In March of 1943, the Third Air Force reactivated the field for training of black aviators. If there's a main break, sections of the base will . For example a KC-135 could take off from Wurtsmith Air Force Base, fly across the Pacific Ocean, land in Spain, have the flight crew be relieved by a fresh crew, fly into theater, complete the mission and return to Spain, where the original crew would be rested and ready to fly the KC-135 back to Wurtsmith Air Force Base. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. [1]After one week in the bunker on ready alert the flight crew would be relieved. Many tests have been done to see the extent to which the contamination is harming the citizens residing in the area. He said the wreckage from the plane is scattered across the lake bottom. Wurtsmith Air Force Base. A Brief History of Wurtsmith AFB, Michigan, www.wurtsmithairmuseum.org/Wurtsmith_AFB/wurtsmith_afb.html. Ruben C. Moffat flew a P-6 converted with a supercharged Conqueror engine on a record-breaking flight. We have a lot of sick civilians and = veterans from contaminated drinking water. For the civil use of this facility and airport information, see Oscoda-Wurtsmith Airport Wurtsmith Air Force Base is a decommissioned United States Air Force base in northeastern Iosco County in the U.S. state of Michigan. These levels were published by the Enviromental Protection Agency (Mlive.com). To gain a measure of the extremely high levels of contaminated drinking water, according to the ATSDR, TCE levels in a well at the corner of Arrow Street and N. Skeel Avenue were as high as 5,173 parts-per-billion (ppb) during 1977, 1978, & 1979 tests, which is more than 1,000 times the EPA's current limit of 5-ppb for TCE in drinking water. Report also stated that the Oscoda Michigan gunnery field was very rough and sandy and notoriously hard on wheels, landing gears etc. The majority of married enlisted and officers preferred to live on base because of the free daycare for children. The Au Sable River is an attraction for families all around Michigan. If a banker had not taken Lt. Whitehead on a fishing trip there would not have been an Air Force Base in Oscoda Michigan. Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda Township, Mich. U.S. Department of Defense In Oscoda, authorities tracked the contamination of Van Etten Lake to Wurtsmith Air Force Base , which closed in 1993. [1] This was followed by one and a half weeks of normal day to day activities, until the flight crew relieved crew on ready alert in the bunkers. [6] The 379th Bomb Wing was, Dave Norton resigned his commotion as a United States Air Force, , 1993 exactly 9 years after receiving his commission, Lt. form the United States Air Force Academy. It was also possible for these missions to originate in the United States. [1], These KC-135s were necessary because the B-52 could not take off with both a, full load of ordnance and a full tank of gas.[1]. It was formed on 1 August 1961 to merge the 3908th Strategic Standardization Group for SAC aircrew evaluation with the 1st Radar Bomb Scoring Group that had originated from the 263rd Army Air Force Base Unit which transferred from 15th AF to directly under Strategic Air Command c. Like the former Pease Air Force Base in Portsmouth and Newington, the former Michigan base is now a Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) site. Me and Dan drive around base and check out the bunkers that held nuclear weapons during the cold war Veteran Compensation Programs (USVCP) (www.veteranprograms.com), and any of their associated websites is for general informational. There were also problems with the complex nose-mounted reduction gear, which caused reliability problems and resulted in fairly low serviceability rates as compared with other fighters. Cindi developed hypertension and Lawrence diagnosed with lung disease. Any one else from 84-89 have issues? This happened a couple weeks before the IOC which is in the wing,ahistorical records on microfilm. Only after, the plains were airborne would the crew be notified if it was a drill or not.[1]. Wurtsmith Today The former Wurtsmith Air Force Base (AFB) properties are being reutilized by 28 businesses and agencies that collectively employ more than 1,660 workers (representing 240 percent of civilian jobs lost). In this June 6, 2018 photo, PFAS foam washes up on the shoreline of Van Etten Lake in Oscoda Township, Mich., near Wurtsmith Air Force Base. [1] Mr. Norton, arrived fresh from navigation school as a 2nd Lieutenant at Wurtsmith Air Force, Base in the fall of 1985. [1], While these crews were on ready alert they did not have a whole, lot to do. Most Air Corps/Force types used Oscoda at one time or another. Weights were 2450 lb. On January 18, 1994 it was listed as a Superfund due to extensive groundwater contamination with heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds, including trichloroethylene, 1,1-dichloroethane, 1,1,1-trichloroethane . Wurtsmith Air Force Base is a decommissioned United States Air Force base in Iosco County, Michigan.It operated from 1923 until decommissioned in 1993. The pilot apparently noticed it and tried to lift his ship. This remoteness of Wurtsmith Air Force Base, as well as common brotherhood of being in the United States Air Force resulted in a tight knit community formed by the airmen and their families. A ground-water divide cuts diagonally across the Base from northwest to sou The history of Oscoda Military Aviation is the same as the History of the Air Force. The Lackland Air Force Base Education Center is located at 1550 Wurtsmith Street, Suite 5. . During the Gulf War these planes were run practically 24/7, landing only to swap flight crews to meet the flight crew rest requirements. These Air Force bases were remote. He brought this idea to the attention of his squadron commander Major Carl Spaatz. U.S. Air Force should abide by state of Michigan's PFAS Standards, state must hold Air Force accountable. My mom was recently diagnosed a month ago with colon cancer and skin cancer and still being treated by a dr, my broth had sever ulcers his entire early childhood.
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