Reaching For The Sky: The Story of the Tuskeegee Airmen and the Pilots of the Caribbean

A group of RAF Supermarine Spitfires in World War II. Image Credit: Public Domain

A group of RAF Supermarine Spitfires in World War II. Image Credit: Public Domain

     As an American with a profound interest in the United Kingdom, among the things which fascinates me is the interplay of society and culture between our two countries. Going further as a Black person, I tend to spend time looking about for parallels and differences between the experiences of Black Britons and African Americans.

     So with Black History Month in America drawing to a close, I watched a documentary about the famous Tuskegee Airmen, the group of Black pilots who made history by being the first African-American military aviators in the US Armed Forces.

     Educated at Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama and trained at a nearby airfield during World War II, the airmen formed the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). 992 pilots were trained from 1941 to 1946, and of these 355 were deployed overseas for active duty during the war – seeing action in the European and North African theater, and participating in 1578 combat missions and 179 bomber escort missions. Of those escort missions, only seven resulted in the loss of a plane for a total 27 lost aircraft, which was better than the average of the 46 within the 15th Air Force P-51 Mustang group. The Airmen were responsible for destroying 112 enemy aircraft in the air and 950 ground vehicles (rail cars, trucks, and tanks), while also putting an enemy destroyer out of action and sinking 40 other boats and barges.

     As a result of their efforts, the Airmen and their units received several awards, honors, and commendations – including a Silver Star, 14 Bronze Stars, 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 744 Air Medals, and eight Purple Hearts. Three Distinguished Unit Citations were also awarded to the 99th Pursuit Squadron for operations over Sicily in 1943, the 99th Fighter Squadron for successful air strikes over Monte Cassino, and the 332d Fighter Group – whose planes shot down three Nazi fighter jets during a bomber escort mission over Berlin in March 1945.

     However, these well-earned accomplishments could not disguise the fact that the Airmen faced racial discrimination in and outside of military, which was still segregated at the time. In many cases, they had to deal with commanding officers who looked down on them because of the color of their skin and went to extreme lengths to keep white and black personnel apart – even during instructional classes and theater briefings.

     Nevertheless, Airmen such as Roscoe Brown and Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. became heroes for their exploits and service to the country, and in the years following the war, pilots from the Tuskegee units were some of the best in the Armed Forces. Following the desegregation of the military in 1948, new opportunities opened up for these aviators as their skills were in high demand for military and civilian applications. Some went on to become civilian flight instructors and contribute to the development of aviation. Others stayed in the newly-formed US Air Force, such as Daniel “Chappie” James, Jr., who in 1975 became the first African-American four-star general.

     Beyond this is the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen in terms of helping our country to move forward on matters of race. Like Jackie Robinson in the sports world, the Airmen helped to change attitudes and make it easier to break down racial barriers and legal segregation during the Civil Rights Movement. Today, they stand as inspirational pillars in our long and complex American story.

     After watching the Tuskegee Airmen documentary, I wondered if there was a similar group of black pilots in UK’s Royal Air Force during the Second World War as well.

     Thankfully, this did not take long as I discovered the “Pilots of the Caribbean” – Black people from Britain’s Caribbean colonies who answered the call for King and Empire and served in the flying services during not just World War II, but World War I as well. Along with native black Britons, thousands of African-Caribbean men and women volunteered in the fight for freedom and in the defense of Britain, her Empire and Commonwealth.

     In the First World War, they signed up, and like so many throughout the Empire, they did so out of a sense of patriotism, economic and personal reasons, and seeking adventure. However, most of them could only serve in colonial regiments – such as the British West Indies Regiment (BWIR) – and there was a “colour bar” which prevented many from participating in the armed forces of Britain itself, including native black Britons. Eventually, this was relaxed and as the war progressed, more black personnel ended up serving in the Royal Flying Corps, the Royal Naval Air Service, and from 1918, the Royal Air Force (RAF). Sergeant William Robinson Clarke from Kingston, Jamaica was the first Black volunteer to qualify as a pilot, and he flew R.E.8 biplanes over the Western Front in the summer of 1917. This compares favorably to the experience in the United States, where no African-Americans were allowed to serve as pilots in our armed forces during the “war to end all wars.”

     Unfortunately, there was more war to come after 1918, and when World War II broke out in 1939, African-Caribbean volunteers once again signed up to lend their service in the name of freedom and in defense of Britain and her Empire and Commonwealth. This time however, the RAF actively recruited from the Black colonies and encouraged thousands of young men to come to Britain to train as pilots. From the Caribbean, around 6000 African-Caribbean men volunteered for the RAF – 5500 as ground crew and over 400 as air crew – and 80 women became members of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), with Jamaicans numbering the largest single contingent at 3700 strong.

