Focus on Country: Conversation with one of the Documented Original Tuskegee Airmen (DOTA), hosted by Joi C. Spraggins, PhD (Dr. Joi®) 18 January 2021 1145 - 1215

Meet DOTA George E. Hardy, Lt. Col USAF (Retired) who in September 1943 was assigned to the 320th College Training Detachment at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. His group was scheduled to take college-level courses, at Tuskegee Institute, for a period of five months. This training was cut short in the beginning of December, as his group was transferred to Tuskegee Army Air Field (TAAF) for Aviation Cadet training, as part of Class 44-H. In September 1944, DOTA George E. Hardy graduated as a single-engine pilot and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army.

Meet, Richard A. Baugh, the Son of DOTA Howard Lee Baugh, Lt. Col., USAF (Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. Lonely Eagle). DOTA Baugh was born in Petersburg, VA on January 20, 1920. He attended public schools in Petersburg and Brooklyn, NY and graduated from Virginia State College (University) in 1941. DOTA Baugh entered the U.S. Army Air Corps as an Aviation Cadet in March 1942. He completed pilot training at Tuskegee Army AirField in November 1942 (Class 42-J-SE) and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant. DOTA Howard Baugh, Lt. Col., USAF flew P-51C Mustang Red Tale and had 134 combat missions in WWII.

Collectively, the Tuskegee Airmen flew more than 15,000 individual sorties in Europe and North Africa and are considered a contributing factor in the Allied Forces eventual winning of World War II. Their impressive performance earned them more than 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses and helped encourage the integration of the U.S. armed forces.

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