Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Keep Your Airspeed Up
WORK NOTES: with wife, Marsha S. Bordner
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1924
WEBSITE: https://www.airspeedup.com/
CITY: Port Clinton
STATE: OH
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://www.airspeedup.com/bio/ * http://stylemagazine.com/news/2017/nov/10/keep-your-airspeed-story-tuskegee-airman-harold-h-/ * http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/20160402/retired-professor-recalls-combat-missions-with-the-tuskegee-airmen
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1924, in Minneapolis, MN; married Marsha S. Bordner.
EDUCATION:Holds a Ph.D.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, college administrator, and educator. Columbus State Community College, Columbus, OH, academic vice president, 1965-86.
MIILITARY:Served as an officer in the U.S. Army Air Corp (332nd Fighter Group) and a combat pilot during World War II; served in the Strategic Air Command; became lieutenant colonel; retired, 1965.
AWARDS:Congressional Gold Medal, 2007.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Harold H. Brown is a writer, college administrator, and educator. He was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Brown served as an administrator at Columbus State Community College in Columbus, Ohio for more twenty years, retiring as academic vice president in 1986.
Before entering academia, Brown had a distinguished career in the military. He was one of the original Tuskegee Airmen, the group of African-American fighter pilots who served with distinction during World War II. Brown served in the 332nd Fighter Group as a combat pilot after receiving his officer’s commission in the U.S. Army Air Corp in 1944, noted a writer on the Keep Your Airspeed Up Website. He flew some thirty combat missions during the way, noted Matt Bruce in the Daytona Beach News Journal. After the war, Brown joined the Strategic Air Command, where he served during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Brown retired as a lieutenant colonel after twenty-three years in military service.
Written with his wife, Marsha S. Bordner, the authors tell the story of Brown’s experiences during World War II in his memoir, Keep Your Airspeed Up: The Story of a Tuskegee Airman. He describes how he entered the military flight program directly after high school. He recounts in detail the rigorous training required of him and the other Tuskegee pilots. Brown includes accounts of his missions escorting bombers over the combat zones of Europe. He also tells of how he was shot down in Austria, nearly killed by an angry mob of locals, and taken prisoner by German forces. spending more than six weeks in a German prisoner of war camp.
The Tuskegee Airmen’s “success in escorting bombers during World War II—having one of the lowest loss records of all the escort fighter groups, and being in constant demand for their services by the allied bomber units—is unmatched by any other fighter group,” Bruce reported.
Another important aspect of the book is Brown and Bordner’s consideration of the racial issues that the pilots faced before, during, and after the war. The Tuskegee Airmen were a fully segregated group of pilots. “These pioneering aviators endured decades of unjust racial prejudice and mistreatment, even as war heroes returning home,” commented a writer on the Keep Your Airspeed Up Website. However, Brown believes that his and others’ exemplary service helped reverse racial attitudes in the military and set the stage for the Civil Rights movement in the decades following the war.
In assessing Keep Your Airspeed Up, Terri Schlichenmeyer, writing in Houston Style, commented: “Not only is it a warm and genuine biography, beginning even before author Harold H. Brown was born, but this book takes readers through a two-pronged fight, both in war and for civil rights, as told through quiet tales of heroes and those who created them.” A Publishers Weekly contributor called the book a “worthy addition to the Tuskegee Airmen canon.”
BIOCRIT
BOOKS
Brown, Harold H., and Marsha S. Bordner, Keep Your Airspeed Up: The Story of a Tuskegee Airman, (memoir), University of Alabama Press (Tuscaloosa, AL), 2017.
PERIODICALS
Daytona Beach News Journal, (April 2, 2016), Matt Bruce, “Retired Professor Recalls Combat Missions with the Tuskegee Airmen,” profile of Harold H. Brown.
Houston Style, November 11, 2017, Terri Schlichenmeyer, review of Keep Your Airspeed Up.
Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, OK), November 19, 2017, “Oklahoman Book Review: Keep Your Airspeed Up Tells Personal Story of One Tuskegee Airman.”
Port Clinton News Herald (Fremont, OH), September 23, 2017, Jon Stinchcomb, “Tuskegee Airman Harold Brown Honored with Special Award,” profile of Harold Brown.
Publishers Weekly, June 5, 2017, review of Keep Your Airspeed Up: The Story of a Tuskegee Airman. p. 45.
