C. G. (Mike) Bender

Mike was in the very first graduating class of the US Air Force Academy’s Long Blue Line in 1959. He was a veteran of the United States Air Force and commercial airline pilot with Continental Airlines prior to retiring in 2007 from UPS Airlines. His military flying career included piloting the B-47 in Minot, ND and the B-52 with Strategic Air Command at Wurtsmith Air Force Base Oscoda, MI. Mike attempted to be reassigned into combat during the Vietnam War in 1964 but to no avail which prompted his decision to leave the Air Force and join Continental Air Services, flying C-130’s ferrying supplies out of Vientiane, Laos in support of the Hmong Hill Tribesmen who were fighting the Communist Pathet Lau.