Tuskegee Airman Flies High at History Forum

By GEORGE BROMLEY
Falls Church Times Staff

February 27, 2011

Charles McGee fought a two front war.

“We called it the Double V campaign,” McGee told spellbound listeners at Falls Church’s Military History Forum last Friday morning at the Community Center. “Victory over Hitler and victory over racism.”

Wearing the traditional red jacket of the Tuskegee Airmen, Colonel Charles McGee recounted his experiences at home and overseas during World War II and his long and distinguished career in the United States Air Force.  When he retired after over 30 years service, McGee had spent 6,300 hours in the air, 1,151 of them in combat.  Now a very young 91 years old, he stands as straight as in his flying days.

Before recounting his own story, Colonel McGee spoke briefly about early African-American aviators, such as Eugene Bullard, who flew for France in World War I, and Bessie Coleman, an airshow star of the 1920s.  Unfortunately, they were the exception, as there were no opportunities for black pilots in the military or the emerging airlines.  He quoted a 1925 Army War College study that concluded “Negros were subservient, lacking leadership qualities, and mentally inferior.”

The Civilian Pilot Training Program, established in 1938, gradually opened the door, with the Tuskegee program beginning the following year.  “Eleanor Roosevelt gave it a boost,” said McGee.  “She flew with the chief instructor and drew attention to the program.”

McGee enlisted in October 1942 and soon after began training at Tuskegee.  Although the trainees gradually began to achieve acceptance within the Air Force, such feelings did not extend very far outside the service.  ”We never shopped in Tuskegee,” recalled McGee.  “There was no love there.  The sheriff was not a friendly person.”

Training completed, 2nd Lieutenant McGee and his fellow officers were assigned to the Italian front in early 1944, initially flying P-39 Airacobras but then shifting to P-47 Thunderbolts.  “We gave the P-39s to the Russians,” said McGee.

Later his squadron switched to P-51 Mustangs, which had a longer range and much higher ceiling than the Thunderbolt.  With the transition to the Mustang, McGee’s unit began flying more bomber escort missions.  “I made six trips to Ploesti,” he said.  The oil refinery there was one of the most heavily defended targets in Europe.

McGee’s only aerial victory came on an escort mission when he shot down a Focke Wulf-190 over Pardubice, Czechoslovakia.  “Had he turned left he’d have gotten away, but he turned right and into my sights.”

“Their fighters were good planes, but their tactics weren’t very good,” McGee explained.  “  He related how Tuskegee-trained P-51 pilots later shot down three Messerschmitt-262 jets while escorting bombers to Berlin.

Having flown 82 tactical and 54 escort missions, First Lieutenant McGee came home to serve as an instructor in November 1944.  Sixty-six of his fellow Tuskegee Airmen would never return.

In 1948 President Truman ordered the desegregation of all military services, but McGee’s branch had already taken the lead.  “The Air Force had earlier ordered training activities be conducted irrespective of race,” he said proudly.  “We were leading the way for the country.”

However, as McGee observed, desegregation can be ordered but integration is another matter.  His family encountered housing discrimination in Kansas and California in the late 1940s.  Travel was often awkward.  “Motels would show vacancy signs, but as soon as you asked for a room they’d tell you they’d just filled up.”

Defense budgets were tight in 1950, when Captain McGee and hundreds of other pilots were temporarily grounded.  But by August another war soon found him back in the thick of the action, flying an F-51D over Korea.

After logging 100 combat support missions during some of the heaviest fighting of the war, McGee then transferred to Clark AFB in the Philippines where he flew his first jet on patrols off the coast of Communist China.  His F-80 Shooting Star flew 160 mph faster than the Mustang and had a better rate of climb.  ”To be on the ground and then at 20,000 feet a few minutes later is just a joy,” he recalled.

While at Clark, Major McGee saw how societal attitudes were gradually changing.  “One man in the squadron came from a very wealthy family and his parents came out one year to celebrate their son’s birthday.  His father invited the squadron to the party, but said I was not welcome.  His son told him that if I couldn’t come then no one else in the squadron would attend either, and neither would he.  That’s when the man decided that he’d better meet me.  I became accepted for the content of my character and ability  ”

After 17 years of service as a reserve officer, Lieutenant Colonel McGee became a regular in 1959.  At the height of the  Vietnam War he flew 173 combat reconnaissance missions in an RF-4c while commanding a tac-recon squadron at Tan Son Nhut AFB near Saigon.  ”During the Tet Offensive there was no movement from off base, so the six of us who were there flew all the squadron’s missions for three days.”

When he retired in 1973, Colonel McGee had achieved the highest three-war fighter mission total of any Air Force aviator.  He later spent many years in business and became the director of the Kansas City Downtown Airport.  In the mid-80s he served as president of the Tuskegee Airmen’s Association.

Holder of the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, three Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Bronze Star, and 26 Air Medals, Colonel Charles McGee is the most modest of heroes, a man who sought not glory but justice and in so doing brought great honor to his name.   The standing ovation he received from members of the forum was heartfelt and very much deserved.