RedTail Flight Academy continues the tradition of the Tuskegee Airmen.
Newburgh, New York—Calvin Fredericks from Homestead, Florida. Calvin is one of seven young, black Americans chosen for an exceptional opportunity to earn their commercial license, instrument and instructor tickets, and, perhaps, even a multiengine rating. All of this is through an organization known as the RedTail Flight Academy.
“People always told me to try as hard as you can. I was trying as hard as I could but still wasn’t making headway on my dream.” The RedTail Flight Academy at Stewart Airport is part of the Tuskegee Airmen’s Maj. Gen. Irene Trowell-Harris chapter. Through a substantial corporate gift, the RedTails purchased three Piper Pilot 100i aircraft with Garmin G3X touchscreen avionics and offer the flight training program. These seven students are the first of, hopefully, many to come. More than 20 years ago, Glen Fraser, a friend and fellow C-5 pilot from the 105th Airlift Wing, took over the chapter. He stepped up and said, “I’ll do this” and has since spent thousands of hours developing the program from its beginning when economically underprivileged youngsters from the Newburgh area would be brought in and taught aviation subjects.
The flying program was very limited due to a lack of funds. But Fraser continued the work, organizing golf outings, guest speakers, and commemorative dinners with local flight departments in attendance. Corporations, through those flight departments, have been the biggest source of donations. Some of the surviving Tuskegee Airmen joined many of the festivities, which added to the feeling that this was something special.
Sources of Strength There are two strong influences in the lives of all the youngsters in this program: parental support and modern-day Tuskegee Airmen members, such as Fraser. The Stewart Tuskegee chapter is named after a wonderful woman who I knew many years ago when she worked in the dispensary on our N.Y. Air Guard base. As life is in the Guard, everyone knew Irene Trowell-Harris. She was quick with a smile and easy to talk to, but one has to admit that she suffered no fools or their practical jokes. I know. I tried once. Coming from humble economic beginnings, Irene was sponsored for college by her community and church. She then continued her education, earning flight nurse wings, a master’s degree at Yale University and a Ph.D. in education from Columbia University. She became the first African American female to earn the rank of major general (two stars). Today, Irene continues championing the rights of veterans and was voted one of the “21 Leaders for the 21st Century” by Women’s eNews. Who better to banner an organization such as this chapter?
ROSS DETWILER
Back to Calvin Calvin Fredericks started college on a pre-med, neuroscience track but was not sure it was the career path he wanted to take. He did eventually finish but added business administration to his resume and started a company specializing in solar energy applications. He later sold that company in hopes of financing his dream of flying.
I knew how valuable a gift this would be. I knew the hardships that Calvin had gone through just to get so very little time."
With an uncle in the FAA, and a mother working for the airlines, Fredericks was determined. He started with his ground instructor license, hoping to turn that into a means to earn in aviation. But the big hurdle remained money for flight training. Fredericks’ 19-year-old sister, Jasmine, has a similar story. “I was pre-med. I wasn’t sure I was going to be a doctor, but I love science and I was in my sophomore year. I hope you don’t think this is silly, but I believe I’m here through almost a divine intervention in my life.” I tell her my feelings about prayer are very similar to what she just expressed. “Oh good, because Col. Fraser also said he believes some things are just divine intervention. I remember listening to Calvin and my father talking long into the nights about ways to try and pay for his dream of flying. I caught the bug, but it just seemed impossible that I would fly.
“When our mom, who is a United Airlines flight attendant, saw the posting in Facebook, I had to try,” she says. “I’ve applied for so many scholarships and study programs but didn’t get into any of them. I kept on though, working my way through college, but I was second-guessing that career. I submitted the paperwork and we went through a series of Zoom interviews before being selected to come here. I’ve never been anywhere where everyone tries so hard to let me succeed.” Through the auspices of the program, the seven students are living in a small Hilton hotel that is on the grounds of the old air base “within walking distance” of the hangar in which they receive ground school and flight briefings. “I knew how valuable a gift this would be. I knew the hardships that Calvin had gone through just to get so very little time. “I want to go through this program and stay here and teach and help the next group of people that come through,” she says. Her self-assured happiness is infectious. March 1941 After the January 1941 announcement of the first all-black squadron in the U.S. Army Air Corps, first lady Eleanor Roosevelt took a particular interest in the flight training program that had begun at the Tuskegee Institute under Chief Civilian Flight Instructor Charles Alfred Anderson. She brushed off doubts and concerns about her safety and flew with Anderson over the farm fields of Alabama for more than an hour, thoroughly enjoying the ride. Flying with Anderson demonstrated the depth of her support for black pilots and the institute’s training program. Press coverage of her adventure in flight helped advocate for the competency of black pilots and boosted the Institute's visibility. The first lady was so impressed with the program that she established and maintained a long-term correspondence with some of the airmen. Since there were no black officers, 11 white officers were assigned to train and prepare a total of 429 enlisted men and 47 officers who would become the Tuskegee Airmen, the