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July 8, 2001

Popular airshow honors fallen pilot

By SHELLEY R. BURGESS
Record-Eagle staff writer

      TRAVERSE CITY - Amid the celebration of the 75th annual Cherry Festival, the committee dedicated the fly-bys and stunts of the airshow to the memory of a pilot who died Friday doing what he liked best - flying.
     
photo

Mitchell A. Bulmann
Air Force Capt. Mitchell A. Bulmann, a 1991 Traverse City (Central) High School graduate, died during an in-flight training mission Friday morning.
      Bulmann's family informed the Cherry Festival committee, and they were only too happy to dedicate the airshow to Mitchell's memory said his brother Kevin Bulmann.
      "I think it's great," Kevin said. "That was his love. That was his life, everything."
      Mitchell was stationed at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, S.C.,and flew the F-16CJ fighter jet.
      "He wasn't happy unless he was going 1,000 miles an hour," Kevin said of his 27-year-old brother.
      Mitchell was a 1996 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and earned his master's degree from Harvard University while on active duty.
      "He would set a goal and then go after it 110 percent," Kevin said.
      Mitchell had hoped to fly over his hometown during Cherry Festival next year, Kevin said. He feels Mitchell would be honored by the committee's agreement to dedicate the airshow to him.