[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 18 (Thursday, February 12, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E170-E172]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         CELEBRATING 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF ARRIVAL OF B-2 BOMBER

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. IKE SKELTON

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 11, 2004

  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, on December 17 of last year, Whiteman Air 
Force Base in Missouri celebrated the 10th anniversary of the arrival 
of the B-2 Bomber. I had the privilege of addressing the luncheon on 
that day. My speech to those attending is as follows:

       There are high moments in one's life. I experienced one 
     such moment 10 years ago when the first B-2, the Spirit of 
     Missouri, arrived here at Whiteman Air Force Base.
       Today we commemorate both the 10th anniversary of the B-2 
     Bomber mission at Whiteman and the 100th anniversary of man's 
     first powered flight by the Wright Brothers. What an amazing 
     parallel that 2 men, Wilbur and Orville Wright, began the

[[Page E171]]

     saga of flight 100 years ago, and today the most powerful 
     military weapon in the world, the B-2, is manned by only 2 
     airmen.
       It seems like airplanes have always been a great part of my 
     life and make up some of my fondest memories. I imagine there 
     are quite a few people in this room who feel the same way. I 
     will never forget one particular warm, autumn day in my 
     hometown of Lexington. I was 11 years of age, and I was with 
     my buddies on the north side of Franklin Avenue, across from 
     my home, when I heard and saw the Army Air Corps C-47s 
     pulling gliders above us.
       I knew then that the Army Air Corps had a base near Sedalia 
     where these planes were located. I later learned that those 
     pilots were training for the June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion of 
     Normandy. In my wildest dreams, I could never have imagined 
     that years after seeing those planes fly over Lexington, I 
     would be a part of making that Sedalia Army Air Field, now 
     known as Whiteman, the most modern bomber base in the world.
       My very first job was at the old Lexington Airport, which 
     was located across the Missouri River. My duties included 
     washing the Piper Cubs and Aeroncas and periodically raking 
     the dirt floors of the hangars. I well remember a WAAF, a 
     member of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, ferrying a Culver 
     Cadet airplane which landed at Lexington Airport to refuel. 
     On the right seat of this airplane, which had a 27-foot 
     wingspread, there was a large set of radio equipment. This 
     massive equipment allowed the plane to serve as a drone, 
     pulling targets for the Army Air Corps pilots to practice 
     shooting. Thinking back, I recall that the small airplane was 
     so heavy that the WAAF pilot could not get airborne until her 
     third takeoff attempt on the short grass airfield. Without a 
     doubt, aeronautical technology has come a long way since that 
     time.
       This military installation has a rich history in the 
     security of our country. As the Sedalia Army Air Field, it 
     trained the C-47 pilots to fly the gliders for the Normandy 
     invasion. Later, as Whiteman Air Force Base, it was the home 
     of a B-47 wing.
       At the height of the Cold War, the base became a Minuteman 
     I and II missile installation. Knowing that the missile 
     mission would be phased out eventually, I urged the Air Force 
     to put a B-1 Bomber Wing at Whiteman in 1982, but a Texas 
     base was chosen to house the B-1 instead. It was later that 
     year when I first received a classified briefing on the bat-
     winged bomber which was being contemplated by the Air Force. 
     Subsequently, the legislative battle to authorize and build 
     the Stealth Bomber was long and arduous, first authorizing 15 
     bombers, then another 5, then 1 more. During this time, I 
     quietly urged the Air Force to consider Whiteman Air Force 
     Base as the first base for this new weapons system.
       In early December 1986, Secretary of Defense Casper 
     Weinberger invited me to his office and told me that he had 
     decided to place this new airplane at Whiteman Air Force 
     Base. Since I had worked so hard to make this happen, the 
     Secretary asked if I would be interested in making the 
     announcement. At a press conference in Knob Noster on January 
     5, 1987, I had the honor of announcing that Whiteman Air 
     Force Base would be the home of the newest and most advanced 
     bomber in America's fleet, the Stealth Bomber. Then, Major 
     General, now retired General Jim McCarthy deserves great 
     credit for helping formulate the decision to put the wing 
     here.
       Shortly after that announcement, the Air Force officially 
     named the new Stealth Bomber the B-2. And you know the 
     history from that moment on. Then Brigadier General, later 
     Lieutenant General Ron Marcotte oversaw the formulation of 
     the B-2 Wing here at Whiteman.
       Since the B-2 has been here for ten years, and people are 
     fairly accustomed to seeing the aircraft, there might be a 
     temptation to start considering it as old hat. But let me 
     take this opportunity to remind you how exceptional this 
     aircraft is, because you are looking at a significant piece 
     of aviation history.
       First, there was the airplane.
       Then, in the First World War, aerial combat.
       Then, in the Second World War, radar to see through clouds 
     and find attackers at great distances.
       Then an airplane that disappeared from radar.
       The B-2 wasn't the first jet, or the first flying wing, or 
     the first stealthy airplane, or the first capable of spanning 
     the globe. But it was the first stealthy jet airplane able to 
     go anywhere.
       The B-2 changed the calculation from the number of planes 
     per target to the number of targets per plane. It 
     fundamentally changed the equation of offense versus defense.
       It is, in one respect, the summation of the 20th century's 
     technological advances. It could not stay aloft without 
     computers. It stays invisible because of advanced materials. 
     And the airplane and munitions know their precise location 
     thanks to satellites.
       To be sure, the Wright Flyer, wood and canvas, didn't have 
     much of a radar signature. And it was quiet. And a 12-second 
     flight is a lot easier than 24 hours.
       24 hours. That's the other way the B-2 is the culmination 
     of its century. The 20th century was, in so many ways, the 
     American century. It's when our country reached its full 
     flower, as a nation, as an economic force, as a political 
     power. There is no more vivid expression of that than this 
     airplane, which can leave here, project American power 
     anywhere on the face of the globe, and return without 
     landing. Winston Churchill called the United States the 
     world's indispensable nation. The B-2's capabilities make 
     the aircraft this indispensable nation's most sovereign 
     instrument.
       But before you say, wait a minute, this is an instrument of 
     war--should we really celebrate it? It's a good question. Let 
     me answer it this way. This airplane is a humanitarian 
     advance. Yes, it exists to intimidate, and if necessary to 
     destroy. But if we accept conflict as inevitable, as history 
     suggests it is, I ask you--is it better to flatten a city to 
     hit a single strategic target? That's what we have had to do 
     through most of my lifetime and that of the airplane--rain 
     down as many bombs as possible and hope one hits. Or is it 
     better to save the civilians and just disable the target? If 
     war is necessary, this airplane lets us separate its effects 
     from the civilians with whom we have no quarrel.
       During the legislative battle to build the B-2, there were 
     a number of outspoken critics. That criticism continued even 
     after all 21 planes arrived at Whiteman. But since their 
     first combat deployments--first during 1999's NATO-led 
     Operation Allied Force campaign in Yugoslavia, then during 
     Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, and most recently 
     during Operation Iraqi Freedom--those critics have 
     disappeared. But it is more than the airplane and JDAM bombs. 
     It is the men and women here at Whiteman--the maintenance 
     crews, the bomb handlers, and of course the pilots--who made 
     this chapter in American military history so very 
     extraordinary.
       When the first B-2 arrived at Whiteman in December 17, 
     1993, on the 90th anniversary of man's first powered flight 
     by the Wright Brothers, it was the fulfillment of a dream. 
     There are any number of reasons why Whiteman Air Force Base 
     was the logical choice as the home of the B-2, but I believe 
     the most important reason is the strong support and 
     patriotism shown by the entire community for generations. And 
     the Pentagon knows this. I certainly do.
       Through the years, people throughout the area--on the 
     streets, at civic organizations, in the Whiteman Community 
     Council, in schools, and wherever I go--have given me words 
     of encouragement about the progress of the B-2 mission at 
     Whiteman. I doubt if any Member of Congress has ever had such 
     strong support by the people he represents as I have had in 
     this historic challenge.
       The people of this area have been strong supporters of each 
     mission assigned here. The Missourians of today are as 
     steadfast in their support as in yesteryear. Since the day of 
     the announcement that the B-2 would be located here, the 
     people of Missouri have taken the B-2, and all those who 
     support its mission, to their hearts.
       With the B-2 mission firmly established at Whiteman, this 
     base not only has a bright future ahead, but I believe it is 
     also the premier Air Force Base in the nation. The B-2 
     mission ensures that Whiteman will continue to be a vital 
     part of our national security establishment for decades to 
     come, even though the installation's previous major 
     mission, the Minuteman Missiles, were removed and silos 
     destroyed following the end of the Cold War.
       And now that the B-2s have undertaken their first combat 
     deployments--with pinpoint bombing in Kosovo, Afghanistan, 
     and Iraq--those who fly and maintain this aircraft have more 
     than proven the usefulness of this weapons system and 
     demonstrated the foresight of those who imagined the 
     potential of a long range bomber that could take off from 
     rural Missouri and fly half-way around the world and back.
       So today we Americans have cause to celebrate an American 
     invention--the airplane and the technologically complex 
     airplane we call the B-2. As long as there are those skilled 
     aeronautical engineers whose designs keep American air power 
     on the cutting edge, and as long as we have dedicated Air 
     Force men and women who crew and serve these craft, America 
     will continue to be the bastion of freedom and a secure land.
       We know how far the first 100 years of aviation has taken 
     us. But what will the next 100 years bring? Let me make a few 
     predictions. In 100 years, planes will fly faster, fly 
     farther, and probably fly on their own. Whiteman Air Force 
     Base, which in 100 years will still be the premier Air Force 
     base in the world, will be home to pilotless, hypersonic, 
     stealthy bombers, able to reach any point on the globe within 
     hours. And in 100 years, the people whose hard work and 
     dedication make these amazing technologies come to life will 
     be as inspiring to their fellow Americans as their 
     predecessors amaze and inspire us today.
       I'm sure that over the last 10 years quite a few eleven-
     year-olds in Lexington, and throughout the state, have looked 
     toward the sky and caught a glimpse of an airplane--not an 
     army transport airplane pulling a glider, but the most modern 
     bomber in the world, the B-2. Like those Army Air Corps 
     planes of an earlier age, its home is located near Sedalia. 
     This plane flies for the same purpose as the planes I saw in 
     1943--to preserve freedom. The airplanes have changed--but 
     the mission remains the same.

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