Taking history to the skies

Crisis, The, Jul/Aug 2003 by Harris, Hamil

As Maj. Mark "Chappy" Smith landed his F-16 at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, D.C., for the annual military air show, he broke into a broad smile as a group of African American men dressed in red blazers approached his jet for a greeting. The men in red coats were former Tuskegee Airmen, the courageous African American pilots who protected the skies during World War II.

The Tuskegee Airmen were there for the "Red Tail Project," a collaboration between local chapters of the Tuskegee Airmen and the Commemorative Air Force that began in 1994. Members of the Commemorative Air Force restore the P-51C Mustang planes that the Black pilots flew during WWII and fly them at air shows.

"The mission of the Commemorative Air Force is to restore WWII planes lest we forget that part of world history," said Don Hinz, 59, a retired Navy Reserves pilot. "But if there are no (Tuskegee) airmen, the P-51 is just another plane."

The Tuskegee Airmen use the Red Tail Project as part of an effort to educate a new generation of potential pilots.

"Our goal is to motivate minority youth to seek careers in aerospace and aviation," says Bill Broadwater, 77, a former Tuskegee Airmen.

Broadwater is one of about 300 Tuskegee Airmen still living. There were originally 962 pilots and 125 bombadiers and navigators. Flying P-51C Mustangs, the airmen, who were part of the 332nd Fighter Group, flew more than 1,500 successful missions during WWII.

The Tuskegee Airmen never got to fly jets like the F-16. But the Black pilots, led by former Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr., took what they did learn in Tuskegee, Ala., into the skies above North Africa in WWII and changed the face of history.

Today, Maj. Smith, 34, credits the Tuskegee Airmen for paving the way for African American pilots like him. He is a member of the elite Air Force flying unit called the "Thunderbirds," an aerial demonstration team that performs during air shows around the world.

"I just hope that I am making them proud," said Smith, one of only three African American pilots who have been selected to fly with the Thunderbirds. "I have a lot to stand up for."

Hinz, who participates in the Red Tail project to help tell the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, agrees. "The values that the Tuskegee Airmen expose are dedication, perseverance, respect and overcoming obstacles."