Significant+People+of+the+Tuskegee+Airmen

Benjamin O. Davis Jr. was a very important Tuskegee Airmen. Throughout all of the training days in Alabama, it was extremely clear to observe his leadership and legitimacy. As one of the first 5 to earn their wings in Tuskegee Institute, he was easily recognized as the best black pilot at the time. With his will to create a friendship and unity with his fellow airmen, who were all known to each other as brothers, it molded confidence and excitement into the rest of the Airmen, who were all bonding. As a black activist, and a man of equality and peace, he was the man who America wanted to know more about. Especially, the African-American citizens, who looked at him like a hero.

Charles "Chief" Anderson was also a very significant person with the Tuskegee Airmen. He was an important person because he was the one who persuaded towards the training of military aviation at Tuskegee Institute. He was also a Chief flight instructor while Tuskegee was doing the CPTP or the Civilian Pilot Training Program. He also taught civilian pilot training at Howard University, D.C. Chief gave Eleanor Roosevelt a plane ride because she thought that blacks couldn't fly airplanes. He gave her a ride and then she returned thinking otherwise. The CPT was also a big boost for the training of blacks in the military. As the chief flight instructor Charles trained over 1,000 blacks at Moton Field. Robert Marshall Glass was another very important Tuskegee Airmen. A more than qualified pilot, Marshall Glass was a very skilled pilot to join the 332nd fighter squadron. After growing up in Pittsburgh, Glass went on to get a degree in mechanical engineering at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. Glass signed up to become a Tuskegee Airmen on January 28, 1943. Charles Anderson was his flight instructor while Benjamin Davis was his commanding officer. Glass had fought in WWII and in the Korean Conflict. He became a senior pilot with the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, EAME Campaign medal, American Campaign Medal, Distinguished Unit Citation and the National Defense Service medal. When Glass died he was captain at the Air Command Staff School, Maxwell Air Force Base. His name is also inscribed in Washington D.C. on the Memorial Honor Roll of the Air Force, Air Force Aid Society, Washington D.C.

Dr. Albert E. Forsythe was Charles Anderson's comrade in Arms. Forsythe who was actually a doctor by profession, was among the first African Americans to receive their pilots license. Forsythe is mostly known for his heroic Goodwill flights which sole purposes was to show what African Americans could do as skilled aviators; because at that time it was thought that blacks were inferior to whites in aviation and did not have the mental capabilities to pilot an aircraft. The first Goodwill flight he flew was from Atlantic City, NJ where Dr. Albert had been practicing medicine, to Los Angeles. He flew with only a compass and altimeter. He had no radio, no lights, and no parachute. All they had for navigation was their compass and a McNally road map; which flew out of Forsythe's hands during the return flight. Forsythe and Charles flew many more different flights and by this time they were known world wide. After many flights Forsythe returned to medicine after he was extremely well known. "My main business was medicine....I was not interested in becoming involved much in aviation. We just made a series of flights for the sole purpose of opening the road for blacks who wanted to fly." Forsythe had said after he was done with aviation. Forsythe Later died in 1984.