Tuskegee Airmen opened doors for black aviators

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Joseph Coslett
  • 14th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. (AFPN) --  The modern Air Force is a diverse force made up of many races and cultures. But this was not always the case.

More than 60 years ago, the U.S. Army Air Corps created an experimental black pilot-training program to test their abilities.

With determination and persistence, the first black pilots, the Tuskegee Airmen, not only battled the Axis powers, but also the walls of racism and segregation, proving to America they were just as good as any other pilot.

In 1941, Air Corps officials built a separate facility at Tuskegee Army Air Field to train the black pilots. The whole experiment was strictly segregated in every aspect.

Everyone on the base, from the maintainers to the support troops, was black, said retired Lt. Col. Alva Temple, an original Tuskegee Airman.

“I came in right from civilian life to guys hazing me,” Colonel Temple said. “I didn’t know what was going on.”

Colonel Temple said he thought hazing was the worst part of training. At the time, he could not understand how people could treat each other with such cruelty. An average of 40 percent washed out of training, including cadets with college degrees from northern universities. The first class had 13 students and only five graduates.

Colonel Temple said if it was not for the mentorship he received, he might have washed out.

“I had an upperclassman (who) pulled me aside and helped me,” he said. “My mentor said, ‘Unless you are able to produce, you’ll wash out.’”

With the right frame of mind and help from his mentor, Colonel Temple completed the first six weeks of aviation training, which consisted of basic military instruction, navigation, aerodynamics, weather and preflight training.

During the following weeks of training, the aviation cadets took classes in the morning and flew in the afternoon. Colonel Temple flew the PT-17 Stearman, BT-13 Valiant and AT-6 Texan.

He said one thought remained constant: He had to succeed for himself and everyone who looked up to him.

“I always knew it was an important experiment, and I had to try hard to finish,” he said. “If you cut the mustard, you passed. If you didn’t, you were out.”

After earning his pilot’s wings, he went on to combat training in the P-40 War Hawk.

In 1943, Colonel Temple was transferred to the 99th Pursuit Squadron and served in Italy, southern Europe, southern France and the Balkan Nations. He completed 120 combat missions in 15 months.

Even though he and other Tuskegee Airmen fought for their country, they were forced to operate as segregated units and not allowed to fight alongside their fellow white countrymen.

The Tuskegee Airmen hold the distinction of not losing a bomber under their escort during the war. Such heroic actions earned them the nickname Red Tail Angels.

By the end of World War II, 992 men had graduated from pilot training at Tuskegee, 450 of whom were sent overseas for combat assignments. During the same period, about 150 of them lost their lives while training or on combat flights.

Much has changed since then.

Pilots of all races are welcome to become a part of the Air Force team.

“Student pilots are still challenged and trained to be warriors, pilots and leaders,” said Capt. Charles Gilliam, a 48th Flying Training Squadron instructor pilot here. “Now their limits are pushed on equal grounds, only stopped by their own personal desire to succeed.”

Student pilots here receive basic flight training in the T-37 Tweet. After completing training in the Tweet, students transition to a fighter and bomber track in the T-38C Talon or airlift and tanker track in the T-1 Jayhawk. Some go on to helicopter training with the Army at Fort Rucker, Ala., in the UH-1, or tactical airlift for a C-130 Hercules assignment in the T-44 Pegasus at Corpus Christi, Texas.

“Students are expected to put forward their absolute best efforts in learning the academics and systems, being prepared for each sortie and being a military professional in the process,” Captain Gilliam said. “All instructors, whether they realize it or not, are role models for all of the student pilots.”

Of the more than 300 instructor pilots here, less than 10 are black. In a demographics report released by the Air Force Personnel Center at the end of 2003, 15.6 percent of the Air Force was black. Twenty-five years ago, blacks made up just slightly more than 4 percent of the force.

“The Air Force has made strides in getting more minority pilots and navigators; however, we still have a long way to go,” Captain Gilliam said. (Courtesy of Air Education and Training Command News Service)