Greetings.
I am always overwhelmed with the generosity and camaraderie among our Tuskegee Airmen Chicago "DODO" Chapter when we are together. That spirit was in full force at Bult Field on June 11, when we gathered to celebrate Aviation's Salute to Colorful Pioneer Women.
Thank you to Sandra Campbell for her wonderful performance as Bessie Coleman, to Bessie Coleman's grand-niece Gigi and to all who came both to help with and enjoy the day's many activities.
Overwhelmed is probably not the right word. Overjoyed is better. The sense of family and support for one another I feel when we are together is not a surprise. It is this spirit that strengthens our connection and that we rely on in supporting one another and serving the community together.
I am proud to be a part of this kindhearted, powerful organization.
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Did we miss you on June 11? |
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President
Chicago "DODO" Chapter
Tuskegee Airmen
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Dubuque Regional Airport to Name Terminal for
Captain Robert L. Martin
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Robert L. Martin was born in Dubuque, Iowa on February 9, 1919, and graduated from Dubuque Senior High School. He was an original member of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first group of Black combat aviators in the US Army Air Corps.
At the age of 23, Bob Martin, known as “Fox”, graduated from flight training at the Tuskegee Army Airfield in Alabama.
He joined the 100th Fighter Squadron, part of the all-Black 332nd Fighter Group. In 1945, while flying his 64th mission, Captain Martin’s plane was hit by enemy fire. He bailed out and landed behind enemy lines in Yugoslavia. After a month at an Allied mission manned by British soldiers, Captain Martin was airlifted to Italy and eventually returned home.
Captain Martin received the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with six Oak Leaf Clusters, and the Purple Heart. In 2007, he was among the recipients of the Congressional Gold Medal at a ceremony honoring the Tuskegee Airmen. He passed away in 2018.
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Ribbon Cutting Ceremony to be held on July 19.
The Dubuque Regional Airport Commission and Staff, partnering with the Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Captain Robert L. Martin Commemoration Committee, invite the public to attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony on July 19, 2022, for the naming of the Dubuque Regional Airport Terminal after Captain Robert L. Martin.
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Biographies of Local Legends
John Charles Robinson: Aviator and Activist
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John Charles Robinson (November 26, 1903 – March 27, 1954, was an African American aviator and activist. He earned the name “Brown Condor” during his service to the Ethiopian Air Force against Fascist Italy in the years leading up to WWII (1935-1941).
Robinson completed his education at Gulfport High School for the Colored in 1919, where he developed a strong interest in mechanics and machinery. However, he could not continue his education there, as blacks were barred from continuing their education beyond the tenth grade. He subsequently attended the Tuskegee Institute where he studied automotive mechanical science in addition to math, literature, composition, and history.
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Challenger Air Pilots Association |
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In 1924 Robinson, friends Cornelius Coffey, Willa Brown, and a group of other African American pilots formed the Challenger Air Pilots Association (see photos) the name referred to the Curtiss Challenger engine.
Sometime between 1934 and 1940, Robinson is also known to have advocated for the founding of a black flight-training program at Tuskegee, perhaps providing the initial idea for a flight program at that institution.
However, that did not occur until late 1939 when it became reality as part of the federal government’s Civilian Pilot Training Program. By that time Robinson was pursuing other aviation interests (Ethiopia), so Charles Alfred Anderson Sr., another accomplished and well-known black aviator, became the chief civilian flight instructor at the Tuskegee school and, later, at the US Army flight schools at Tuskegee.
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Robinson, Coffey, and Anderson are among those early pilots, mechanics, and visionaries whose contributions to black aviation earned them a place in history and to some, recognition as the “Fathers of the Tuskegee Airmen” for inspiring those legendary pilots and support personnel who became America’s first air combat group following the United States’ entry into World War II. |
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Illinois Aviation Hall of Fame
John Charles Robinson was inducted into the Illinois Aviation Hall of Fame on June 16, 2022. Captain Ken Rapier, President of the Tuskegee Airmen Chicago “DODO” Chapter accepted the award on his behalf.
Submitted by Vince Saunders.
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