Winter 1993 Number 27 $5.00
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Winter 1993 Number 27 $5.00 30 ALABAMAHERITAGE:WINTER1993 ALABAMA HERITAGE:WINTER 199 3 31 In the years before World War II, many African Americans attempted to join the Army Air Corps but were summarily rejected because of their race. N THE EARLY MORNING hours of Novem- Luke Weathers, Melvin Jackson, and Louis Purnell ber 16, 1944, Capt. Luke Weathers, a young were among the first black military aviators in American fighter pilot from Memphis, Tennessee, strolled history. Trained in Alabama at Tuskegee Institute, now out onto an airstrip in northern Italy and checked Tuskegee University, they were members of the Tus- the condition of his plane. Weathers had made kegee airmen, among the most highly decorated pilots Iprecautionary testing of his aircraft a part of his daily in the European theater of war during World War II. routine during his flight training days in Alabama, and he had continued the practice throughout his active duty RIOR TO THE WAR, few African Ameri- assignments in North Africa and Europe. Today his cans had the opportunity to learn to fly. mission was to escort B-17 bombers, known as "Flying Despite the odds against them, several black Fortresses," from bases in northern Italy to targets in the Americans managed to gain not only a pilot's Munich area of southern Germany. Most bombers, even license but a few headlines as well. "Brave the heavily armed B-17s, were vulnerable to enemy PBessie" Coleman, who learned to fly in France, became fighter aircraft; fighter pilots had to provide "close cover" the first black woman in the United States to hold a escort on bombing missions such as these. pilot's license. Coleman barnstormed across the country Escort duty was uneventful for Weathers and his in the 1920s, thrilling air show audiences until her death fellow fighter pilots, Capt. Melvin Jackson and Capt. in a tragic crash in 1926. In October 1932, James Herman Louis Purnell, until eight Messerschmidt 109s (ME 109s) Banning and Thomas Allen (called "suntanned editions attacked a crippled bomber returning from the mission. of Lindy" by the Pittsburgh Courier) became the first All three American pilots peeled off from their positions, black Americans to complete a transcontinental flight. returned the fire, and Weathers hit one of the ME 109s. One year later, Charles Alfred "Chief Anderson and Suddenly he noticed red balls of aircraft fire arcing Dr. Albert E. Forsythe became the first African Ameri- over the canopy of his cockpit. He was being attacked cans to make a round-trip transcontinental flight. from the rear. Jackson and Purnell fell in behind the In the years before World War II, many African Ameri- attacking plane but had to abandon their pursuit when cans attempted to join the Army Air Corps (the precursor other Messerschmidts began firing on them as well. to the U.S. Air Force) but were summarily rejected Instead of pursuing Jackson and Purnell, the Germans because of their race. Determined to prove their flying concentrated on Weathers' plane, closing in from all skills, two young black aviators, Chauncey E. Spencer directions in a deadly tactic that Americans called the and Dale L. White, rented an old Lincoln-Paige biplane German "wolf pack." The odds were heavily in the in Oaklawn, Illinois, and flew to Washington, D.C. After Germans' favor, but Captain Weathers maintained his a number of complications, Spencer and White finally composure. arrived in the capitol and were introduced to Rep. Everett "It looked like they had me," Weathers remembered Dirksen of Illinois and Sen. Harry Truman of Missouri. later, "so I decided to follow the falling [ME 109] plane. Truman was reportedly surprised to learn that the air I made a dive, came out of it, and looked back. One corps excluded African Americans. "If you guys had the plane was still on my tail. I was headed back toward guts to fly this thing to Washington," he said, "I've got Germany and didn't want to go that way. I chopped my guts enough to see that you get what you are asking!" throttle and dropped my flaps to cut my speed quickly. It would not be easy. The War Department's policy The fellow overshot me and this left me on his tail. He of racial discrimination was based on a 1925 War College was in range so I opened fire. A long burst and a short study which stated that black men, due to their "smaller burst [of gunfire] sent him tumbling to the ground." cranial size," lacked the ability to perform as well as Weathers' acrobatic and highly dangerous maneuver white men and, consequently, were "incapable of flying allowed him to escape unharmed. airplanes." ALABAMA HERITAGE:WINTER 1993 In 1932 James Herman Banning!, above) and Thomas C. Allen became the first black aviators to com- plete a transcontinental flight. Time: 41 hours and27 minutes. Affectionately called the "Flying Hobos," the pair bought a used aircraft and set off with less than $100for expenses. (Thomas C. Allen, courtesy National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution) Right: Opportu- nities for African American aviators expanded dramati- cally in 1939, when blacks gained entrance to the Civilian Pilot Training Pro- gram. Pictured: Linkwood Williams, civilian flight instructor at TuskegeeArmy Air Field. (James 0. Plinton, Jr., courtesy NASM, SI) HEN WAR BROKE OUT in Eu- Roosevelt to include black colleges and universities in rope in 1939, President Roosevelt the new aviation classes. The Senate Military Affairs asked Congress to create a feder- Committee debated the question of black participation ally funded Civilian Pilot Training in the Army Air Corps during the early months of 1939 Program (CPTP) as a preparedness and, eventually, a compromise was struck, stipulating Wmeasure. The program was to be administered by the that one of the civilian pilot training schools would be Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA), which, operating earmarked as a training site for African Americans. through colleges and universities, promoted interest in Tuskegee Institute in Alabama was selected as the site, military service during national emergencies. African but Public Law 18, signed by President Roosevelt on Americans such as Dr. Ormande Walker of Wilberforcc April 3, made no explicit statement about admitting University and Arthur Howe of Hampton Institute be- black civilian pilots to the air corps. Thus, the Army Air gan pressing members of Congress and President Corps continued its exclusion of black pilots. ALABAMA HERITAGE:WINTER 1993 33 The army was convinced that any effort to undermine the system of segregated training would instigate race riots and hobble the war effort. Above: First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, an avifi supporter of equal opportunity for black Americans, joined Tuskegee's chief flight instructor C. Alfred "Chief A ndersonfor an aerial tour of the airfield. Left: Col. Benjamin 0. Davis, Jr., pictured in the cockpit of his P-51 Mustang, commanded the Ninety-ninth Fighter Squadron and, later, the 332d Fighter Group. Davis' skill as an administrator did much to dispel hostility toward black participation in military aviation. (Courtesy NASM, SI) ROM THE BEGINNING, the program that First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt helped raise, Tuskegee at Tuskegee was a success. Ninety-one of built a second airstrip in August 1941. one hundred students qualified for civil That same summer, Frederick Douglass Patterson, pilot's licenses during the school's first president of Tuskegee Institute, received word from the year of operation, and by 1940 Tuskegee U. S. secretary of war that Congress had appropriated Fhad become the largest black pilot training program in $1,091,000 for the construction of an army air base at the country. Tuskegee. Black cadets would now have the opportu- Keeping up with the need for airfields was a problem. nity to receive basic, advanced, and combat training and For the first few months, from January through March to earn flight wings and commissions. Hangars, repair 1940, student pilots used the municipal airport in Mont- shops, classrooms, laboratories, administrative facilities, gomery, forty miles away, because the landing strip at an infirmary, dining hall, firehouse, and dormitories were Tuskegee was not completed. As the program expanded, to be constructed to provide a self-sustaining and fully Tuskegee pilots made use of their own airstrip as well as functional air base. airfields in Montgomery and at Alabama Polytechnic Tractors began leveling hills and uprooting trees on College (now Auburn University). Finally, aided by funds July 23, 1941, in preparation for laying the runways. ALABAMA HERITAGE:WINTER 1993 Ralph Jones, one of the base support personnel, arrived in October before construction was complete and de- Charles B. \\all scribed the scene: "Buster had one problem, if it could be considered as such. He We arrived at a little train station called Cheehaw in Ala- was totally without fear." —Capt. George Roberts bama, which described the place adequately. From Cheehaw we were trucked to the base... really what was to become the base, for on our arrival we immediately dubbed it tent city. There were no permanent buildings for the Army personnel and the airstrip was still under construction. The first class of cadets transferred to Tuskegee Army Air Field in November 1941, less than one month before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. N THE YEARS BEFORE World War II, Afri- can Americans had challenged the U.S. military policy of racial segregation. In 1938, while the nationally circulated black newspaper, the Pitts- burgh Courier, campaigned for extended opportu- Inities for blacks in the military, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) en- couraged the War Department to integrate its personnel N JULY 2, 1943, Charles B.