The Veterans History Project (VHP) and Alachua County African-American History Project (AAHP) were high up in the sky this week with Mr. Daniel Keel, who served as a Tuskegee Airman in World War II! Check out photos of the interview and 1942 Vultee BT-13 Valiant flight, piloted by Chris Hoefli, a B-52 pilot and Iraq War veteran.
Reflection from Deborah Hendrix, SPOHP Digital Humanities Coordinator
This week, Bruce Hansen of the Veterans History Project Villages Squad interviewed Tuskegee Airman Daniel Keel at the Villages Public Safety Building on Morse Blvd (a fire station). The guys at the station were absolutely in awe of the whole thing. They provided the space, kept saying they never had anything like this happen at the station, they felt like they were part of history (they were). One sat in on the interview, after it was over they pulled the big fire engine out to take photos of everyone by the fire engine!
After the interview, then on to the airfield in Bellview, dodging rainstorms that I felt sure would be the deal breaker for taking Mr. Keel up in a WWII 1942 Vultee BT-13 Valiant trainer.
It poured, but not at the airfield! We skipped lunch so we would beat the storms, and we did. They hauled the plane out of the hangar pronto, scooted Mr. Keel up in the plane, and I had to race around because they were not waiting for the photo ops. But I got it. So did Mike’s GoPro.
Mr. Keel saw action protecting bombers, a highly qualified pilot that just refused to be washed out. He was almost the last one standing during training because the white officers tried their best to fail them all, or failing that, court-martial everyone. You cannot make this stuff up.
After the plane ride that Mr. Keel absolutely loved, they all sat around trading stories in the hangar. I also filmed that. They did the low pass, and it almost swept me off my feet, never got that close to a plane going full tilt less than 20 feet from me! Filmed that, but barely, my ears got a tremendous whoosh. I did better on other passes, so very fast! The pilot is wonderful, he flies with Delta.
For more information about this and other projects, contact SPOHP, call the offices at (352) 392-7168, and connect with us online today.