2026-2027 Lecture Series
The Fort Miles Historical Association (FMHA) is planning to hold our annual FMHA Historical Lecture Series which is a multi-part seasonal curriculum focusing on the military history of Delaware and United States, especially World War II and the Cold War. Managed by the FMHA, these lectures keep the public engaged during the winter off-season when the museum operates on reduced hours. Our theme for this forthcoming series is Military Aviation with a focus on the wartime growth of aviation in Delaware during World War Two and later developments during the Cold War.
Below are the speakers for the 2026-2027 FMHA’s Historical Lecture Series:
October 17, 2026 – “Project Recover”, Locating Missing Aircraft and their Airmen
Presented by Dr. Mark Moline
Dr. Moline is Director of the School of Marine Science and Policy at the Univ. of Delaware. This presentation will focus on his passion, “Project Recover”, which applies new technologies in the ocean that has transformed our ability to locate these relatively small aircraft associated with missing airman, document the sites, recover and return lost MIAs to their families and help provide closure that has existed for generations. The talk will track a few examples of the work being done to leave no one behind, including planes and flyers from Delaware.
November 14, 2026 – “85 Years of Service – History of the Dover Air Force Base”
Presented by Brig. Gen. Kennard R. Wiggins, Jr., (DE ANG Ret.).
Brig. Gen Wiggins Jr is a Regional Historian and Author. This presentation will cover the history of the Dover Air Force Base which opened one week after Pearl Harbor, where it served as an anti-submarine base, then a training base for fighter planes and a secret test site for aerial rockets. Nearly closed after the war, it was revived during the Korean War and eventually became the largest aerial port in the United States. It continues to serve as an air mobility hub for the Air Force as well as the home of the USAF Mortuary. Dover Air Force Base has had a significant impact on Delaware and plays an outsized role in the American defense posture.
January 16, 2027 – World War II Women in the U.S. Air Defense
Presented by Dr. Anne Dobberteen
Dr. Dobberteen is a Museum Curator and Historian. This presentation will cover the important role that civilian women and the Women’s Army Corps played during World War II in the Aircraft Warning Service (AWS) and Antiaircraft Artillery Command to help keep East Coasters safe from aerial attack. She will also discuss how women served effectively in composite (mixed-gender) antiaircraft gun crews through successful tests at Bethany Beach in 1943.
February 20, 2027 – “Walking in the footstep of heroes”, The rescue of the Doolittle Raiders in China Presented by Larry Kelley.
Mr. Kelley is Executive Director of the Delaware Aviation Museum Foundation. This lecture will cover Larry’s May 2025 trip to the sites in China where the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders found themselves after ditching or bailing out of their B-25 aircraft at the end of their Raid bombing five Japanese cities on April 18, 1942. While filming a documentary for Chinese Television, they visited and interviewed many Chinese civilians involved in the Raider rescues at the actual sites in China where these rescues occurred and where the Japanese retaliation campaign resulted in the deaths of an estimated 250,000 Chinese civilians.
March 13, 2027 – Delaware’s Aviation Heros Presented by Mitch Topal
Mr. Topal is an Author, Historian and former Chief of Public Affairs for the DANG’s 166th Airlift Wing. This presentation will cover Mitch’s book “Against All Odds” which chronicles the World War II combat experiences of a Delaware B-17 pilot Ray Firmani. The speech will detail the severe dangers of high-altitude bombing missions over Europe and highlights of other Delaware aviation heroes. His talks use an investigative, narrative storytelling style designed to place audiences directly inside the cockpit or on the front lines.
The lectures are held in the North Gun Room of Battery 519 at Cape Henlopen State Park (Lewes, DE). While admission is free, online registration is used as our lectures quickly become full due to limited seating capacity (120 attendees). FMHA Members get early registration for events at Fort Miles, usually 4 weeks before each event. Those attending are asked to consider a donation to support Fort Miles.
Email events@fortmilesha.org with questions.
