MAJOR WAYNE A. KUSCHEL
Veteran for February 2009
Major Wayne A. Kuschel was born on December 6, 1923, in Ellsworth, Wisconsin. In June 1940, at the age of 16, and with only an 8th grade education, he was sworn into the Army at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, eventually graduating from a highly technical flight training course with a superior rating, graduating 56th out of 227 in a pilot training class, and achieving the rank of Major before he retired from military service in 1960 after devoting twenty years to his country.
Major Kuschel was originally assigned to the 3rd Infantry Regiment and later worked as the assigned driver for his company's commander in Fort Pepperall, Newfoundland. Because of his interest in flying Major Kuschel requested, and in August 1943 was granted, a transfer to the Army Air Corps where he became an assistant crew chief on Major General Carl Brandt's UC-45 aircraft. In February 1944 Major Kuschel was accepted to cadet flight training. He was, shortly thereafter, selected to be in the first group of flight engineers on the revolutionary B-29 Superfortress.
In June 1945 Major Kuschel, having completed flight training, was commissioned as an officer in the Army Air Corps. However, by the time Major Kuschel was qualified World War II was over and the B-29 mission was no longer needed. He was then assigned to do flight testing at Wright Field, Ohio in early 1946. In mid-1947, he was selected for pilot training and reported to Randolph Field, Texas. Major Kuschel became a fully rated B-25 pilot on October 8, 1948.
Major Kuschel joined the Air Force Reserves and continued his service at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio and later at Davis-Monthan, Arizona. In 1951 Major Kuschel was re-called to active duty to pilot B-36's
In 1954 Major Kuschel changed his AFSC and became a maintenance officer in the 97th Bomb Wing at Biggs AFB, Texas. He served as a maintenance wing inspector at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, and as chief of maintenance control at March AFB, California, where he was promoted to his final rank of Major.
