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Retired Army Air Forces Col. Charles McGee, who was one of the last surviving members of the Tuskegee Airmen, died at the age of 102, according to U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. "Today, we lost an American hero," Austin tweeted Sunday. "Charles McGee, Brigadier General and one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airman, passed at the age of 102. While I am saddened by his loss, I'm also incredibly grateful for his sacrifice, his legacy, and his character. Rest in peace, General." SNIP McGee was one of the Air Force’s most celebrated pilots. He flew 409 fighter combat missions over...

His vow was that the American people “will not allow our country, and all of its values, history, and culture, to be taken from them.” At this point the audience was chanting “USA!” Mr. Trump then laced into “cancel culture,” which he called “driving people from their jobs, shaming dissenters, and demanding total submission from anyone who disagrees.” He called it “completely alien to our culture and our values.” It would be one thing were any of the major Democrats saying such things. The cat, though, has got their tongues. Not a peep of support from, say, Vice President Biden...

Willie N. Rogers was an American hero, and at age 101, he was a living example of the nation's history. He was a member of the "Greatest Generation," which defeated the Axis powers in World War II, doing his part as a master sergeant in the all-black Tuskegee Airmen during the era of racial segregation in the U.S. military. The longtime St. Petersburg resident died Friday from complications of a stroke. He was the oldest surviving member of that original legendary 100th Fighter Squadron. Mr. Rogers' nephew, Clinton Glover, said his uncle deserves to be celebrated for his contributions to...

A United States Marine didn’t take too kindly to First Lady Michelle Obama stoking the fires of racial tensions while giving a speech at Tuskegee University. During the speech, Mrs. Obama used the platform to praise the Tuskegee airmen of World War II, something all Americans can agree with. Then the speech took a very different direction, with the First Lady telling the student they should prepare to an onslaught of racism that will come their way, regardless of their success.

ST. LOUIS (KTVI) – A 93-year-old Tuskegee Airman had his car stolen and was robbed in two separate incidents on Sunday night. The robbery happened Sunday at McPherson and Sarah in North St. Louis Police say the victim got lost while driving to his daughter’s home Sunday night at around 11:30pm. The 93-year-old man pulled over to call his daughter. A man approached and entered the victim’s vehicle. The suspect took cash from the victim’s pant pocket. Then the suspect then got into another vehicle and left the scene. The victim lost sight of the older model black four door...

The skies were filled with bombers and fighter planes. Their engines hummed steadily, in the otherwise quiet skies above Germany. The target of the March 24, 1945, mission was the Daimler-Benz tank assembly plant—one of the most heavily guarded targets of the Third Reich. As they approached Berlin, the reality of one of the most dangerous air missions of World War II became apparent. They were up against the world’s first operational fighter jets—the German ME 262. Amid the horrors of World War II, these were the monsters of the skies. They could fly 150 mph faster than the fastest...

Star Wars creator George Lucas said Monday that Hollywood studios refused to back his new film Red Tails - about World War II's Tuskegee Airmen - because the cast was all black. ... Hollywood balked given the message Lucas was trying to convey. “I wanted to make it inspirational for teenaged boys. I wanted to show that they have heroes, they’re real American heroes, they’re patriots that helped to make the country what it is today. And it’s not Glory where you have a lot of white officers running these guys into cannon fodder. It’s like a real, they were...

GULFPORT — A life-size bronze bust of Mississippi aviator John C. Robinson, aka the Brown Condor, will be unveiled and dedicated at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport. The bust is by sculptor Edward Shumper and was commissioned by the John C. Robinson Brown Condor Association in honor of the Gulfport aviation pioneer. It is the first of several planned busts of Mississippi Aviators and “is dedicated to the inspiration of our youth,” said James Smith, president of the Brown Condor group. ----------------- snip Robinson was an African-American aviator who grew up in Gulfport during the 1920s...

By TIMOTHY LOGUE, tlogue@delcotimes.com RADNOR — Luther H. Smith, a World War II pilot who flew 133 combat missions over Europe as a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen, died Wednesday morning at Bryn Mawr Hospital. He was 89. A longtime resident of Villanova, Smith dropped out of the University of Iowa in 1942 to join the U.S. Army Air Corps. “Before World War II began in 1941, black Americans were not accepted in military aviation and I wanted to be a military aviator,” he told the Daily Times in a 2007 interview. “We performed much better than anyone thought...