ONLINE
Keep Your Airspeed Up Website, http://www.airspeedup.com (April 8, 2018).
Harold Brown grew up in Minneapolis and went through flight training at Tuskegee Institute in the early 1940’s. He became part of the group now known as the Tuskegee Airmen. The persistence and courage of these men in flight led to the desegregation of the military—a necessary first step in our country’s move to integration in the country’s laws and society. Harold came home from World War II and served in the Strategic Air Command before earning his Ph.D. and serving as the academic vice president at what is now Columbus State Community College in Ohio.
Harold H. Brown grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After completing flight training at the Tuskegee Institute, he served as a combat pilot with the 332nd Fighter Group during World War II. After the war, he joined the Strategic Air Command before earning his PhD and serving as an administrator at what is now Columbus State Community College in Columbus, Ohio.
About Tuskegee Airman Dr. Harold Brown…
Minneapolis native and North High School graduate Dr. Harold Brown is an original Tuskegee Airman who flew with the famed 332nd Fighter Group in World War II, our country’s first African American military pilots. He graduated from the Tuskegee Institute’s segregated pilot training program and was commissioned as an officer in the then U.S. Army Air Corps in 1944. During his time in combat, Dr. Brown completed missions strafing targets on the ground and protecting bombers in the air. On his 30th mission, he was shot down over enemy territory, bailing out of his badly damaged P-51 and being taken as a prisoner of war.
Dr. Brown served his country for 23 years, including World War II. He retired in 1965 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, experienced in 20 different military aircraft and with a post at Strategic Air Command under his belt during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Dr. Brown went on to earn a Ph.D., retiring from Columbus State Community College as Vice President of Academic Affairs. His many successes after the war illustrate his passion for education and community service, which he has carried with him until today, speaking to countless groups and students to inspire them with his own personal story of struggle and success.
As famous as the Tuskegee Airmen are today, these pioneering aviators endured decades of unjust racial prejudice and mistreatment, even as war heroes returning home. These men, through their superlative service during World War II, paved the way for the desegregation of the military and for the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Dr. Brown’s time in the education system and other life experiences serve as an example of how one can persevere in a world not friendly or accommodating to their dreams.
Dr. Brown is 92 years young and currently resides in Port Clinton, Ohio.
Harold H. Brown
Harold H. Brown
Retired professor recalls combat missions with The Tuskegee Airmen
By Matt Bruce / matt.bruce@news-jrnl.com
Posted Apr 2, 2016 at 2:55 PM
Updated Apr 2, 2016 at 2:55 PM
It’s an elite fraternity that broke one of the nation’s most entrenched racial barriers, struck fear into the hearts of Nazi pilots during World War II, and preserved a legacy that endures 70-plus years later.
Harold H. Brown is one of its last surviving members. The retired lieutenant colonel spent about 23 years in the U.S. Air Force and flew 30 missions during WWII as a fighter pilot for the 332nd Fighter Group — a distinguished air unit better known by its famous nickname: The Tuskegee Airmen.
Brown, one of fewer than 400 Tuskegee Airmen who saw combat during the war, participated in missions over France, Italy and Germany. He became a prisoner of war and was nearly beaten to death by an angry mob when his plane was shot down just outside Linz, Austria, in 1945.
Brown was subsequently captured by enemy forces and spent 6½ weeks in German POW camps. He is one of about 200 original Tuskegee Airmen — including support personnel — still living, according to estimates from the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. Among those survivors, fewer than 20 took part in combat during WWII, Brown said.
‘KING OF THE AIR’
Now 91, the Minneapolis native still swells with pride when he reflects on his time escorting bomber planes at 30,000-mile altitudes across the European skies.
“I was king of the air,” Brown said last week while talking about the Tuskegee Airmen during an interview at his oceanfront vacation home in Ponce Inlet, where he and his wife, Marsha Bordner, spend two months each year to escape the Ohio winters.
“The general population was just so proud of us,” he said. “Can you imagine ... these handful of guys who were pilots and officers. Oh man, back in those days we were gods.”
Did You Know?
The Tuskegee Airmen were dedicated, determined young men who volunteered to become America’s first black military airmen.
Those accepted for aviation cadet training were trained initially to be pilots, and later to be either pilots, navigators, or bombardiers.
Tuskegee University in Alabama was awarded the U.S. Army Air Corps contract to help train black military aviators because it had invested in the development of an airfield, had a proven civilian pilot training program and its graduates performed highest on flight aptitude exams.
