Fairchild Gets New Wing Commander Litche To Be Wing Commander At Andrews Air Force Base

Fairchild Air Force Base is getting a new wing commander. Again.

Brig. Gen. Arthur Lichte, who served as the base’s top officer for about 15 months, will be replaced at a formal ceremony Tuesday.

Lichte will become the wing commander at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland - the home of Air Force One and the nation’s fleet of planes for high-ranking government officials.

His replacement is Col. Paul Essex, currently a top staff member at the Air Mobility Command headquarters at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois.

“You can do an awful lot in 15 months,” said Lichte. He listed his biggest accomplishments during his tenure as improving the buildings and appearance of the base and “re-establishing the link” between Fairchild and Spokane.

“We needed to make sure everyone downtown knew what we did,” he said.

What Fairchild does is operate the nation’s largest fleet of aerial refueling tankers, a change from less than three years ago, when it was a B-52 and tanker base.

Efforts to improve the base appearance led to Fairchild earning top honors for an Air Mobility Command base this year, and construction continues on several major buildings.

Essex will become the sixth wing commander at Fairchild since 1991. The base’s rapid turnover in top staff was criticized in 1994, after a B-52 crashed while practicing dangerous maneuvers for an air show.

The turnover contributed to a lack of leadership and discipline, which should have stopped the pilot from flying maneuvers forbidden by the Air Force, investigators said. When investigators’ findings were announced, Pentagon officials expressed surprise at the rapid turnover in Fairchild’s top brass.

Lt. Gen. Thomas Griffith, then commander of the 12th Air Force, promised “a more thorough review” of staff changes. But the pace of change has not slowed appreciably.

Lichte said he didn’t consider the moves to be a sign that the Air Force was changing its mind about turnover. But the military has a different idea of longevity than the general public, he added.

“Around 18 months, it is standard for a commander to be reassigned,” he said.

Essex, a 23-year veteran, served twice before at Fairchild “and knows the operation,” Lichte said. , DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo