Not so much a general aviation related story, but a really cool report from the folks at Pittsburgh International Airport (KPIT) recently caught my eye.
One of the last remaining Tuskegee Airmen, Lt. Col. James Harvey, recently visited the airport to see the memorial honoring the famed combat unit.
Harvey, who turns 100 this month, toured the exhibit, looking for faces he recognized.
“There’s still a lot of people who don’t know about us,” said Harvey, who was in Pittsburgh to serve as the grand marshal of the city’s Juneteenth parade. “This is a very nice display. I’ve never seen one this complete.”
The story by Bob Kerlik reports on the visit, noting that Harvey “didn’t mince words” when asked what younger generations should know about the Tuskegee Airmen and their role in breaking racial barriers in the U.S. military. He cited a 1925 report from the Army War College that concluded Black military members were inferior to their white counterparts and that units should be strictly segregated.
That report concluded that “we didn’t have the ability to do anything, so we proved them wrong,” Harvey said.
“At every turn, we proved them wrong. We were the best. They think they know us. They do not know us. We’re better than that. We proved it in our actions. Actions speak louder than words.”
Harvey was a fighter pilot with the 332nd Fighter Group’s 99th Fighter Squadron, best known as the Tuskegee Airmen, or Red Tails. He was the first Black combat jet pilot to fight in the Korean War. He was also part of a group that won the Air Force’s first Top Gun team competition in 1949, a feat that adorned his cap as he made his way through the airport.
One of my favorite tales in the story about the airport visit is when he relates that in 1945, he was just an an hour away from starting his journey to Europe when he got word the war in Italy had ended.
“I didn’t get to Europe. Hitler knew I was coming,” he said laughing.
Check out the full story here, which includes a video of Harvey telling some of his tales. It’s well worth the time.