From 1941-1946, some 1,000 black pilots were trained at Tuskegee.
The all-black, 332nd Fighter Group consisted originally of four fighter squadrons — the 99th, the 100th, the 301st and the 302nd.
The Airmen’s success in escorting bombers during World War II — having one of the lowest loss records of all the escort fighter groups, and being in constant demand for their services by the allied bomber units — is unmatched by any other fighter group.
The tenacious bomber escort cover provided by the 332nd “Red Tail” fighters often discouraged enemy fighter pilots from attacking bombers escorted by the 332nd Fighter Group.
In 1948, President Harry Truman enacted Executive Order No. 9981, directing equality of treatment and opportunity in all of the U.S. Armed Forces, which in time led to the end of racial segregation in the U.S. military.
SOURCE: Tuskegee Airmen Inc., tuskegee.edu
More than seven decades after the end of WWII, the Tuskegee Airmen continue to be a symbol of triumph in the consciousness of the American public. Their adventures have sparked countless news stories, documentaries, and even been the focus of recent big-screen motion pictures.
Air Force historian Daniel Haulman chronicled the Tuskegee Airmen last October in a report that details the unit’s historical significance.
“The Tuskegee Airmen provided role models for others, demonstrating how determination and persistence can overcome many obstacles,” he wrote. “They risked their lives for their country even at a time when they were denied equal opportunities, and their actions helped open the door of equal opportunity to others of their race.”
Brown and Bordner are working to publish his autobiography next year. They say the book will be titled “Keep Your Airspeed Up: The Life Story of Tuskegee Airman Harold H. Brown.”
CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL
Brown joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1943 when he was 17 and he remained in the Air Force until 1965. He went on to work 21 years as a professor and administrator at what is now Columbus State Community College in Columbus, Ohio, before retiring in 1986.
In 2007, Brown received a Congressional Gold Medal, which was awarded to the Tuskegee Airmen for their WWII service. President Barack Obama invited him and the other remaining Airmen to attend his first inauguration in 2009.
Between 1941 and 1946, nearly 1,000 black men received advanced pilot training at Moton Field, an air base in Tuskegee, Alabama that served as the headquarters for the pilot program. They became the first black military aviators in the nation’s history, and helped inspire President Harry S. Truman to desegregate the American military in 1948.
The Tuskegee Airmen helped shatter a glass ceiling that pervaded the mindset of many top American military leaders, who believed blacks lacked the mental capacity to pilot airplanes. At the time, blacks were barred from flying for the U.S. military. Prior to World War II, Brown said black troops traditionally served in non-combat labor positions, such as carrying ammunition.
A 1925 memo called “Employment of Negro Man Power During War” highlights the institutionalized racial prejudice that prevailed in the Armed Forces — and across the country — during the Jim Crow era. The 33-page report, which emerged from studies by a U.S. Army War College committee in the wake of World War I, served as a war policy guide of sorts. It concluded that the “negro officer” failed during WWI, stating black men had an “inferior mentality” relative to white men and were “inherently weak in character.”
Brown remembers the sanctity of air travel in that time also served as a detriment.
“Back in those days, if a little Piper Cub (aircraft) went up, everybody looked and said, ‘Oh my god, an airplane,’” Brown said. “So that was the ultimate. And there was no way in the world they were going to let a black cat fly an airplane.”
OPENING THE SKIES
By 1939, the black press in America spearheaded a nationwide political debate to open the skies to black fighter pilots. Brown was then a teenage newspaper carrier who’d already developed dreams of one day becoming a pilot.
In 1941, those dreams became more viable when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an order allowing blacks to be trained at the Moton air base as part of an Army Air Corps program. The result was the formation of the all-black flying pursuit squadron.
Leo Gray, 91, graduated from Moton in August 1944 and was based in Italy during WWII. Although they never served together, Gray said he has known Brown for more than 70 years, since their days piloting P-51 bomber planes in the 1940s.
“It was a very positive experience,” said Gray, who now lives in Coconut Grove. “One of the things that it really involved was matters of perseverance in order to achieve our objectives. And that’s one of the things that we try to push to young folk today — that you can aspire to be whatever you want to be. But you have to persevere in order to achieve your objectives in life.”
