ARMY IGNORES ACE FLIERS
Hastie explains how U.S. Air Force keeps itself lily-white
Lists 5 men given runaround, says U.S. losing respect of Axis, democracies whom we try to lead
Washington –
In a second statement showing how the U.S. Air Force is keeping itself lily-white, Dr. William H. Hastie, recently resigned civilian aide to the Secretary of War, this week lists five expert fliers who were turned down by the government because of their color.
The fliers that were refused include:
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James L. H. Peck, a fighter pilot in the Spanish Civil War, and one of America’s best-known authors in military and civilian aviation;
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Fred H. Hutcherson, working for Canada flying American-made planes to England;
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Gilbert Cargill, who was ordered to Maxwell Field, reported for work and was flatly turned down at the front office;
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Charles Ashe, who suffered the same fate as befell Mr. Cargill at Maxwell Field;
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Robert Terry, who had been rejected as an Army pilot months before.
Peck still a young man
Mr. Peck, although a veteran in the field of aviation, is a man in his early 30s. Mr. Hastie says of him:
Had he been white, the only question would have been whether the Army or the Navy could have grabbed him first. But, being colored, he doesn’t have to worry about the Navy at all. And the Army has been more than deliberate in consideration of his application.
Speaking of Mr. Hutcherson, Mr. Hastie avers:
He is young in years but old in flying experience. When I met him last spring, he was working in Canada, flying American-made planes to England. He had just delivered his sixth bomber to England in command of a white crew and returned to Canada.
He later came to Washington and spent days going from office to office, trying to get action. He felt that he was getting nowhere, so he went back to Canada.
He can remember 369th
If it is any consolation to him, he can remember that in the last war, there was a whole colored regiment which the American Army did not want. But the 369th went on and did its fighting with the French, who were glad to have it, and it came back with battle honors such as few regiments of any army could match.
Continuing, Mr. Hastie said:
One day last December, a colored civilian pilot received the following telegram from the Army Air Forces:
You are authorized to report to Maxwell Field for service pilot training. You must have clear release from present employment.
There was nothing unusual about this message. The Air Forces are recruiting large numbers of civilian pilots, many of them overage for combat flying or lacking the physical perfection required of the combat pilot.
‘Taken for a ride’
These men become Army fliers and perform the many essential flying missions, other than combat, which the Army requires. But two of the men who received such directions to report for training were colored. They were Cargill and Ashe who reported to Maxwell Field, but never got any farther than the front office.
They were told bluntly that no provision was made for training colored men. It is still not clear what special provision is necessary. They did not even get a refund of their train fare. They just got a ride.
Probably Cargill and Ashe did not know that Terry had been rejected as an Army service pilot months before.
Certainly, they did not know that the Air Command is handicapped by that type of mentality which cannot picture a colored pilot flying a plane into a strange field, sitting down to dinner with other fliers, taking temporary quarters with them, then flying off on another mission.
Segregation seen as hitch
Of course, it just isn’t possible to segregate a man who is working as a service pilot. So, we have no black service pilots.
Colored specialists of various kinds have received similar treatment. The few colored air units do not require many specialists. And the colored specialist, in military contemplation, can exercise his skill only for other colored persons.
One colored applicant is told in November 1942 that:
At the present time, there are no further vacancies available for the training of colored aviation cadets for service as ground officers as the quota for the coming year has been filled.
To another applicant, the Air Command explains in greater detail:
Reference is made to your letter of October 20, 1942, requesting information relative to training facilities, with the Army Air Forces for colored meteorologists.
There are at present no colored Air Force weather groups, nor are any contemplated in the near future. However, there is now one colored meteorologist attached to a colored Air Force fighter group, and six others in training who will be attached to colored fighter groups upon graduation.
It is believed by the Army Air Forces that the above-mentioned seven colored meteorologists will take care of their needs for quite some time.
This doesn’t mean you
Yet on January 8, 1943, the War Department published the following announcement:
To fill the urgent need for more than 1,000 meteorologists in the Air Forces, men between the ages of 18 and 30, inclusive, qualified for meteorological training, will be certified for voluntary induction into the Army as aviation cadets in meteorology.
This may not make sense, but it is understandable. Weather may be black, or it may be fair, but the skin of the man who makes the weather calculation has to match the skin of the flier who uses the information.
At a press conference on November 19, 1942, the Secretary of War explained that relatively less colored men would be in the Air Forces than in some other branches of the Army because of the particular skills required in aviation.
He said:
There are some branches which require specialists and for which the number of men has to be determined by the number and capacity of the recruits who are available for it.
Unquestionably the Secretary spoke in good faith. But on the record, the Air Command does not want all the colored specialists who are available.
Until we abandon this stupid notion that colored specialists can work only for and with other colored persons, James Peck and Fred Hutcherson, and potential colored service pilots and meteorologists will continue to be wasted.
And, so long as we tolerate such vicious nonsense, we can be respected neither by the forces of fascism which we condemn nor by the forces of democracy which we assume to lead.