first black personnel in a military flight training program. From 1941-46, more than 2,000 African Americans completed training at the Tuskegee Institute, and nearly three-quarters of them qualified as pilots. The rest became navigators and support personnel. Back to Today The next person I meet is Jarius Gordon, a young man from Orlando, Florida. Jarius quickly starts smiling and warms up as he begins talking about aviation. The subject animates him and his efforts to succeed are impressive. Jarius joined the Florida National Guard right out of high school and has “been in” for more than three years. “I am a chaplain assistant, and we try to help people in trouble after major crises. We did Hurricane Matthew and Hurricane Irma relief. My goal was to get my degree through the military and then maybe shift to the Air National Guard and get to pilot training.” While serving with the Guard, Jarius earned his private pilot license. “I started out with Vision of Flight in Orlando. I knew the owner through a member of the Tuskegee Airmen.” The Tuskegee Airmen, through their STEM program, sent Jarius to a two-week introduction to aviation program at Hampton, Virginia. Then it was on to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to get his education and flight training. But he was unable to afford the tuition. He did, however, finish his private written while attending. Jarius now works on his instrument rating at Stewart and his commercial will come next. He intends to start a RedTail type program when he becomes a professional pilot. Aliyyah Adio from Atlanta joins us. Her dad was a CFI and an A&P. While performing maintenance on United’s fleet, he ran flight schools in Oakland and Hayward, California. Her brother earned his A&P but has since moved out of aviation. Adio started getting 10 hr. in Cessna 172s and Piper Archers in Atlanta, but money was a problem. She was so determined to be working on or around airplanes that she became a fueler with Delta Global Services at Atlanta Hartsfield Airport and could explain to me the finer points of hooking up a Boeing 767 to the underground system. Pilots, some of them airline captains, have been mentors in Adio’s life. They came to her through association with her father at the airline. Her plan was to become an airline pilot. She had planned on trying to get into the American Airlines Academy and other programs when the RedTail program came up. She jumped at the opportunity. When she hopped in the Piper for the first time, Adio thought, “Wow, these avionics aren’t bad.” Early 1941: The 99th Pursuit Squadron Is Formed Believing in the promise that “all men are created equal” they came. Black men and women from all over the U.S. set out to break a wall of segregation that continued to exist nearly 80 years after Juneteenth had occurred in Texas. They came from well-educated families, the children of ministers, teachers and businesspeople. They came from the most destitute of Southern families, where they had lived under Jim Crow as 20th century slaves, indentured to white landowners in a system called sharecropping. They fought not only against racism, but every bit as importantly against complacency. Black folks were already in the military in service and supply roles. But official reports that I’ve read from the FDR Library and from War Department studies after World War I show a deep-seated racism that went well below the surface. “Blacks could join the service, but they will be held to the same standards and with their abilities it is not thought they will be able to prevail. The size of the cranial.…”
So, they were held to very rigid standards. And they succeeded wildly. They came into the service under the command of white officers and non-commissioned officers. They found themselves discriminated against in their own base movie theaters. Some of their white comrades and junior officers engaged in a “checkerboard” in the base theater, mixing the men of color with white solders over the physical barrier that had been placed between the races. That practice was stopped, but they persevered and Black officers began to emerge as leaders in their ranks. The Tuskegee Airmen later painted the tails and the spinners of their Mustangs bright red. This bold move might have backfired, giving the enemy more reason to fight harder knowing they could knock down one of these “braggart Black men.” But it did not backfire. The red tails were a sign of great confidence and, even more importantly, great capability. Names such as Lee Archer, Roscoe Brown, Charles McGee and Wendell Pruitt became known, if not to the country as a whole, then to the Black men and women who would support them. The Traditions Live On Fraser has carried the tradition of performance and honor into the next generation by painting the tails and wingtips of the Piper trainers red. Traye Jackson of Denver and Anthony Gilbert from the U.S. Virgin Islands, walk into the room at Stewart Airport. Jackson says, “Believe it or not, the ‘Top Gun’ movie was when I decided I wanted to be in aviation. I wanted to do that so bad that I enrolled at Embry-Riddle, but I couldn’t afford that, so I came back to Denver and enrolled in the local community college, got my associate and later a B.S., but man I wanted to fly.” Jackson started flying with the Mile High or Hubert L. “Hooks” Jones Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, earning 25 hr. and soloing. “My mentor was Capt. Eric Mosley. He’s a 777 captain for United. It’s important to have a mentor like him.” Coming back with $9,000 in debt, Traye still wanted to fly, even with his mom pushing him to finish his education. So, he did it all: college, flying with an ex-B-52 pilot at the Aspen Flying Club, serving internships at United Airlines’ Denver base and paying off his debt by working in a dog care center six days a week with a double shift on Sundays. Mosley contacted Jackson about the RedTails and nominated him for the program. “Honestly, being here and experiencing the place and the people is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. This program