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Tuskegee Airman
Strikes a Chord at AMA
Lt. Col. Alexander Jefferson reflects on his
past during his
presentation at the International
Aeromodeling Center.
Retired US Air Force Lt. Col. Alexander
Jefferson visited AMA's International
Aeromodeling Center Saturday, August 11 to
speak about his military experiences, visit
the National Model Aviation Museum, and see
the IRCHA Jamboree.
The Tuskegee Airman served in the US Army Air Corps
during World War II and risked his life to
fight for a country that was prejudiced
against him. You can read his story in his
autobiography titled Red Tail Captured,
Red Tail Free: The Memoirs of a Tuskegee
Airman and POW.
Lt. Col. Jefferson began his speech with the statement
"I am a survivor." He proved that to be true
as he described the mistreatment of blacks
in the armed forces. He overcame the
intolerance and graduated from the
organization whose prejudice was strong
enough to fail 67% of its first graduating
class for having dust under their beds.
The Tuskegee Airmen were the first black pilots in
military history. They were entrusted to run
escort missions for B-17 and B-24 bombers.
Lt. Col. Jefferson participated in 18 of those
successful flights with the 332nd Fighter
Group, which was referred to as the "Red
Tailed Angels." The name came from the red
tails on the pilots' P-51 Mustangs.
On his
19th mission—the squadron's first combat
assignment to destroy radar stations on the
southern coast of France—Lt. Col. Jefferson
was shot down and captured. He spent the
following nine months as a prisoner of war
before liberation on April 29, 1945.
His
presentation featured colorful stories about
the time he served in training and during
the war, including his reaction to seeing Dachau—a concentration camp—after
liberation.
Following Lt. Col. Jefferson's
presentation was a question/answer session,
during which the audience members asked him
about topics ranging from what airplanes he
flew to his training missions at Selfridge
Army Air Base in Michigan.
Afterward AMA's
Executive Director, Jim Cherry, presented
him with a framed enlargement of the cover
of the April 2007 MA, on which Lt. Col.
Jefferson was featured. He, in turn, donated
a poster of the Tuskegee Airmen—complete
with six of the pilots' signatures—to the
National Model Aviation Museum.
"If you have
no idea where you have been, you have no
idea where you are today," said Lt. Col.
Jefferson at the close of his presentation.
"Therefore, you are not prepared for the
future." MA
Jefferson (far right) donates an autographed
poster of the Tuskegee Airmen to the
National
Model Aviation Museum. L-R: Dave Brown, Jim
Cherry, Michael Smith, Joe Haas.
Ashley Rauen
AMA Communications Specialist
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