     Together with Black people from Africa and Britain itself, these men and women served in all commands of the RAF, save for Transport Command, whose personnel traveled to countries that were intolerant of integrated crews. Indeed, the RAF generally took a firm and (for its time, progressive ) view of abolishing any color barriers and racism within their ranks – with the Air Ministry Confidential Order of June 1944 stating:

 “All ranks should clearly understand that there is no colour bar in the Royal Air Force…any instant of discrimination on grounds of colour by white officers or airmen or any attitude of hostility towards personnel of non-European descent should be immediately and severely checked.”

     During the war, the vast majority of the Black air crews took their place in Bomber Command, which was responsible for targeting and bombing strategic targets in Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe, including railroads, communication lines, highways, and industrial sectors. Among the more noted names in this area include Flight Lieutenant William “Billy” Strachan and Flying Officer Lincoln Lynch of Jamaica. Strachan served in the 156 Squadron, a unit of the elite Pathfinder Force, whilst Lynch was posted to the 102 Squadron and was awarded the Air Gunner’s Trophy in 1943 and the Distinguished Flying Medal. There was also Flying Officer Akin Shenbanjo of Nigeria – a member of the 76 Squadron who was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), Sergeant Arthur Young – a Welshman and native Black Briton of the 106 Squadron.

     Meanwhile, Fighter Command featured several Black airmen who helped to provide escorts to bombers, sweeps of enemy aircraft, and air support for ground forces. Among them include Flying Officer Arthur Weekes from Barbados, Flight Sergeant Collins Joseph and Warrant Officer James Hyde of Trinidad, and Flight Lieutenant Vincent Bunting – who all flew Spitfires (and in Bunting’s case, a Mustang fighter) and were responsible for shooting down enemy aircraft in fierce air campaigns.

     In Coastal Command, people such as Flight Lieutenant Lawrence “Larry” Osborne of Trinidad, Flight Lieutenant David Errol Chance and Aircraftman M. Hendricks of Jamaica, and Aircraftman G. Small of Barbados took part in reconnaissance missions, escort missions, and sinking enemy vessels (including U-boats, war ships, and merchant vessels) as they helped to win the Battle of the Atlantic and keep vital sea lanes open, while also being responsible for the RAF’s air-sea rescue service which saved over 10,000 lives. Osborne was a navigator aboard Liberator long-range reconnaissance bombers, while Chance participated in anti-shipping campaigns – first as a Beaufighter pilot in the Aegean Sea, then as a Mosquito fighter-bomber pilot in the North Sea.

     However, none of these aforementioned commands could have been effective in their efforts without ground staffs, and it was here where 5,500 black RAF personnel participated in a number of varying roles and trades. Included in this number were men and women such as Leading Aircraftman Philip Lamb of Bermuda, Leading Aircraftwoman Sonia Thompson of Kingston, Jamaica – who worked as an Instrument Repairer, and Flying Officer Reginald Foresythe – a native Black Briton of Nigerian descent who was born in London. Foresythe was a jazz composer, pianist and band leader, and though he was too old for combat duty, he joined the RAF and was commissioned as an Intelligence Officer in Britain and North Africa.

     By war’s end, these thousands of Black men and women from throughout the Britain and the Empire and Commonwealth made invaluable contributions in their service as members of the Royal Air Force and the overall effort to defeat Nazi Germany, and many were commissioned as officers and decorated for gallantry or exceptional service. It is hard to know exactly how many there were because ethnic origins were not recorded and the Black volunteers were fully integrated into the RAF services, but this is a credit to Britain for treating them generally in the same way as anybody else, and again, it speaks volumes about the UK’s relative progressiveness compared to the US, since the Tuskegee Airmen were racially segregated in our armed forces.

     As for personal discrimination on the part of white colleagues, while there were some instances of misbehavior and unfair practices, personnel of all backgrounds tended to get along well on a personal and professional level. For his part, Flight Lieutenant Billy Strachan said:

“If by any reasonable calculation, one might have expected me to have suffered, if not discrimination, at least a constant barrage of racist jokes; I can confirm that this did not happen.”

     The lasting legacy of the Black RAF personnel is multifaceted. Some of the African-Caribbean’s returned home after the war, and played a role in obtaining independence for their countries in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Others would return to the UK permanently in 1948 aboard the Empire Windrush (with one-third of its passengers being RAF airmen returning from leave or veterans returning to the service) and be part of the large-scale post-war immigration from the Caribbean. Along with native Black Britons, they would go on to establish communities of their own in the UK – fighting against discrimination and for civil rights, and becoming business leaders, politicians, educators, statesmen, activists, and some made life-long careers in the RAF itself. Indeed, the RAF has noted on its website that it is “clear that the foundations of Britain’s Black community were laid in part by RAF veterans” and it partly because of them – like their Tuskegee counterparts in America – that British society and social attitudes have changed for the better. They reached for the skies and succeeded in more ways than one.

