Tuskegee Airmen celebrated during Chico weekend event

CHICO — A proud heritage of American military air power still lives ... but it’s still a heritage that seeks to overcome obscurity.

Leigh Roberts, a Colfax resident who once lived in Chico, hosted a table honoring the Tuskegee Airmen at the Chico Air Museum Fly-in, held Saturday at the Chico Regional Airport.

The table — loaded with historical documents, newspapers, period clothing and other artifacts — was particularly significant as this year marks the 75th anniversary of Executive Order 9981, which President Harry Truman signed in 1948; the order desegregated all American military branches.

Prior to that, the military observed strict segregation between whites and blacks. In fact, many blacks were not able to serve in the war, despite an obvious need for manpower. Odious and rigid tradition would prevail until Truman’s order.

Roberts is the daughter of Maj. George “Spanky” Roberts, who was a fighter pilot in the U.S. Army

Air Corps — predecessor of the U.S. Air Force — during World War II. He served in the 99th Pursuit Squadron and later the 332nd Fighter Group, which the public recognized as the Tuskegee Airmen, an allblack Army division.

George Roberts also had the distinction of being the first U.S. Air Force officer to command a racially integrated unit. He died in Sacramento in 1984 and is buried in Fair Oaks.

Tuskegee “Airmen” didn’t just refer to the men who flew combat airplanes, Leigh Roberts explained. “There were about 16,000 people in all — 993 pilots, including 662 ‘redtails,’ who actually saw combat — and also ground crew, nurses, flight instructors ... the whole program” earned the label of Tuskegee Airmen.