European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 1, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Saturday february 1, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 3 is photos by gut Schulller members or the special All Black a a Crew pose in front of heir plane at ram Lin a Germany. Also pictured arc a Public affairs an in Calif enc no and chaplain. Crew s flight has special purpose """m"1""""1 from Page 1 Black youths Wiio Haven t considered the possibilities of being in the a Force or of being Jordan said there is a genuine need for this Type of role Model among Black youths. There was a television special in the states just last weekend about what s happening to Young Blacks and Black families in America. There seems to be a growing sense of helplessness and despair with their Chance to gel ahead he Jackson Calls the situation a Cycle of despair in order to break that Cycle we need to show them there is an alternative. We need to show these youths that they can keep their dreams and achieve chief master sgt. James Lewis a senior Loa Masier and the no in charge of the Mission said he think Many Blacks Are unaware of the opportunities which exist for Haven t been a great Many Blacks in the aircrew jobs in the past he said. I Don t know Why maybe because the aircrew business is such a Small part of the air Force and the majority of them were involved in other things. There Are getting to be More Black Crew members All the Lime but Only in the past two or three years have we come close to getting proportionate numbers. Jordan said the percentage of Black pilots in the air Force is disproportionately Small. There arc about 16,000 pilots in the air Force he said fewer than 400 of them arc Black. On a More microscopic scale there Are about 120 Active duty pilots in two squadrons at Dover fab and three of them Are Black. There arc about 120 More pilots in two Reserve squadrons one said there Are Many reasons Why there arc so few Black pilots and he is gratified by recent efforts to get More talented Young Blacks into the air Force. The defense department and the air Force Are Mak ing strides in getting Blacks into the cockpit , the officer corps in general and i m pleased with that he said. But it s harder to attract the talented Young Blacks and to get them through Pilot training for a variety of reasons. First of All there arc limited resources. Many of the Blue Chip Black College students arc asking themselves Why they should come in he said. If this kid has a degree in electronic engineering from Mit he s smart enough to know he can get a Job that will pay him enough to buy his own air plane. Sometimes i just Don t know if the Young Blacks both in and out of the military know what is available for them Here he said. And sometimes 1 think they re not willing to defer their gratification to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve Success in the Jordan who served As an instructor Pilot said he noticed student pilots who attended integrated colleges Hadan easier time than those who had gone to All Black schools. Some of these Guys had been big fish in their Small Ponds he said. When they came into undergraduate Pilot training they found there weren t Many other Blacks there and the Pond was a lot bigger. They Felt out of place. Another of the psychological problems was that their families had no history of service in the officer corps they were out of place Jordan who spent his first four years in the air Force As an enlisted Man also said there were problems of acceptance from some of their White counterparts. "1 remember a conversation i had with capt. Pete Peterson at a party one night he said. He did t want to take a Check ride with an instructor Pilot on the base who had called a Friend of Peterson s Smokey Joe " Peterson a Black Pilot later became a member of Theair Force thunderbird. He was killed in an air show crash Jan. 18,1982, in Nevada on the other hand there has been some very positive support Given Young Black officers he said. In i960 when i was an airman i wanted to get into the aviation Cadet program and bad some senior officers who really encouraged me then the program was Jordan said he got out of the air Force in 1964, earned his la. Col. William Jordan. Goal is to inspire Young Blacks his Bachelor s degree and returned As a lieutenant in 1968. I would t have made it and neither would anyone else without a lot of encouragement and help he said. A lot of people helped steer me in the right direction for Success. That s what we Hope to do with this flight. To show the youth that we made it and that they can