The End of WWII and Nukes Today

The goal for our world is to ensure that another
Hiroshima (left)
or Nagasaki (right) never happens again.
Image Credit: George R. Caron and Charles Levy (Public Domain) /
Combination by Binksternet via Wikimedia Commons cc

     Seventy years ago, World War II came to an end with the surrender of Japan, though it was not until September 2nd when the formal documents of surrender were signed aboard the USS Missouri.

     For many – particularly in Europe – it was the end of a nearly six year long ordeal that had begun with the invasion of Poland by Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany on September 1, 1939. In the Pacific, the conflict had its roots in the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria in China, while for the United States, the war was brought on by the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan on December 7, 1941.

     But regardless of when hostilities started for different parts of the world, when Japan’s surrender was announced, everyone knew that it was all over, and that there was peace once again. The day was marked with euphoric and rapturous celebration, with enormous crowds gathered in New York – where thousands jammed Times Square;London – where the future Queen Elizabeth and her sister joined the masses around Buckingham Palace and Piccadilly Square; Paris – where the people celebrated their liberation from the Nazi regime, and in so many other places (big and small) throughout the world.

     It became known as Victory over Japan (VJ) Day and seventy years later, it remains one of the most iconic and significant moments in history, and the commemorations have rightly honored the fallen who gave the ultimate sacrifice for the world in which we live today. They have also honored the people who made it back home to tell their stories – people whose numbers are dwindling day by day. They have also provided a period of reflection on the war and what it means for us today going forward.

     This particularly includes the way in which the war was ended, for the use of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to force Japan into an unconditional surrender was one of the most controversial aspects of war, which has been hotly debated ad nausuem since they were dropped and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.

     Was it necessary? Was there another way to end the war? Were the casualties worth it? Would the world have been safer if not for nuclear weapons?

     I will not discuss these in detail here as they go beyond the scope of this post. However, it should be noted that the dropping of the bombs by the United States likely resulted in a more swift end to the war than had the Allies been forced to resort to other measures, such as a full scale invasion of the Japanese islands, which would have dwarfed the Allied effort on D-Day the year before.

     Mercifully, these were the first and last times that nuclear weapons had been used for warfare in our history. Their immediate destructive power, combined with the long-term health effects, have arguably helped to ensure that there has not been a global conflict on the scale of the Second World War, because everyone knows that such a conflict will likely involve nuclear weapons, which were eventually obtained by the Soviets and other major world powers soon after.

     But it was not just the proliferation of nuclear weapons that became an issue as more countries obtained them; it was also the fact that they were becoming increasingly powerful – like the hydrogen bomb – so that multiple Nagasaki’s could be contained within only one of them. Worse still were the dizzying number of weapons as the Western powers lead by the United States and the Communist powers lead by the USSR gathered vast stockpiles, so that by 1960, there were enough of them to destroy the entire world six times over.

     It was a policy of Mutually Assured Destruction (with the appropriately acronym M.A.D.), and Japan’s emperor, Hirohito, alluded to this in his radio address to his people announcing the surrender of the Japanese Empire, when he talked of a “new and terrible weapon with the power to destroy many innocent lives and do incalculable damage” which would not only destroy Japan, but also “lead to the total extinction of human civilization.”

     Not only was this arms race mad, but it was also terribly expensive – with the cost of building and maintaining these weapons and their massive support systems eating deep into national budgets. At some point, people began asking: “why do we have all these mass-destruction devices”? It became increasingly apparent that there were too many of them and – quite sensibly – that it would be virtually impossible to use all of them anyway.

     And so began the long and gradual draw down of these gravely dangerous weapons. From a high of nearly 70,000 active warheads in the mid-1980’s, as of last year, there were only around 4,000 active and 6,000 inactive warheads – making for a total of just over 10,000 nuclear warheads in the world – with the United States and Russia owning the lions share of these, and in time, it is hoped that the numbers will decline still further.

     For its part, the United Kingdom possesses 225 of these weapons, of which 160 are currently active, and the country exercises its capability in a sea-based capacity via the Trident program of nuclear submarines operated by the Royal Navy based at Faslane along Gare Loch near the River Clyde – about 30 miles from Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city.

     Nuclear weapons in general have been contentious for several decades ever since the development of the Polaris system in the Holy Loch in the 1960’s, and has particularly been used by the SNP as a means to advance their goal of breaking up Britain. Throughout the referendum campaign last year, the pro-independence campaign and its supporters were peddling the idea that with independence, Scotland could get rid of Trident (while still being part of NATO, a nuclear-tipped alliance) and save billions of pounds to be used for purposes such as health and education.