is an answer to a prayer for me.” Anthony Gilbert grew up on the island of St. Croix. He could look down on the airport and dream of being a pilot, but the chances would be slim and the opportunities few. As a junior in high school, Gilbert worked part time at a local McDonalds to pay for flight instruction. He soloed through the Yellow Breast School on the island. Gilbert smiles that his dad, a local fireman, and his mom, owner of a small fabric shop in town, at first had doubts about his dream but nevertheless threw their support behind him. He reached out to the Tuskegee Airmen, USVI Chapter. This got him into the OBAP (Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals) Solo Flight Academy, which has programs in locations including Delaware, Virginia, St. Croix, and Olive Branch, Mississippi. The team from Stewart interviewed him in Olive Branch via Zoom. Gilbert will become a commercial airline pilot if he has his way and hopes to return to his community to “give back” some of the help he has received. Later That Day I start the takeoff roll in the organization’s Red Bird MCS simulator. As soon as the “airplane” comes off the ground, it goes straight up, stalls and crashes. Then there is the embarrassing and quiet sim moment that occurs when the windshield turns red and all the motion stops. Fraser smirks and lets out an “Oh my, let’s see if we can make this work better for you.” Things “improve” after changes are made on the instructor’s pad. I get the plane around the Stewart pattern two times without too much trouble. Then, Calvin Fredericks comes in to show how it’s done. He’s smooth and the ride is almost as nice as in a real airplane. I can remember flying Al Ueltschi’s very first full visual Falcon 10 sim at Teterboro, New Jersey, in 1975. The visuals on that were not in the same ballpark as this Red Bird. Fredericks starts to get out and I start walking away. Over my shoulder I hear, “Put it in the middle of the runway…that’s it…now remember turn all the switches off. Good. Now cross the seat belts. Leave the darn plane like you would like to find it. Remember that.” Fraser’s somewhat harsh attitude and demeanor catches me a little off guard, but a truth dawns on me. My old friend is not a friend, in the normal sense, to these youngsters. He is a mentor and he takes that role very seriously. Fraser is a check airman on 777s flying all over the world. He is everything that the students at RedTail want to be, from his job to his demeanor. He will be a figure in their lives that they will always remember. ‘Slipping Through the Cracks’ Mya Coley of Chicago is going to take the commercial pilot flight test and has been devoting all of her time to that task.
As a high school freshman, she met the great niece of aviation pioneer Bessie Coleman, the first black woman in the world to earn a pilot license. “She was tabling at school and I went up and started talking to her. She was offering snacks if we’d sign up. I put my mom’s name down because I was afraid to put my own.” The niece, Gigi Coleman, reached out to Coley’s mom and introduced Mya to the Dodo Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen. The die was cast. She wanted to fly. “Teachers, female professionals would tell me this is hard and too many women give up. Don’t give up.” She took her intro ride in Gary, Indiana. Coley earned a private pilot license and an instrument rating through the Tuskegee Next Program and in partnership with the Illinois Air Academy. She has now logged 206 hrs. Coley would drive 1.5 hrs. to get to DuPage Airport from South Chicago. Her parents, sister and brother-in-law were completely behind her efforts but didn’t know what they could do as they were not in the aviation field. Intent on succeeding, Coley worked as an intern in the flight department at Exelon Corp., learning the intricacies of flight department dispatching and updating safety management system (SMS) programs as requested. I ask her how she paid for all that training. Coley smiles and says that she’s in debt to the Illinois Academy, but they allow her to pay it off as she earns money.
On top of all this, Coley earned her Bachelor of Science degree at Lewis University while working at Aerostar Avion Institute teaching K-12 children the basics of aviation and part time as a human resources supervisor at UPS of Lockport, Illinois. She heard about the RedTail Flight Academy program through a Facebook post and, with encouragement from the OBAP, she wanted to apply, but the posted age limit was 21 and Coley was 22--just. “I felt like I was always sort of slipping through the cracks on programs that would help me, and it looked like that would happen in this case too. I decided that I was going to try for it anyway. And they took me into the program,” she says. “My Capstone Project was about a seaplane business on Lake Michigan and how it should work. I want to be a corporate pilot and love the idea of flying a Gulfstream.” Having spent 40 years doing just that type of flying, I thought it was a perfect way to end my day.
—Ross Detwiler was a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot and corporate chief pilot—flying a Dassault Falcon 7X before retiring. He also was as member of the NY Air Guard where he flew the C-5 Galaxy and attained the rank of brigadier general.
Author’s Note: I’d like to pose a question to the readers. Do you think of the Tuskegee Airmen as something that’s “wonderful for black Americans?” That’s how I used to feel. But I think when I felt that way I wasn’t quite where I should’ve been mentally. The legend of the Tuskegee Airmen, while distinctly part of the culture of African Americans, is something that should make all of us proud. When this becomes not just a story for Black people, but one in which we all take pride and puff out a little at the perseverance of fellow American airmen in the face of such odds, we’ll be better for it. These young people are the recipients of the heritage of that pride and determination. They will give back. The Tuskegee Airmen will continue through them. Let’s all be happy for that.
