Misconceptions about the Tuskegee Airmen by Daniel Haulman

Author:Daniel Haulman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Published: 2023-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

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The misconception that Tuskegee Airman Charles McGee flew more combat missions than any other pilot in the Air Force, or more combat missions than any other Air Force fighter pilot, or more combat missions than any other USAF pilot in three wars

Sometimes one hears or reads the claim that Tuskegee Airman Col. Charles McGee, who flew combat missions as a fighter pilot not only in World War II but also in Korea, and Vietnam, compiled a record of more combat missions than any other Air Force pilot. The claim appeared in an old edition of Rising Above, a booklet published by the Commemorative Air Force’s Red Tail Squadron to celebrate the achievements of the Tuskegee Airmen. That edition, circulating in 2012, claimed that Col. McGee and his 409 combat missions hold the U.S. Air Force record for most combat missions ever flown.1 In reality, there were many other Air Force pilots with more combat missions than Col. McGee.

The source of the claim was not Col. McGee himself or the Tuskegee Airmen. A version of the claim was contained in a 1994 speech by former Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ronald Fogleman at the Tuskegee Airmen Incorporated national convention in Atlanta, Georgia. Gen. Fogleman noted that Col. McGee had the distinction of having flown more fighter missions than any other pilot in the three-war history of the Air Force. Gen. Fogleman’s words are contained in a biography of Col. McGee by his daughter, Dr. Charlene McGee Smith. The same source notes that Charles McGee flew 409 combat missions. If you read the book carefully, you realize that the claim of more combat missions than any other Air Force pilot might be a misinterpretation of Gen. Fogleman’s meaning. He might have meant not that Col. McGee compiled more combat missions than any other USAF pilot but more than any other USAF fighter pilot who also served in three wars.2 Even then, the claim is not accurate.

There were several U.S. Air Force pilots who flew more than 409 combat missions and therefore more than Col. McGee. Aldophus H. “Pat” Bledsoe Jr., in an email to the marketing director of the CAF Red Tail Squadron, noted that he had flown 422 combat missions in Vietnam and was aware of several other Air Force pilots who flew more than 500 missions during that war. However, Bledsoe was a forward air controller (FAC) and not a fighter pilot, and he referred to other USAF pilots who were FACs and not fighter pilots. Col. Alan Gropman flew 671 missions in Vietnam, a total much higher than McGee’s 409, but Gropman flew transports, not fighters.3 Lloyd J. Probst, another USAF transport pilot, is reported to have flown 1,248 combat missions during the Vietnam War.4 Probst flew C-130s. Col. McGee definitely did not fly more combat missions than any other USAF pilot.

TABLE 13 • USAF Pilots Known to Have Flown at Least Four Hundred Combat Missions.

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