The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling tanker aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It has a narrower fuselage and is shorter than the 707. Boeing gave the aircraft the internal designation of Model 717. The KC-135 was the United States Air Force's first jet-powered refueling tanker and replaced the KC-97 Stratofreighter. The KC-135 was initially tasked with refueling strategic bombers, but it was used extensively in the Vietnam War and later conflicts such as Operation Desert Storm to extend the range and endurance of US tactical fighters and bombers.
The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of African American military pilots and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). The name also applies to the navigators, bombardiers, mechanics, instructors, crew chiefs, nurses, cooks, and other support personnel. The Tuskegee airmen received praise for their excellent combat record earned while protecting white American bombers from enemy fighters. The group was awarded three Distinguished Unit Citations.
Wichita is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River.
McConnell Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located four miles (6 km) southeast of the central business district of Wichita, a city in Sedgwick County, Kansas, United States. The airbase was named in honor of the brothers Fred and Thomas McConnell of Wichita, who had both been Air Force pilots and veterans of World War II. It is the home of Air Mobility Command's 22nd Air Refueling Wing, Air Force Reserve Command's 931st Air Refueling Wing, and the Kansas Air National Guard's 184th Wing.
Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, based in Wichita, Kansas, United States, is an American company, and is the world's largest first-tier aerostructures manufacturer. The company builds several important pieces of Boeing aircraft, including the fuselage of the 737, portions of the 787 fuselage, and the flight deck section of the fuselage of nearly all of its airliners. Spirit also produces fuselage sections and front wing spars for the Airbus A350. Spirit's main competition comes from Triumph Aerostructures - Vought Aircraft Division, Collins Aerospace, Leonardo, and Kawasaki Heavy Industries.
Topeka Regional Airport, formerly known as Forbes Field, is a joint civil-military public airport owned by the Metropolitan Topeka Airport Authority in Shawnee County, Kansas, seven miles south of downtown Topeka, the capital city of Kansas. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 called it a general aviation airport.
Ulysses Lee Gooch, often known as Rip Gooch, was an American pilot, aviation entrepreneur, and politician in Kansas. Gooch was a member of the Kansas Commission on Civil Rights, 1971–74; member of the Wichita City Council, 1989–93; and a Kansas state senator from 1993 until retiring in January 2004 as the state's oldest serving senator, at 80. Gooch was one of the first inductees to the Black Aviation Hall of Fame.
Charles Walter Dryden was a U.S. Army Air Force officer and one of the original combat fighter pilot with the 332nd Fighter Group's 99th Fighter Squadron,a component of the Tuskegee Airmen. Among the United States' first eight African American combat fighter pilots, Dryden is notable as a member of the Tuskegee Advance Flying School (TAFS)'s Class Number SE-42-C, the program's 2nd-ever aviation cadet program.
The American Aviation Historical Society (AAHS) is a non-profit organization "dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of [the history of] American aviation." AAHS has had an educational program in promoting American aviation through its journal and a periodic newsletter, archives historical aviation documents and photos, maintains multiple websites on aviation history, and assists aviation historians and the public in the acquisition and exchange of aviation history information.
Walter J. Boyne was a United States Air Force officer, Command Pilot, combat veteran, aviation historian, and author of more than 50 books and over 1,000 magazine articles. He was a director of the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution and a Chairman of the National Aeronautic Association.
Brigadier General Charles Edward McGee was an American fighter pilot who was one of the first African American aviators in the United States military and one of the last living members of the Tuskegee Airmen. McGee first began his career in World War II flying with the Tuskegee Airmen, an all African American military pilot group at a time of segregation in the armed forces. His military aviation career lasted 30 years in which McGee flew 409 combat missions in World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam War.
Edward H. Phillips is an American writer/historian, aviation industry reporter, and aviator who has specialized in the general aviation industry of the central United States—with particular emphasis on the aviation history of Wichita, Kansas and its aircraft manufacturers.
James Henry Harvey III is a retired United States Army Air Corps/United States Air Force (USAF) officer and former African American fighter pilot who served with 332nd Fighter Group's 99th Fighter Squadron, best known as the Tuskegee Airmen, "Red Tails", or among enemy German pilots, Schwartze Vogelmenschen. He is one of the 1007 documented Tuskegee Airmen pilots.
LTC Alva Newte Temple was an officer in the U.S. Army Air Forces and combat fighter pilot with the 332nd Fighter Group's 99th Fighter Squadron and 300th Squadron, best known as the all-African American Tuskegee Airmen, "Red Tails," or among enemy German pilots, “Schwartze Vogelmenschen”. He was one of the 1007 documented Tuskegee Airmen Pilots.
Yancey Williams was a U.S. Army Air Force/U.S. Air Force officer and pilot with the 85th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron and the 332nd Fighter Group, best known as the Tuskegee Airmen or "Red Tails".
Edward Creston Gleed was an U.S. Army Air Force officer with the famed Buffalo Soldiers/9th Cavalry Regiment, 332nd Fighter Group’s operations officer, and combat fighter pilot with the 99th Fighter Squadron, best known as the Tuskegee Airmen. He was one of the more prominent members of Tuskegee Airmen's ninth-ever aviation cadet program, as well as one of 1,007 documented Tuskegee Airmen Pilots. His classmates included Robert B. Tresville, West Point's seventh African American graduate and the 100th Fighter Squadron's Commanding Officer.
Charles Phillip Bailey Sr. was a U.S. Army Air Force officer and one of the Tuskegee Airmen's most decorated combat fighter pilots. He was Florida's first African American fighter pilot. He flew 133 missions over Europe and North Africa, and was credited with shooting down two enemy aircraft.
Luke Joseph Weathers, Jr., was a U.S. Army Air Force officer, historic African American air traffic controller and prolific World War II combat fighter pilot with the prodigious 332nd Fighter Group's 302nd Fighter Squadron, best known as the Tuskegee Airmen, "Red Tails," or "Schwartze Vogelmenschen" among enemy German pilots. Weathers earned a Distinguished Flying Cross for defending and escorting a damaged U.S. Army Air Corps B-24 Liberator bomber against eight Messerschmitt 109s on November 16, 1944, shooting down two Me-109s.
William Hugo Holloman III was a U.S. Army Air Force officer, combat fighter pilot, and high-profile member of the prodigious 332nd Fighter Group's 99th Fighter Squadron, best known as the Tuskegee Airmen, "Red Tails," or “Schwarze Vogelmenschen” among enemy German pilots.
The USAF Airman Heritage Museum is an aviation field museum and heritage collection of the United States Air Force located at Lackland AFB near San Antonio, Texas. The museum, along with the Security Forces Exhibit Annex, are part of the Airman Heritage Training Complex, run by the Air Education and Training Command. Its mission is to preserve and honor the history and heritage of enlisted airmen.
