Biography: Tom Culbert grew up in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and then went to the University of Wisconsin in Superior (UW-Superior) to participate in the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program (AFROTC). In his Senior year at UW-Superior, he was able to take pilot training lessons at the airport in Superior. He graduated and was commissioned as an Air Force 2nd Lieutenant in June 1970. He was assigned to fly the B-52 bomber at Loring AFB in the State of Maine and then was sent to fly combat missions during the war in Vietnam. He logged 79 combat missions in Southeast Asia. In 1978 he was selected to begin training to be an Air Force Military Attaché. His first assignment as an Attaché was at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt. He served there for three years as a Diplomat Military Attaché and pilot supporting the U.S. Embassies located in Africa and the Middle East. Several years later, He went back to Africa and served again as the Air Force Attaché in Abidjan, Ivory Coast in West Africa. After living in Africa for more than 5 years, he was assigned to the Pentagon, in Washington to work for the Secretary of Defense. He was a Political-Military Affairs staff Officer working on Department of Defense plans and policy for Africa. He retired in January 1991 with the rank of Lt. Col. He then wrote a book about aviation history in Africa and consulted on aviation projects with African nations and companies. He is currently writing about aviation history. Program summary: Tom will tell us a WWII war story that few know about: At a time when the success of the Allied war effort hung by a thread, Pan Am built airfields and instituted a vital intercontinental airlift across some of the planet's most inhospitable and dangerous terrain, across routes stretching almost around the globe.
