SHAFTER, Calif. (KERO) — Today marks exactly 81 years since the dedication of Minter Field in Shafter on February 7, 1942, exactly 2 months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
In honor of Black History Month, many may know the stories of the Tuskegee Airmen, but their importance extends further including paving the way for the over 300 Black soldiers who worked at Minter Field during World War II. Charles Everly, a Kern County Army veteran and member of the Buffalo Soldiers and Red Tails Project, said the history of these men needs to stay alive.
“They flew 200 missions, and never lost one plane, not one," Everly said.
The Tuskegee Airmen was a group of over 300 pilots who served in segregated units during World War II, a time, when segregation and racial prejudice was still common throughout the American South, including the military.
“These guys could not leave the post, because if they left the post, they would be killed, when they were in uniform," said Everly.
The Tuskegee earned a name for themselves, paving the way for future pilots like Major General James T. Whitehead Jr. With his cousin John flying as a Tuskegee, James looked to take to the skies as a commercial airline pilot. But airlines in America weren’t looking for Black pilots. So he joined the U.S. Air Force.
“I was assigned to Barksdale Air Force Base, Shreveport, Louisiana," Whitehead said.
When he arrived, though, it would be another day before the Air Force would have housing for him.
“So I had to use the greenbook to find a Black hotel to stay in Shreveport," he said. "Because in Shreveport in 58 I was still drinking out of colored water fountains and sitting in the back of the bus.”
Over the years, he and his family would experience prejudice all along the way.
“The segregated schools in Louisiana were terrible, so we found a church school across town. These were the things I remember," he said. "The personnel officer at Strategic Air Command, sent a message down to the personnel officer at Barskdale telling me do not come up to talk to him at SAC.”
He persisted, refueliing B-52 bombers during the Cold War and flying fighter jets until he would become the first African American to fly a U2.
After retiring his commission, he would go on to fulfill his dream as a commercial pilot. In 1994, he would bring his family to Bakersfield helping uncover the work of the 300 Black soldiers nearby at Minter Field.
“They did everything from maintaining engines for the BT-13s, the military police, the were cooks, they worked in the hospital, everything," said Minter Field Air Museum director Ronald Pierce. "You can see the Black Army Air Corps personnel escorting a Japanese Zero that was shot down and if you look real close you can see the Tegler Hotel in the background.”
Whitehead would unknowingly find a connection at Minter Field — helping uncover in 1999 declassified documents revealing a U2 production facility on Norris Road in Oildale.
"No one knew about it, it was completely secret," he said. "Don Clark was going to have a reunion of the people that worked there so he called one of the ex-workers and got chewed out because he even brought it up."
Along with memorabilia of the Tuskegee Airmen, you can also see things like a replica of the only Buy War Bonds poster featuring a Black airman, as well as news clippings about the two Black soldiers who worked as MPs at Minter Field and were the only Black MPs at the time authorized to arrest White persons.
