World War II — Hiram Mann: Tuskegee Airman

Overcoming prejudice to serve his country

By Pat Hatfield
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Oct 22, 2008 - 1:59:08pm

BY PAT HATFIELD

pat@beacononlinenews.com

It’s been more than 63 years since retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Hiram Mann flew his last mission over Italy during World War II, but the memories have not faded.

Mann served in the 332nd Fighter Group, flying P51-D Mustangs, providing escort to heavy-bomber aircraft.

He was part of an elite corps of African-American airmen who served their country during World War II. They flew more than 200 combat missions without losing any bomber to enemy fire — a record unmatched by any other fighter group, according to Tuskegee University.

What made Mann want to serve his country in this way, as a combat pilot with the Tuskegee Airmen?

“You’ve got to be crazy. Who in their right minds wants to be shot at?” he asked back.

Yet just about every one of those 1,000 airmen grew up dreaming of flying, Mann said.

“We made model airplanes. I used to save my pennies to go to the hobby shop and buy balsa wood to make airplanes,” Mann said. “I never thought I would have a chance to actually fly an airplane.”

Mann did not come from an affluent family. His parents had moved from Alabama to New York, looking for a better life. Mann was born in New York.

Then, his parents heard Cleveland was a good place for African-Americans, who were called “colored” or “Negro” back then. The family moved to Cleveland while Mann was still a toddler. Mann grew up attending integrated schools, with many white teachers.

The realities of racism and a country still trying to climb out of a depression hit Mann after he graduated from high school.

He got a job as a bellhop in a hotel. He heard a job in a defense plant meant deferred military service, and he went to work at a steel-and-wire company. He hated the brutal work, and went back to the hotel.

The idea of flying still called the young man.

“I wrote a letter to the War Department about getting into a flying training program for my country,” Mann said.

He got a return letter saying there were no provisions for Negroes to fly in any branch of the military.

Then, Mann said, “The black press in Chicago started a big hue and cry, saying, ‘Give our boys a chance to fly!’”

It was a long shot, then.

“They would never fly, was the attitude of many. They did not want us to fly,” Mann said.

That included Gen. Curtis LeMay, who would later reorganize the Strategic Air Command, then run for vice president of the country in 1968, on a ticket with American Independent Party candidate George Wallace.

In 1925, an Army War College study of “negroes in combat” had concluded that they lacked intelligence, ambition and courage; they were unsuitable to serve in the military, much less as fighter pilots, the study said.

Tuskegee trains African-American pilots

Under pressure, the experiment to train African-American pilots began in 1941, though without great enthusiasm from all parties. An airfield was built at Tuskegee, Ala., where there was a good-size African-American population.

In 1942, the country was desperate for pilots. Mann was finally accepted into the program, after yet another rejection on the basis he was married and had completed only one year of college.

Mann left his wife, Kathadaza, whom he’d married in 1940, at home, and went to war. Kathadaza lived with her parents in Chicago, and completed college. Then, she came to Tuskegee and taught at a local high school, while her husband learned to be a combat pilot at the airfield.

He completed flight training in June 1944, and became a “Red Tail,” so called because the tails of the aircraft flown by the African-American pilots were painted red.

The term “Tuskegee Airmen” didn’t come into use until 1972, when the group of veterans organized an association.

“I had two P51 D’s. The first one was shot out from under me,” Mann recalled.

These aircraft had six 50-caliber machine guns, three in each wing. The fifth bullet coming from the machine lighted up with a phosphorous glow, helping the crew see the bullet’s path so they could adjust the gun’s aim.

Mann said his most memorable experiences were strafing missions — going in low and shooting up targets with the machine guns.

On one of his first such missions, Mann put his plane into a dive and began to fire.

“I could see silver streaks coming out from my plane. Then, I could see silver streaks flying past me. I thought, ‘Gee, I’m flying faster than my bullets.’ But in reality, it was the enemy’s bullets coming back past me,” Mann said.

His training hadn’t included dealing with enemy fire.

When Mann landed, he realized the chewing gum he’d put in his mouth just before takeoff was chewed into little BBs.

Mann flew 48 missions during the war. He named all his planes Boss Lady, after his wife, and she’s still known to their friends by that affectionate nickname.

Things have changed

After the war, Mann decided to stay in the Air Force. He retired with more than 21 years of service, then completed college on the GI Bill, and earned a master’s degree.

After his Air Force career, he went into civil service. He and Kathadaza retired to Titusville in 1974.

Mann beamed with pride as he talked about his youngest granddaughter, Krista, whom he watched as she was sworn into the U.S. Navy in 1999. She served aboard the USS Bataan as an electronics technician, in charge of the ship’s computers — something unheard of in World War II for women of any race.

“I’ve seen quite a few changes, militarily or socially. It used to be blacks could be only galley [kitchen] workers or stewards before the war,” Mann said.

As Mann has watched the presidential-election campaign under way, he said he’s reflected on the lessons he was taught in his youth.

“It appears that, finally, a black person may be president. Now it seems Obama will get it. I’m proud for him,” the retired Air Force officer said, though he worries about threats made against Obama. “It goes with the game, I guess.”

Mann visits DeLand periodically. He was here in 2005 for the unveiling of a bust of fellow Tuskegee Airman Charles P. Bailey of DeLand at the DeLand Naval Air Station Museum.

He’s also visited schools, bringing World War II history to life for local students.

— pat@beacononlinenews.com

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