Famed Tuskegee airmen visit Western Pennsylvania
MARSHALL TWP, Allegheny County — Three Tuskegee airmen came to the area to attend the 19th annual Western Pennsylvania All Service Academies Ball on Thursday.
The event was at 5:30 p.m., at the Doubletree Hotel Pittsburgh-Cranberry, preceded by a meet and greet event where the public could meet and take pictures with the three guests of honor from 1 to 2 p.m.
The airmen — Colonel Richard McGee, Lieutenant Colonel George Hardy and Eugene Richardson, pilot class 45a — spoke with those in attendance about their time in and after the U.S. Army Air Force, and the lessons they've learned along the way.
“Tuskegee airmen” refers to a group of African-American military pilots who fought in World War II as the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group. The pilots, as well as the navigators, bombardiers, mechanics and other support personnel, trained at the Tuskegee Army Air Field and were educated at Tuskegee University in Alabama.
For Richardson and Mcgee, the aviation program let them take their enlistment in their own hands.
“I could've waited to be drafted ... but I told a policeman I wanted to be a pilot. I wanted to fly, and he said 'you take a special test and if you pass the test they'll hold you back for a pilot class,'” said Richardson. “It was fantastic. From the time I was a little kid I wanted to fly an airplane and being able to do it ... it was a dream come true.”
A full story appears in Friday's Butler Eagle.