As a young black growing up during the Great Depression in La Grange, Texas, Vernon Hopson spent many days working in the fields and watching as airplanes buzzed the crops. He told himself that one day he was going to fly. He read an newspaper article about the Tuskegee Airmen, then got a word of encouragement from his high school principal, who had been kicked out of flight training school just two months before his graduation because he was black. He told Hopson to pursue his dream. That was all Hopson needed to spur him to enlist in the Army...

This is a great video. It shows the three aircraft orbiting over the Statue of Liberty during the Air Farce One incident. (The money shot is near the end) The "Red Tail F-16" is clearly a prop. If the George Lucas' film "Red Tails" has, as is likely, a 3D IMAX version, and this sequence were to be used as an epilogue, the camera plane would likely have an external camera mount to attach an IMAX camera. Publicity stills would have been photographed by an air combat photographer during the flight. According to this Wall Street Journal article, the camera...

Russian Military Officers are reporting to Prime Minister Putin this morning that President Obama [pictured top left with UN Secretary General Ban] was stopped by US Air Force fighter jets while Air Force One was attempting to land in New York City where Obama was scheduled to meet UN, Russian and Chinese diplomats for what the White House had communicated was ‘critical and vital’ information relating the influenza pandemic currently overrunning the World. Though the US propaganda media is portraying this shocking incident involving the most secure aircraft in the World as a ‘photo op’ staged by the Pentagon, statements...

U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs 5/8/2009 - U.S Air Force Academy, Colo. (AFNS) -- The Tuskegee Airmen secured their place in history more than 60 years ago by doing what few people thought they could. They overcame naysayers in the U.S. Army Air Corps before they overcame the Luftwaffe in the skies over Italy and Germany. Their legendary story has inspired numerous books, a movie and thousands of U.S. Air Force Academy cadets. Born in 1925, Dr. Coggs first became interested in flying after he saw a plane fly low over his hometown of Little Rock, Ark. "As soon...

The director of the White House Military Office submitted his resignation on Friday, less than two weeks after he authorized a flyover by an Air Force One backup of the Statue of Liberty that terrified thousands of people in New York City. Louis Caldera, who served as the secretary of the Army in the Clinton administration, apologized for the “distraction” that approving the flyover caused. He said in a brief letter to President Obama on Friday that it “has made it impossible for me to effectively lead the White House Military Office.”

The White House says it will indeed release a photograph from the $329,000 "photo shoot'' of one of the Air Force jumbo jets that serve as Air Force One when the president is aboard but mainly served to scare a lot of New Yorkers in that recent flyover. President Barack Obama voiced outrage over the incident, as did the mayor of New York, the senior senator from New York and many street-level New Yorkers who didn't know what to make of the presidential aircraft trailed by an F-16 fighter making low arcs over the Hudson River. It was a "photo-op,''...

Just announced on FOX news: "The White House has declined to release the photos taken of the backup of the AF1 plane that flew over NYC and past the Statue of Liberty for a photo op last month..." No more details available on FOX's website. Remember this: Photo Flop

A photo-op over the Manhattan skyline that sent thousands of New Yorkers running for their lives has officials in Washington, D.C., running for cover. Many New Yorkers on Tuesday were asking what the Obama administration could have been thinking when it authorized an Air Force One backup plane to fly over the city for photos capturing the presidential plane with the Statue of Liberty in the background. The 747 plane, with an F-16 escort following close behind, circled the Statue of Liberty and the skyline near the World Trade Center site for about a half-hour. Offices were evacuated. Emergency call...

President Obama's White House was forced to issue an apology Monday after a photo opportunity gone badly wrong - an Air Force One backup did a low flyover over Lower Manhattan, prompting terrified citizens to flee their offices and high-profile accusations of government insensitivity in the post-Sept. 11 era. White House Military Office Director Louis Caldera issued a brief statement saying he was to blame, and an administration official said the president was "furious" about the photo op, which had been in the works for one month. "Last week, I approved a mission over New York. I take responsibility for...

An airliner and supersonic fighter jet zoomed past the lower Manhattan skyline in a flash just as the work day was beginning Monday. Within minutes, startled financial workers streamed out of their offices, fearing a nightmarish replay of Sept. 11. For a half-hour, the Boeing 747 and F-16 jet circled the Statue of Liberty and the lower Manhattan skyline near the World Trade Center site. Offices evacuated. Dispatchers were inundated with calls. Witnesses thought the planes were flying dangerously low. But the flyover was nothing but a photo op, apparently one of a series of flights to get pictures of...