WIX Archives
Story of Herbert Clark, Tuskegee Airmen
Posted by bdk on Thu Mar 06, 2003 10:44:56 AM
In reply top null posted by null on null
This is from the Boeing St. Louis company newspaper:
A man who did what he thought was right
By Sue Schantz
Boeing St. Louis engineer Vann Clark holds a 1/48th scale model of the P-51 Mustang, the type of aircraft his father, Herbert Clark of the Tuskegee Airmen, flew during World War II. (Bob Claus photo)
Vann Clark, a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and a low observables engineer on the Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle program at Boeing St. Louis, credits his dad, an electronic instrument maker and TV repairman, for his interest in engineering.
"Dad learned electronics in college and when he was a pilot in World War II," said Clark.
His father, Herbert Clark, was one of the original Tuskegee airmen.
The Tuskegee airmen were African-American fighter pilots who courageously served their country in World War II. In 1939, when Herbert Clark was attending the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, African-Americans were barred from taking flying lessons or piloting military aircraft. But the U.S. government passed the Civilian Pilot Training, or CPT Act, that year, which allowed selected schools to train non-military people how to fly aircraft. Herbert Clark signed up.
Herbert Clark as a U.S. Air Force captain in 1950. Clark became a Major in the Air Force in 1955.
After being authorized to teach advanced CPT, Tuskegee began training cadets in military flight instruction. Students attended ground school for navigation, meteorology and similar classes, then flight school at nearby facilities such as Moton field. Successful cadets transferred to the segregated Tuskegee Army Air Field ? a military base ? to complete flight instruction. Between 1941 and 1945, Tusgekee trained more than 1,000 black aviators.
Herbert Clark was in the 99th Fighter Squadron. Together with the 100th, 301st and 302nd, the 99th formed the 332nd fighter group that flew missions over the Mediterranean and North Africa. They were led by Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr., the first African-American to graduate from West Point.
The Tuskegee Airmen flew P-51 Mustangs made by North American Aviation, now part of Boeing. Their job was to "fly pursuit" or escort planes on dangerous missions to protect them from enemy aircraft. The airmen completed 15,500 missions, destroyed more than 260 enemy aircraft and never lost a plane they escorted.
"My dad flew 33 missions, shot down four planes and was shot down himself, over enemy territory," said Vann Clark. "He was flying over Italy when flak from an exploding anti-aircraft shell hit his plane and broke the oil line. He knew he was going to have to ditch and there were no ejection seats then. So, he inverted the aircraft and fell out. He was taken in by a band of resistance fighters and fought alongside them in raids against the enemy until V-day.?
Captain Herbert Clark, foreground, in a training class with other U.S. Air Force officers at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., between 1953 and 1954.
Vann Clark said his father didn't talk about his life in the service much, but did mention that he met First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt when she visited Tuskegee Army Air Field in March 1941.
Mrs. Roosevelt said, "Do what you feel in your heart to be right ? for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't."
Herbert Clark chose to do what he felt was right. But, would he have gone through all of the battles he had to go through ? at home with racism and abroad at war ? if he knew beforehand what he would face?
His son Vann believes he would: ?He would have done it all over again with the same courage and conviction that he showed throughout his life,? Vann Clark said.
Herbert Clark, 83, died a hero in the eyes of his country and his family on Jan. 25, 2003.