Spittin, one of the first live mascots of the 5th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Minot Air Force Base, now makes its “home” at the Dakota Territory Air Museum in Minot, along with the various memorabilia about the squadron and other units at the Minot base. [Eloise Ogden/MDN]

"Squadron mascots lived at Minot zoo until recently" October 1, 2008, Minot Daily News

By ELOISE OGDEN, Regional Editor eogden@minotdailynews.com MINOT AIR FORCE BASE "Mascots will need home if squadron deactivates," read the Jan. 25, 1987, headline in The Minot Daily News. After the 5th Fighter Interceptor Squadron closed operations at Minot Air Force Base in spring 1988, its mascots were donated to Roosevelt Park Zoo in Minot. Liberty, the female, and Eagle, the male, a brother-sister pair, lived at the zoo for years since the base squadron was deactivated. However, Liberty was losing her quality of life and was euthanized this past winter. Eagle died this summer, zoo officials said. At the air base, the cats were always known as "the mascots" or "the lynx mascots" but actually they were bobcats (Lynx rufus) and not lynx. Retired Col. Jack Broughton, who lives in California, a former commander of the 5th Fighter Interceptor Squadron was responsible for getting live mascots for the squadron in 1963. "I don't know of any other squadron who had live mascots like ours," said Broughton. Broughton related the tale of the mascots when he was interviewed by The Minot Daily News in August 2004. He and his wife, Alice "A.J.," who live in California, were visiting Minot AFB and Minot at the time of the interview. The squadron's patch featuring a green-eyed Canadian lynx with its razor-sharp teeth bared was most appropriate for the squadron's location at Minot AFB, Broughton said. The base is about 45 miles from the Canadian border. And Broughton wanted a live lynx for the squadron. (Most people may think the nickname of the squadron, "Spittin' Kittens" came from those lynx mascots but it really didn't. The name developed during World War II when the unit, then the 5th Pursuit Squadron based in England, flew the British-made Spitfire aircraft during combat missions out of England. It did then, however, adopt the lynx as an emblem.) Broughton asked Carl Flagstad, of The Minot Daily News and a longtime friend and supporter of the military, to run an article saying Broughton wanted to obtain a lynx for a squadron mascot. The only response to the article was a local man who had shot a lynx in a hunt. Broughton said the man offered him "a stuffed lynx." But after the first cold snap and snowfall, a farmer called to say he had shot a female lynx who was raiding his chickens. She had two tiny kittens, a male and a female, and wondered if Broughton wanted them. The fighter squadron did and told the farmer they would pick them up as soon as they could. Broughton tells about the live mascots in his new book, "Rupert Red Two." Because the roads were not fit to drive, Broughton said one of his captains talked Strategic Air Command base operations helicopter guys to fly the captain out to pick up the kittens and bring them back to the base. The kittens were named, appropriately "Spittin" and "Kitten." A cage was built on the side of the fighter squadron's operations building. There the first two mascots of 5th Fighter would be making their home. Broughton tapped one squadron member as the keeper of the kittens. Broughton liked to spend some time around the cats. When they got used to him, eventually he could take them out of their cage for awhile. But what he really liked to do was play catch with them. Broughton would toss a ball into their cage and they'd catch it, often first chasing it. The 5th Fighter Interceptor Squadron had a zoo license and was inspected yearly by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Over the next years, the squadron received cats from other zoos and individuals. About a year before the squadron closed, it had four adult cats: Kittah, Bobby, Slick and Amber and two kittens, C.J. (now called "Eagle" in honor of the squadron's aircraft the F-15 Eagle jet fighter plane) and Liberty. According to The Minot Daily News files, the two kittens were born in July 1986, and were "the first offspring in 13 years of the squadron's lynx mascots at the base." Lt. Col. Thomas Dobson Jr., then commander of the 5th FIS, and his wife Mary Jane raised the two kittens at their home for three months before they were moved to their official home at squadron headquarters. When the Minot squadron was going to be closed, plans were made as to what to do with the cats, which made their home at the base for many years. In fact, Maj. Gen. Buford D. Lary of Langley AFB in Virginia, commander of 1st Air Force, of which the 5th Fighter Interceptor Squadron was a part, formed a committee to decide what to do with the cats, according to a Jan. 25, 1987, story in The Minot Daily News. It's not clear where the adult cats went when the squadron was deactivated. But Liberty and Eagle became residents of the Minot. Former 5th Fighter members told The Minot Daily News that many kittens were born to the adult cat mascots over the years. Dart, one of the cats, went on to become the star of the Mercury-Lincoln commercials after being sold to an advertising firm. They said the cats always drew a lot of attention, including from all of 5th Fighters' commanders who served at Minot AFB.
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