Tuskegee Airmen Harold Brown honored with special award
Jon Stinchcomb, Reporter Published 5:16 p.m. ET Sept. 23, 2017
1_636417764987964009-IMG-2026.JPGBuy Photo
(Photo: Jon Stinchcomb/News Herald)
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PORT CLINTON - A local living legend and true American hero, retired Lt. Colonel Dr. Harold Brown, was honored on Saturday with a special award commemorating a man whose dream it was to spread the story of the Tuskegee Airmen and ensure it is never forgotten.
Members of the CAF Red Tail Squadron presented Brown with an honorary commemorative print photo of the late Don Hinz, who is described as the original “driving force” behind the organization, flying their fully-restored P-51C Mustang.
“You need to have team support to get things done. We, the Red Tail Squadron, have been very, very fortunate,” said Brad Lang, squadron pilot and the son of a former Tuskegee Airmen. “Most of us are volunteers and we have lives outside of aviation, but we are also fortunate to have airmen who support us as well.”
Members of the CAF Red Tail Squadron presented HaroldBuy Photo
Members of the CAF Red Tail Squadron presented Harold Brown with an honorary commemorative print photo of the late Don Hinz, who is described as the original “driving force” behind the organization, flying their fully-restored P-51C Mustang. (Photo: Jon Stinchcomb/News Herald)
Lang said the organization does a lot of traveling, meeting a lot of people, and they find that the story of the Tuskegee Airmen is still unknown to many.
“The story still needs to be told and it’s more effective when you have someone who lived the story,” he said. “Harold has quite a biography — his story and his mission is to talk about the Tuskegee Airmen and keep the story alive.”
Brown also recently began to spread his story in the form of a book with help of his wife, Marsha Bordner. “Keep Your Airspeed Up: The Story of A Tuskegee Airman” was published early last month.
Former Tuskegee Airmen retired Lt. Colonel Dr. HaroldBuy Photo
Former Tuskegee Airmen retired Lt. Colonel Dr. Harold Brown signs a copy of his new book. (Photo: Jon Stinchcomb/News Herald)
Lang said the book really helps capture Brown’s story, which includes being shot down over Austria in 1945, for those that may not have the opportunity to meet him in person. But just as importantly, he noted Brown became involved in education after the military.
“Education has always been a theme for us at the CAF Red Tail Squadron,” Lang said.
Brown said it is always nice to think of Hinz, a retired U.S. Navy commander who spearheaded the founding of the squadron in the mid-1990s.
“(Hinz) had this dream and he lived out the dream. In fact, he gave his life for the dream,” Brown said.
Red Tail
The P-51C Red Tail Mustang will be on display at the Liberty Aviation Museum. (Photo: Submitted)
The dream was to use a fully-functional restored WWII-era P-51C Mustang fighter plane as a means to educate youngsters about the Tuskegee Airmen.
“(Hinz) encouraged them, inspired them to be the very best they could possibly be. That is why he rebuilt the P-51,” Brown said. “His hope was to take this story to every classroom in this country.”
Upon the plane’s completion, from 2001 to 2004, Hinz did just that before he died in a tragic crash caused by an engine malfunction in the plane.
“We only supply this to folks who have been dear supporters of the CAF Red Tail Squadron,” Lang said of the award. “We are very fortunate to have a few Tuskegee Airmen, like Harold, still around.”
jstinchcom@gannett.com
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Twitter: @JonDBN
Keep Your Airspeed Up: The Story of a Tuskegee Airman
Publishers Weekly. 264.23 (June 5, 2017): p45.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Keep Your Airspeed Up: The Story of a Tuskegee Airman Harold H. Brown and Marsha S. Bordner. Univ. of Alabama, $29.95 (270p) ISBN 978-0-81731958-8
Brown, a Minneapolis-born nonagenarian, and Bordner, his wife, chronicle his life, particularly the three years he spent as a fighter pilot in the 332nd Fighter Group. This group, known as "the Tuskegee Airmen," battled the enemy abroad during WWII and racism at home. Brown's story runs from the first great migration through WWII to the civil rights era and into the 21st century. He completed the rigorous Tuskegee Army Flying School exam in 1942, straight out of high school. Brown recalls the pride that being a combat pilot in North Africa and Sicily gave him as well as his youthful arrogance, which caused him to get shot down over Austria. He became a POW before being liberated by Gen. Patton's forces. After stints at Air Force bases in the U.S. and Japan, he ended up at the Strategic Air Command, from which he retired in 1965. Later, Brown worked as an educator and college administrator. He poignantly recalls how he reconnected with his estranged brother, Bubba, and shares his admiration for Benjamin O. Davis Jr. and Daniel "Chappie "James Jr., two legendary black Army officers. Bordner finely records her husband's tale and it makes a worthy addition to the Tuskegee Airmen canon. (Aug.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Keep Your Airspeed Up: The Story of a Tuskegee Airman." Publishers Weekly, 5 June 2017, p. 45. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A495538365/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=12f3658b. Accessed 20 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A495538365
“Keep Your Airspeed Up: The Story of a Tuskegee Airman” by Harold H. Brown with Marsha S. Bordner
Terri Schlichenmeyer | 11/10/2017, 1:36 p.m.
