Statue Will Recognize Efforts Of Tuskegee Airmen Member

Sunday, September 9th 2007, 6:53 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ A statue will be unveiled at the Oklahoma History Center later this month to honor the first black American pilot to shoot down an enemy plane during World War II.

Maj. Charles B. Hall and his fellow fliers, who became known as the Tuskegee Airmen, were the U.S. Army Air Corps' first all-black unit.

On July 2nd, 1943, Hall became the first black American pilot to shoot down an enemy plane.

Hall was not originally from Oklahoma, but he made the Sooner State his home after the war, working at Tinker Air Force Base and the Federal Aviation Administration until his death in 1971.

On September 20th, a statue of Hall will be unveiled at the Oklahoma History Center along with a permanent exhibit on the Tuskegee Airmen and their contributions to America during World War II.