Thought we'd repost this item from 2009, to coincide with the opening of the new George Lucas flick "Red Tail," about the Tuskegee Airmen.
Calvin J. Spann, who grew up in Rutherford, served with the famed Tuskegee Airmen during World War II.
From 1943 to 1946, 1st Lt. Spann served in the U.S. Army Air Force, 332nd Fighter Group, 100th Squadron, as part of the famed Tuskegee Airmen -- the first-ever group of black Army pilots.
Spann was among an elite group of Tuskegee Airmen who escorted B-17 bombers and reconnaissance planes over Nazi Germany during World War. Spann flew 26 combat missions.
In a phone interview from his home in Texas, Spann said: "My growing up in Rutherford inspired me to be a Tuskegee Airman. Planes from Teterboro Airport took off right over my house.
"I was able to do everything any young man in high school did, and when I got into the Air Corps and they said they didn't think I could learn to fly, I thought that was preposterous. I'd been doing everything everyone else was doing all my life, and it really stuck with me. That was my experience growing up in Rutherford."
A recent story on Spann from The Record is here.
Spann, who heard Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his "I have a Dream" speech in Washington, D.C, in August 1963, also attended the inauguration of President Obama.
"If I were to compare the two events, I'd say the Inauguration was greater," said Spann. "The atmosphere was something --everyone was friendly. And this time I had an invitation -- and a seat close to the podium with the big shots."
Spann is a member of the New Jersey Aviation Hall of Fame in Teterboro and a recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal.
More on the Tuskegee Airmen here.
Spann's "My Space" page is here. The photo above is from that page.
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