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Tuskegee Airman Reflects on Diversity

By Airman Jenna K. Caldwell, 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

 (This feature is part of the “Through Airmen’s Eyes” series. These stories focus on individual Airmen, highlighting their Air Force story.) 

Retired Maj. George BoydIt was 1944, and the U.S. was in the midst of two battles – a war on two sides of the world and the onslaught of cultural changes on the home front.

Meanwhile, a young African-American Soldier picked up trash on the white sandy beaches at Keesler Field, Miss. He had been briefed that although he was in the service and evidently may fight and die for his country, he could neither walk on this beach unless he was working nor could he swim here because it was for whites only.

Now retired Maj. George Boyd, a 28-year combat veteran and Tuskegee Airman, will never forget the hypocrisy of that order. Boyd, now a resident of Wichita, Kan., was part of the service during the transition from the Army Air Corps to the Air Force.

Boyd served in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. He witnessed the roots of social equality shift within his country and his service – from the integration of the armed forces by President Harry S. Truman in 1948, to the Civil Rights movements of the 1960s.

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Contrails: Hanging Out with Dwayne
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Contrails: Hanging Out with Dwayne

By Steve Weaver

“When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.” – Leonardo da Vinci.

This was a surprising statement to be made in the 15th century, when most of the world’s population was too busy trying to stay alive to think many profound thoughts. But given da Vinci’s genius, it isn’t surprising that he said this, for flight has always fascinated man. I would imagine that down through time many humans have had such feelings but not the ability to put them into such eloquent words.

Socrates came close, almost 500 years before Christ, when he said, “Man must rise above the earth—to the top of the atmosphere and beyond — for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives.”

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Legendary Author, Frederick Forsyth, Revisits His Action-Packed and Aviation- Fueled Life in The Outsider

By Mark Rhodes

Frederick Forsyth is well known as one of the most accomplished and prolific thriller writers of the 20th century whose works have sold more than 70 million copies and been adapted into films a dozen times. This is only a part of his life’s work; his resume includes stints as a BBC correspondent (where he covered the attempted assassination of Charles de Gaulle––the core plot point of his most famous thriller (The Day of the Jackal); radio broadcaster; MI6 operative; and the youngest ever RAF pilot at 17 and a half. Suffice to say they don’t make ‘em like Mr. Forsyth anymore. 

His recently published memoir, The Outsider: My Life in Intrigue (GP Putnam’s Sons), chronicles Mr. Forsyth’s extraordinary, swashbuckling life. His tone is rakish, self- depreciating but also aware of how his luck, drive, and talents have served him well.  

Mr. Forsyth reports that he was obsessed with the idea of aviation and being an aviator since flying in the seat of a Spitfire at the age of five, and indeed the incessant need to fly consumed much of Mr. Forsyth’s youth. His accounting of his early aviation training and roguish exploits in the cockpit propel the initial chapters of the narrative. His initial success was getting placement in an RAF Flying Scholarship in the mid-50s. The idea here was a novel one; give young men interested in flying the chance to earn a private pilot’s license with the idea that they might get the flying “bug” and join up later. Mr. Forsyth paints a vivid picture of the rough-and-tumble nature of this training, including an episode where he “buzzed” his old school.  

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