Base Celebrates Fighter Pilot Who Flew Combat Missions From WWII to Vietnam

Joint Base San Antonio, Texas held an event as part of its year-long celebrations for the Air Force's l75th Anniversary, congratulating former Tuskegee Airman Brigadier Charles E. McGee on his 102nd birthday. The 12th Flying Training Wing treated their forebear to a heritage tour of their new equipment, including a T-1A Jayhawk bearing his name.

Following the tour, McGee took the opportunity to review his career with members of the media and 99th Training Squadron pilots, after which he and his family completed a practice mission in the T-1A aircraft full motion simulator. The visit concluded with lunch and the presentation of a squadron-made T-7A Red Hawk model painted in his old squadron's livery.

The T-7 Red Hawk is the newest addition to the USAF training fleet, selected in September 2018 to replace the venerable but aged T-38 Talon. Formerly the Boeing T-X, the aircraft is set to become the primary advanced jet trainer for the entire force, with additional developments expected in the vein of the T-38's armed light attack sibling, the F-5. Upon adoption, the Red Hawk received its name in tribute to McGee's original unit who famously painted their P-51 Mustang's tails red. 

McGee's career spanned over thirty years with the force, where he obtained the Distinguished Flying Cross with two oak leaf clusters, a Bronze Star Medal, and a promotion to brigadier general at the age of 100. Enlisting in the Army Air Corps as a pilot in 1942, he entered the war in 1944 with the 301st Fighter Squadron, flying 137 combat missions over Italy. After a promotion to captain, he returned to the states to instruct students in the B-25 Mitchell.

Staying with the service, he transitioned to the nascent USAF through the Korean war, once again flying the P-51 to the rank of major. Staying on as a fighter pilot through Vietnam, he eventually logged 409 total combat missions during his service as an RF-4 reconnaissance Phantom. His career is an impressive cross-section of aviation development, having straddled the jet age line as a combat pilot. McGee's daughter said he keeps the memory alive for his friends no longer with the unit.

“It is an honor for him but I know that when he travels, he does it to represent everybody who can’t be here, and that is why he is still going at 102,” she said. "There are so many of his comrades who are not able to do what he does, so he keeps showing up to represent them.”

FMI: www.af.mil