     Scotland voted to keep the Union together, but the SNP has been consistent in their opposition to Trident – with members referring to it as “obscene” and an example of “Wastemonster” spending money on the wrong priorities. Still others object to the Trident submarines and warheads being based in Scotland, and believe that they were placed there so as to be far away from England and London in particular. A common refrain is: “If Westminster likes Trident so much, why don’t they place them along the River Thames?”

Her Majesty's Naval Base, Clyde (HMNB Clyde) at Faslane.
Image Credit: Public Domain

     In truth, Trident’s location has more to do with strategic ability more than anything, for Faslane and the area along the lower Clyde is the best deep-water harbor in Britain facing the Atlantic and is well-suited for the submarines to slip in and out of the Atlantic with a lower possibility of being detected. This has nothing to do with treating Scotland unfairly or putting Scotland in a position to be bombed so that London can be spared, for the reality is that given the UK’s size, a modern nuclear weapon – with long-term health effects included – could wipe out much of the country, including the “protected” capital city, so it matters not where Trident is located in this regard. However, it does matter that it is placed in a location that gives the Royal Navy the best strategic advantage, and that location just happens to be Faslane.

     Furthermore, the much-touted £100 billion cost for the new generation of Trident is to be spread over 30 years, and during that time, a lot of that money will be going to maintenance and paying the employee's – many of them with specialized engineering skills – who earn their keep at Faslane. Over the course of Trident’s lifetime, this will result in tens of billions of pounds being injected into Scotland’s economy, and in particular, the local economy around Faslane as money goes into paying for food, housing, mortgages, transportation, clothing, and other needs and desires. Some of the money is paid toward taxes and eventually finds its way into the coffers of the Scottish Government to fund the activities under its control.

     So when the SNP talks about opposing Trident, they are effectively talking about opposing a critical piece of the economy, and with no concrete plan on what to do with the workers who have been trained in this area.

     Of course, there are some people who will oppose nuclear weapons and Trident in particular no matter what. They point to the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and believe that such weapons – with their destructive potential – have no place in the world at all, and need to be abolished. The SNP in particular wants Britain to unilaterally disarm.

     This is a noble goal, and I for one would love to live in a world without nukes or any weapons of mass destruction. However, unilateral disarmament is unhelpful because there will still be others with the weapons, and so long as that’s the case, Britain should hold on to Trident. It’s not about what Britain can do with the weapons, but rather about the very existence of the weapons and the technology. This sentiment was expressed when General Omar Bradley discussed developing the H-bomb with President Harry S. Truman, and said that he could conceive of no military objectives that could be achieved with it, except for utter death, ruin, and desolation. He further said that these were not weapons, but “instruments of genocide.” However, he advised Truman to go ahead with the bomb because “for the other side to have it, and for us not to have it, would be intolerable.”

     It may seem paradoxical, but the whole point of having the nukes is to prevent from having to use them (and to prevent others from using them against you), which is why it is called a “deterrent” and why there is an argument that full scale global wars have been prevented since 1945 because of this.

     However, even if nuclear weapons were abolished from the face of the Earth, the technology and know-how will remain, and you can bet that somebody somewhere will want to use these at some point (unless you were to eliminate all nuclear physicists and burn every piece of written reference to nuclear technology).

     The best that we can do is to promote multi-lateral disarmament among all countries that have nuclear weapons, and to prevent other countries from obtaining them altogether. As has been mentioned above, there has already been a massive amount of disarmament in the last thirty years since the height of the Cold War. Perhaps by the end of the 30 year period for the new generation of Trident, the number of warheads will be reduced further to the point that Britain may no longer need a deterrent, or if it does, then it may be a scaled-down and less costly one. The same idea applies to the US, Russia, France, China, and other nuclear powers, so that the threat of nuclear conflict is curbed and so that scarce resources can be put to other uses.

     In the end, no one likes nuclear weapons. I repeat, no one, and I look forward to a world without them. Indeed, perhaps it would be nice to go back in time and prevent their creation. However, we must live with the reality that they are with us, and we have to do our best to ensure that that are never used again for any purpose.

     For Britain itself, the country’s real influence may be more thoroughly expressed through its soft power, though it should always keep its hands close to its tools of hard power – both conventional and unconventional – in case they should ever be needed. In other words, “speak softly, but carry a big stick.”

     A recent example is the recent nuclear deal with Iran, which among other things, proposes to open Iran up to trade with Western powers (including Britain, which helped to negotiate the deal) in the hope that this trade will eventually lift the Iranian economy, foster better relations, and therefore make Iran less likely to pursue nuclear weapons in the first place, and also make nuclear war in general less likely.

     If Iran reneges and fails to hold up its end, then Britain and the other powers may have to reach for the “hard power” options, including the use of nuclear weapons, in order to deal with Iran. If however, the deal succeeds, this will be good for Iran, good for Britain, and good for the world, so that hopefully the horrific events 70 years ago remain unique in the long view of human history and so that a sustained peace can be achieved.