It is estimated that as many as 19,000 pilots and other personnel participated in the so-called “Tuskegee Experiment,” which trained African-American men and women for military service from 1941 to 1949 at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Although the exact number of Tuskegee Airmen – as those in the program have been dubbed – is unknown, members of the Pioneer Group took part in a total of some 15,000 combat missions, earning more than 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses, while fighting racism and prejudice at home. and abroad.
The fighter groups most closely associated with Tuskegee Airmen, particularly the 99th and 332nd, are considered among the most capable Army Air Corps squadrons to serve in World War II. Among the most famous aviators was Benjamin O. Davis Jr., one of Tuskegee’s first 13 cadets, who would go on to become the first black general in the Air Force.
Tuskegee Airman Luther Smith (Video) – WWII veteran Luther Smith flew with the all-black Tuskegee Airmen Squadron.
Clarence Huntley Jr. and Joseph Shambrey, the two aviators who died Jan.5 in their respective homes at the age of 91, ran together in the 1930s while growing up in the same Los Angeles neighborhood. They enlisted in the Army Air Corps at the tender age of 19 and were dispatched to Italy two years later with the 100th Fighter Squadron of the 332nd Fighter Group. Both men worked as aircraft mechanics, helping to keep the squadron’s fighter jets in the air until the end of their mission.
According to Craig Huntly, the nephew of Clarence Huntley (the different spelling of the last name is intentional), his uncle maintained the P-39, P-47 and P-51 planes, and was the crew chief of the aircraft belonging to the squadron commander, Captain Andrew D. Turner. He took his job so seriously that Turner nicknamed him “Mother,” his nephew told The Associated Press. While stationed in Italy, Huntley was on site for the eruption of Vesuvius in 1944, as well as the bombing of the airfield where he worked.
Huntley and Shambrey were both aware of the importance of the Tuskegee aviators to the history of race relations in the United States, according to those close to them. Shambrey’s son Tim told the AP his father recalled getting off a train in isolated Alabama, where airmen trained. As a docking station greeted the White troops with handshakes and free coffee, Tim Shambrey said: “When he and his pals came out in their uniforms, of course, they didn’t receive congratulations ”- and they had to pay for their coffee.
Huntley and Shambrey both returned to Los Angeles after WWII and got married to their respective lovers. The two remained in regular contact and, according to Huntley’s nephew, “were friends until the end.” They also served during the Korean War as combat engineers. In civilian life, Huntley worked as a skycap at Los Angeles and Burbank International Airports for over six decades, until the late 1980s, while Shambrey worked as a supervisor for the Parks and Recreation Department of the Los Angeles County.
According to Ron Brewington, president and historian of the Los Angeles chapter of Tuskegee Airmen Inc., only 20 chapter members remain after the deaths of Huntley and Shambrey. He estimates that there are 200 known Tuskegee Airmen still alive in all (although that number may be higher) and says the oldest known living Airman is 105 years old. As of last July, there were a total of approximately 1 million World War II veterans still alive in the United States; the US Veterans Administration estimates that approximately 400 die each day.
