Lt. Col. Brad Link was hoping his B-1 bomber flight wouldn’t end once it took off from McConnell Air Force Base.

For a few hours today, he and three crewmen, including Maj. Gen. Greg Gardner, the state’s adjutant general, were to fly over more than 30 Kansas communities to commemorate the Fourth of July.

	Above LawrenceSome city residents will see and hear the B-1 bomber around 7:30 p.m. today as it makes its way to a flyover at the Clinton Lake dam.

It was the last such mission for the 184th Bomb Wing. The wing, based at McConnell outside Wichita, expects to stop flying the bombers Aug. 4 and convert to a KC-135 tanker wing.

“This is my favorite flight to fly,” Link said. “You’re flying for the public and yourself. It’s all public relations at this time.”

Across the state, residents planned to the mark the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, less than 10 months after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Lt. Col. Joy Moser, spokeswoman for the Adjutant General’s Department, said she knows of no extraordinary security measures in Kansas but added, “We’re all more alert and aware.”

“It’s not business as usual because we didn’t feel this way last year, but it’s still the heightened awareness we’ve all felt,” she said.

For some communities, B-1s have been part of past Fourth of July celebrations. Link has made four such trips and said he enjoys seeing the communities and their enthusiasm for the aircraft.

Coffeyville City Manager Leroy Alsup hates to see the B-1s go. The 184th flew over last year, along with an F-16 fighter from Oklahoma, during the city’s dedication of Veterans Memorial Stadium.

“We’ve been trying to spread the word to people that this is the last time for the B-1,” Alsup said.

Alsup expected a crowd of about 5,000 tonight at the stadium. The B-1 was to start the celebration, followed by a tribute to veterans, a concert and fireworks.

Gardner, who was commander of the 184th until becoming adjutant general in 1999, said the flight will be his last in the bomber and a special occasion.

“It’s kind of a happy day and sad day at the same time,” he said. “What greater day to and year to make flybys?”

Gardner said the crew will flyby each city as requested, with some wanting the jet to use its afterburners, some with the wings swept back. He sees the bomber and the entire Kansas National Guard belonging to the people.

“A lot of them probably don’t know that this is the last time,” Gardner said. “We try to create ownership among Kansans. I think the B-1 helped build ownership.

“In that way, it will be missed.”

Col. Ed Flora, commander of the 184th, said the transition to flying tankers and the creation of new information warfare and information systems units was going well. Many of the new jobs were filled by B-1 crew members and support crews.

“A little over a year ago, people thought they would be out of a job in 90 days,” Flora said. “Once it was determined that we would keep our identity, it eased a lot of minds.”

In June 2001, the Pentagon announced it was removing all B-1s from the National Guard in Kansas and Georgia, moving them to the Air Force in Texas and South Dakota. The 184th learned Sept. 10 it would become a tanker wing, joining the Air Force’s 22nd Air Refueling Wing in making McConnell the world’s largest supertanker base.

The move to tankers has been “bittersweet,” Flora said, bitter because it is change, but good because of new opportunities for the soldiers and future missions for the 184th.

The last flyovers this holiday were to test the crew’s skill in hitting cities, Flora said, to honor veterans, especially following Sept. 11.

“We’ll miss it. We’ll miss it a bunch,” he said. “It’s one time they don’t mind the sound of freedom.”