Black American pilots are now recognized for their accomplishments in World War II, but as late as the ’70s, many Americans did not know that black Americans flew airplanes during the war.
Retired Lt. Col. Edward Drummond Jr. and retired Lt. Col. William Holloman III, members of the famed Tuskegee Airmen — the U.S. military’s first black American pilots — told the audience that getting to fly for the honor of the country was a difficult battle.
“Those are the things that hurt,” Holloman said. “You are laying your life on the line, and you have to fight to do that.”
Holloman said while he was training at Tuskegee, Ala., he did not tell his superiors he already had flight training because they would attempt to remove him from the program. He said the base at Tuskegee was the only base where blacks were allowed to train, while white cadets honed their skills at three or four fields. The veteran added that military and government officials purposefully tried to fail black trainees to prove that they were incapable of being trained.
Drummond, the younger of the two pilots, said he started his military service as a “colored boy,” and was not referred to as a Tuskegee Airman until his retirement in 1970 because the popular term in the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s was “colored flier.”
“The Air Corps had … a segregationist policy that excluded African Americans from entering,” Drummond said. “The country’s policy was to split races.”
Holloman said while there were black pilots prior to World War II, many flew for other countries because the United States would not accept them.
The pilots spent time Monday telling stories and discussing the history behind their airplanes.
“Everybody had nicknames back then,” Holloman said of his flying comrades and their planes.
The famous 99th Squadron, of which Holloman was a part, was the only squadron in the world completely separate from its Fighter Group, which is made up of several squadrons. The squadron was incorporated into the 332nd Flight Group by the end of World War II, but Holloman said it would not have taken so long to join with a flight group if there had not been so much racism in the military.
About 100 people, most of them students, attended the discussion, which was organized by University Professor Emeritus William Lamon to honor the centennial of aviation.
Lamon, a native Belgian, said that when he immigrated to the United States in 1963, he was horrified to see how blacks — native to America — were treated , and he naturally wanted the Tuskegee Airmen to be recognized for their accomplishments.
“There’s lots of camaraderie between pilots — no matter what nation you’re from,” Lamon said.