McConnell Air Force Base (IATA: IAB, ICAO: KIAB, FAA LID: IAB) is a United States Air Force base located four miles (6 km) southeast of the central business district of Wichita, a city in Sedgwick County, Kansas, United States. The base was named in honor of Wichita brothers Fred and Thomas McConnell, both Air Force pilots and World War II veterans. It is the home of Air Mobility Command's 22d Air Refueling Wing (22 ARW), Air Force Reserve Command's 931st Air Refueling Group (931 ARG), and the Kansas Air National Guard's 184th Intelligence Wing (184 IW).
McConnell's primary mission is to provide global reach by conducting air refueling and airlift where and when needed. The Commander of the 22d ARW is Colonel Ricky N. Rupp, the Vice-Commander is Colonel Douglas K. Lamberth and the Command Chief is Chief Master Sergeant Michael H. Edwards.
Famous quotes containing the words air, force and/or base:
““With your air indifferent and imperious
At a stroke our mad poetics to confute—”
And—”Are we then so serious?””
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“Only a fully trained Jedi knight with the Force as his ally will conquer Vader and his emperor. If you end your training now—if you choose the quick and easy path, as Vader did—you will become an agent of evil.”
—Leigh Brackett (1915–1978)
“One does not jump, and spring, and shout hurrah! at hearing one has got a fortune, one begins to consider responsibilities, and to ponder business; on a base of steady satisfaction rise certain grave cares, and we contain ourselves, and brood over our bliss with a solemn brow.”
—Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855)