Quentin Smith |
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| World War II, 1939-1946
Army Air Forces/Corps
477 Composite Group
Tuskegee, Alabama; Seymour, Indiana
First Lieutenant
Weldon, TX
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For Quentin Smith, World War II was a series of delayed actions. He enlisted hoping to become a flight instructor and he did land in the newly formed company of black airman in Tuskegee, Alabama. But the wheels of bureaucracy moved slowly, with officials insisting that ready-to-fly pilots had to wait until other members of the crew were trained, claiming that no white navigator or gunner would take orders from a black pilot. It took a visit from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to get the Army Air Force to ship the Tuskegee Airmen to Europe, where they compiled an enviable record.
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