Fighter pilots like to fly low and fast.
We were the original "Top Gun."
Our competitors,
they didn't think we were for real.
We were Black, and we were flying this obsolete aircraft.
We weren't supposed to win it.
We had heard that there was no official recognition.
We were trying to right a wrong that was over 70 years in the making.
You put your mind to something,
you can accomplish it.
I was standing in my front yard
out where we lived out in the woods,
and I saw a flight of P-40s flying over in formation.
And I said, "I'd like to do that one day."
So, I was drafted into the Army.
They sent me to Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
The mission was go to the jungles of the South Pacific,
doze out an area and build an airfield for aircraft to operate from.
And we used to go out and practice every day,
and all this dust and sweat,
and I said, "No, no, no, this isn't for me."
So I applied for cadet training.
I was accepted,
went off to Bolling Field Washington, D.C., area.
There were nine whites and myself.
Two of us passed.
And then from there to Alabama for pilot training.
Here for the first time,
Negro aviation cadets were being groomed to fly warplanes.
You who stand here before me now
are considered forerunners in the movement
which has given you a place in the fighting men of the sky.
Since everything was segregated, the Army said
that we will put the flying school
for the Negro pilots in Tuskegee, Alabama.
They built a special airfield for us
to get our basic and advanced training.
I was a perfectionist.
Everything has to be perfect.
So, instructor give me maneuvers to practice,
I practice until I nail it.
Flying is great.
It's great.
You're up there in that machine, all by yourself.
You're in complete control.
You can't screw up.
No room for error. None.
I was the best at what I did.
I completed my combat training in April of 1945.
That's when I became part of the 332nd Fighter Group,
later known as the Tuskegee Airmen.
Had my bags packed, to get on a ship
to go over and join the group.
And we got a message saying to hold us.
The war in Italy was over, and they expected to wind up the whole European theater.
The forces of Germany have surrendered.
The flags of freedom fly all over Europe.
But the truth is, he knew I was coming,
And so he threw in the towel the following month.
In January 1949,
the chief of staff of the Air Force
sent a directive out to all the fighter groups in the United States.
They were to pick their three high scorers
to represent their group
at the first ever Top Gun weapons meet.
So, based on our scores,
Captain Temple, First Lieutenant Harry Stewart and myself
were chosen as primary members
and First Lieutenant Halbert Alexander as an alternate member.
Before we left, we had a meeting with our commander,
and he said, "If you don't win, don't come back."
We as a race of people, we weren't expected to do anything.
Everything was negative.
The only thing left for us to do was to go out and win this meet.
The weapons meet was held at Las Vegas Air Force Base,
known today as Nellis Air Force Base.
The competition consisted of
aerial gunnery, panel strafing,
dive bombing, skip bombing and rocket firing.
Our competitors were flying the P-51 and the P-82,
which was the latest thing in the Air Force inventory as far as aircraft go.
They were lighter, do tight turns,
and that's what you need when you're doing air-to-air combat.
We were flying the obsolete P-47, but it didn't matter, though.
It's the skill of the pilot that determines what's gonna happen.
They were there to compete,
and we were there to win.
The first day we have aerial gunnery.
The tow ship towing a target.
We didn't have any gun sights.
So, you use the nose of the aircraft.
You put your nose in front of the target.
How far in front of that target do I put my nose?
That's the key.
You squeeze your trigger, and your target
and the bullets meet at the same time out in space.
Give me a job to do, I go and do the job.
The next day: panel strafing.
It's very simple.
Panel strafing is that you fire at this
panel that's set up on the ground.
You come in at about a 30-degree angle,
you line up on it, you got the right picture,
you pull the trigger and you hit it.
The next day, we have dive bombing.
Dive bombing, you come over your target about 12,000 feet,
rode it over, drop straight down, line up on the target,
release your bombs and pull out by 2,000 feet.
You can become fixated on that target.
You forget your altitude
approaching that ground fast and pull out too late
and mush into the ground.
So, you want to make sure you pull out well in advance.
No one did good that day.
Now, the next day, we have skip bombing.
Now, skip bombing
you come in very low to the ground,
your propeller clearing the ground by about a foot,
and you're so low that when you release your bombs,
they don't have a chance to nose over yet,
so they hit flat, skip through the target.
What I did, come up on the target, when the target went below my nose,
I released my bombs.
Hit the ground flat. Skip through the target.
We had a perfect score, six for six, each of us.
The next day was our final mission of rocket firing.
My vision is the target, and that's it.
Then we fire the rockets because they're below the wings,
and you see the rockets go — whoosh —
and they hit the target.
We were elated. We won.
It was very intense.
No one expected us to win.
And when it was announced that we,
the 332nd, had won the trophy, room was quiet.
There was no applause or anything like that,
because we weren't supposed to win it.
Little did I know that this was the last time
the public would see the trophy for 55 years.
Our victory was swept under the rug.
We had been working with the local
Tuskegee chapter when we first heard about Colonel Harvey's story.
We had heard that
the 332nd Fighter Group received no official recognition for their win
at Nellis Air Force Base in 1949.
Our mission at Wish of a Lifetime is to change the way
our society views and values older adults by granting their lifelong wishes
and sharing their stories to inspire those of all ages.
Lieutenant Colonel Harvey gives us a chance to right a wrong
so many years later.
My wish was to go to Nellis Air Force Base
and see us listed right at the top
as far as the weapons meets go.
We couldn't think of a more deserving group of individuals,
so we immediately picked up the phone, started calling the military
to see if we could get their victory recognized at Nellis Air Force Base.
We were able to get ahold of the Air Force Association and work with them
to come up with a way to commemorate the winners of the first Top Gun competition.
And they came through big-time for Colonel Harvey and the 332nd.
We're here to recognize today
the initial Air Force worldwide fighter competition.
The Tuskegee Airmen Squadron came here and not only did they compete, but they won.
Today was quite an event.
It proves that if you believe in something and you stay at it,
you'll finally get the recognition you deserve.
Now this plaque,
finally after many years,, will be at the top.
Number one.
Feels good to see a P-47 today;
however, that airplane ruined my hearing.