South Carolina-Based Fighter Jet Debuts at England Air Show

By Mike Switzer

Published August 17, 2016 at 5:22 AM EDT

The U.S. military's most advanced fighter jet, the F-35, made its international debut recently at the Farnborough International Air Show in England. Three of the F-35s displayed there are based here in South Carolina at the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort. And our next guest says the future of the F-35 is not only critically important to defending our nation, but also to South Carolina's aerospace industry.

Mike Switzer interviews Don Erickson, Site Director at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Greenville, SC. (Additional resource: SCTAC)

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Mike Switzer

After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.

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