12/19/2023 0 Comments Shifty powers tuskegee airman![]() ![]() He was accorded an honorary commission promoting him to the one-star rank of brigadier general as he turned 100. He retired as a colonel in the Air Force in 1973, then earned a college degree in business administration and worked as a business executive. The National Aviation Hall of Fame says his 409 aerial fighter combat missions in three wars remains a record. He flew low-level bombing and strafing missions during the Korean War and returned to combat again during the Vietnam War. McGee remained in the Army Air Corps, later the U.S. In 2007 a Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award from Congress, was issued to recognize their “unique military record that inspired revolutionary reform in the Armed Forces.” In recent years the Tuskegee Airmen have been the subject of books, movies and documentaries highlighting their courage in the air and the doubts they faced on the ground because of their race. About 450 deployed overseas and 150 lost their lives in training or combat. More than 900 men trained at Tuskegee from 1940 to 1946. McGee graduated from flight school in June 1943 and in early 1944 joined the all-Black 332nd Fighter Group, known as the “Red Tails.” He flew 136 missions as the group accompanied bombers over Europe. We knew we had the same skills, or better.” “You could say that one of the things we were fighting for was equality,” he told The Associated Press in a 1995 interview. In October 1942 he was sent to the Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama for flight training, according to his biography on the website of the National Aviation Hall of Fame. entry into World War II, McGee left the University of Illinois to join an experimental program for Black soldiers seeking to train as pilots after the Army Air Corps was forced to admit African Americans. WATCH: Biden delivers remarks and signs veterans’ bill into lawĪfter the U.S. McGee died in his sleep at his home in Bethesda, Maryland, said his son, Ron McGee. WASHINGTON (AP) - Charles McGee, a Tuskegee Airman who flew 409 fighter combat missions over three wars and later helped to bring attention to the Black pilots who had battled racism at home to fight for freedom abroad, died Sunday. ![]()
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