Aviation Trailblazers

Racism may have put roadblocks in the way of aspiring black pilots, but it certainly didn’t clip their wings.

At least not according to Eugene J. Richardson Jr., one of 14,000 Tuskegee Airmen, an all-black group who, when the roadmap was snatched from their hands, blazed their own path to becoming America’s first black military airmen during World War II.

“After World War I, airplanes became very popular things to have fun with,” Richardson said Thursday, during a War Stories program at in Hatboro. “Flying schools would not admit black students in this country.”

In response, Charles Alfred Anderson taught himself how to fly, said Richardson, a member of the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. In 1941, then-First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt flew with Anderson, who later went on to become chief flight instructor at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

Richardson, who drew out 50 people Thursday night, also shared the story of Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr., who, in 1932, was accepted into West Point, endured name-calling, constant harassment and isolation and still graduated in the top 13 percent of his class. Yet, despite his high marks, Richardson said Davis’ dream of flying was “denied.”

“You still have a problem,” Richardson said, while tapping his wrist. “Brown in your skin.”

Davis, like the other men and women Richardson talked about, persevered and succeeded as a result. Davis went on to become the first black general in the U.S. Air Force.

When asked how many Tuskegee Airmen are still living, Richardson, who hardly looks the part of an octogenarian, said, “Father time is harvesting like crazy.”

During the hour-long discussion and Q&A, Richardson did not speak of his own flight training at Tuskegee. A retired Philadelphia middle school principal, Richardson said he continues to speak in schools.

His discussion was part of a monthly War Stories program that offers. Librarian Harriet Ehrsam said Richardson’s discussion was done in conjunction with Armed Forces Day on Saturday.

The series, which the library kicked off a year and a half ago, will resume again in September, Ehrsam said.

Library volunteer Ruth Pickering coordinates the War Stories program. Usually, the library calls on local veterans to share the stories. But, after befriending Sherri Jones, spokeswoman for Willow Grove Naval Air Station, and through her, hearing discussions from Tuskegee Airmen twice before, Pickering said she saw value in branching out, especially for the sake of younger audiences.

“Kids growing up today don’t even know about segregation,” Pickering said.

Wyncote resident Sol Eskin, a spirited 98-year-old World War II veteran, recalled segregation from his military days as a paratrooper with the 11th Airborne Division.

“You had the same feeling all through the Army,” Eskin said. “During 18 months of combat, I didn’t meet one black person.”

The same could not be said today. In 1948, following the earlier strides met and obstacles cleared by the Tuskegee Airmen, President Harry S Truman passed an executive order ending segregation in the military.

“It takes courageous people to do the right thing,” Richard said in closing. “Underneath, you find we’re all the same.”