MANAGEMENT IN AVIATION HISTORY BENCH MARKS
Right to Leſt: Retired Col. Charles McGee, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James, Cadets William Fauntroy Jr. and Walter Robinson pose at a “meet and greet” during Febru- ary 2016, at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.. Col. McGee, Fauntroy and Robinson shared insights about their lives as WWII Tuskegee Airmen and as civilians aſter they leſt the military. The Tuskegee Airmen were an all-African-American pursuit squadron with members who were pilots, radio operators, navigators, bombardiers, aircraſt mechanics, instructors and other support staff. Photo: Courtesy of USAF
time. Their flight placed them in the record books as the first black aviators to make a U.S. transcontinental flight. Banning was killed as a passenger in an aircraft accident in San Diego during 1933. The first round-trip transcontinental flight across the U.S. by a team of black aviators was achieved that same year by C. Alfred Anderson and Albert E. Forsythe flying a Fairchild. There are several accounts of
African-American aviators who lived during the years of segregation in the U.S.. Few careers span as many years or have been as exemplary as that of Col. Charles McGee, USAF, now in his ninth decade.
THE COLONEL In 1999, I participated in a ceremony honoring Harriet Quimby and the WASP at the Wright Brothers National Memorial at Kill Devil Hills, NC. It was my good fortune to meet an attendee, Col. McGee, a former member of the 332nd Fighter Group, more famously known as the Tuskegee Airmen. I recently read
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Col. McGee’s biography, written with attention to historic detail as well as personal insight by his daughter, Charlene McGee Smith, titled “Tuskegee Airman.” Much has been written about the “Red Tails” who were trained at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama as the first all-black pursuit squadron during WWII. But, as I read the colonel’s life story, I was interested to learn that his long and distinguished military career also included training as an aircraft maintenance officer. The U.S. military was not officially integrated until Presidential Order in 1948. Col. McGee’s first assignment at an integrated facility was in Kansas during 1949. Charlene McGee Smith writes,
“The job of Base Shops of the 301st Maintenance Squadron was to keep aircraft equipment operational ... Charles commanded 60 or so technicians in various specialties ... The work was technical and Charles had been trained for it ... Ribbons were worn on uniforms and the men knew that Charles was a
combat veteran, which may have helped [with racial relations].” Col. McGee’s assignments thereafter often included operations and maintenance as well as missions as a pilot. He has the distinction of active military service in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. Col. McGee’s awards include the Distinguished Flying Cross. Upon retirement from the USAF in 1973, Col. McGee earned his bachelor of arts degree and in 1980 was briefly the manager of the Kansas City Airport. He remains active in support of the Boy Scouts of America and the Tuskegee Airmen Inc.
Giacinta Bradley Koontz
is an aviation historian, magazine columnist and author who has received the
DAR History Medal and honorable mention from the New York Book Festival. She has appeared on the History Channel and in PBS documentaries. For more information, visit
www.GiaBKoontz.com.
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