Tuskegee Airmen and their legacy: Indiana Links

<p dir="ltr">Buckle up to time travel to World War II and the post-war era as Hoosier History Live explores Indiana connections to the acclaimed <strong><a href= "https://www.tuskegeeairmen.org/">Tuskegee Airmen</a></strong>. There even are Indiana/Tuskegee links; such as <a href= "https://www.moaa.org/content/publications-and-media/news-articles/2022-news-articles/meet-the-first-top-guns/"><strong>MOAA</strong></a>, to the aerial competition that eventually became known as "Top Gun", the inspiration for blockbuster movies.</p> <p dir="ltr">This show follows up a program in <a href= "https://hoosierhistorylive.org/mail/2017-02-11.html"><strong>2017</strong></a> that delved into the lives of several Hoosiers who were fighter pilots in the trailblazing squadron, which drew its name from the <strong><a href= "https://www.nps.gov/tuai/index.htm">Tuskegee Army Air Field</a></strong> in Alabama. This time, as Hoosier History Live salutes <strong><a href= "https://blackhistorymonth.gov/">Black History Month</a></strong>, we will spotlight an aviator and educator from <strong><a href="https://www.angolain.org/">Angola, Ind</a></strong>., who became the director for the first two phases of flight training for the Tuskegee Airmen. Not only that, four of the Tuskegee pilots trained by <strong><a href= "https://www.ci.xenia.oh.us/733/Lewis-A-Jackson---Xenia-Aviation-History">Dr. Lewis Jackson</a></strong> (1912-1994) went to win the championship trophy in the first <strong><a href= "https://www.af.mil/">U.S. Air Force</a></strong> competition that came to be called "Top Gun". Those pilots in that initial competition (officially called the Air Force Fighter Gunnery Meet) were flying an aircraft made in <a href= "https://www.evansvillegov.org/city/"><strong>Evansville</strong></a>, a Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.</p> <p dir="ltr">Our guide for all of this and other Tuskegee/Indiana connections will be <strong id= "docs-internal-guid-8f0685cb-7fff-2b73-73d5-e5a3f42e83a3">Reginald DuValle,</strong> an Indianapolis native who gradua