In things of great importance, you stand on the shoulders of giants. Those who came before you gave you a ...
“Keep Your Airspeed Up: The Story of a Tuskegee Airman” by Harold H. Brown with Marsha S. Bordner c.2017, University of Alabama Press $29.95 / $44.95 Canada 270 pages
1
In things of great importance, you stand on the shoulders of giants.
Those who came before you gave you a boost to get you where you are. They cleared your path and knocked aside obstacles. You stand on the shoulders of those giants even if, as in the new book “Keep Your Airspeed Up” by Harold H. Brown (with Marsha S. Bordner), the giant was once kinda scrawny.
Growing up in Minneapolis in the pre-World War II years, Harold H. Brown says that he and his brother “Bubba” were “mongrel dogs”: their maternal line was white-Jewish-Black; their paternal ancestors were African American and possibly Native American. Both boys were light-complexioned with straight hair, which Brown believes may have helped him later in his career.
Throughout his childhood and attendance at an integrated high school, he was fascinated with flying and so, when his brother enlisted in the military at the beginning of the War, Brown saw a way to achieve his own dream. Fully aware that a Black man in a mostly-white military wouldn’t have it easy, but believing that racial discrimination for Black pilots would “resolve itself,” he decided to join the Air Corps in mid-1942. At the exam, he was “the only black man taking the mental test… on that summer day,” and he was a quarter pound below weight on the physical test. “I flunked it!” he says, but by early 1943, he’d gained the needed ounces and had headed south to officially enlist in the Tuskegee Army Flying School.
The South presented a big learning curve for a Northern Black man. Brown experienced serious racial problems for the first time and though he “hated segregation,” he realized that being in a segregated Air Corps unit was perhaps better for a Black soldier; training was easier when there were more than just two or three black faces in a unit. And so he trained hard: many hours of flight-time, classes, and more.
“We knew that we were among a very select group of people,” he says.
“I never thought I would ever get shot down.”
“Keep Your Airspeed Up” is a surprise. A very nice one.
Not only is it a warm and genuine biography, beginning even before author Harold H. Brown was born, but this book takes readers through a two-pronged fight, both in war and for civil rights, as told through quiet tales of heroes and those who created them. Brown (with Marsha Bordner) is careful to give credit to the many who made him who he is; after those gentle shout-outs and heart-in-your-throat war stories, you’ll then be brought up-to-date with his current life. Remarkably, through this all, Brown’s story is told humbly, which will endear him to readers even more.
Even if you don’t consider yourself a World War II buff, this book is more than just that. There’s other history here, as well as a biography that will charm you plenty. If that seems like a winner for you, then “Keep Your Airspeed Up” is a pretty big book.
Share this story online at stylemagazine.com.
Oklahoman book review: 'Keep Your Airspeed Up' tells personal story of one Tuskegee Airman
Oklahoman Published: November 19, 2017 5:00 AM CDT Updated: November 19, 2017 5:00 AM CDT
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“Keep Your Airspeed Up: The Story of a Tuskegee Airman” by Harold H. Brown with Marsha S. Bordner (University of Alabama Press, 270 pages, in stores)
In things of great importance, we stand on the shoulders of giants.
Those who came before us gave us a boost to get where we are today. They cleared our path and knocked aside obstacles. We stand on those shoulders even if they weren't always strong, if they started out scrawny.
That's one of the messages Harold H. Brown teaches in "Keep Your Airspeed Up."
Growing up in Minneapolis in the pre-World War II years, Brown writes, he and his brother “Bubba” were “mongrel dogs”: Their maternal line was white-Jewish-Black, and their paternal ancestors were African American and possibly Native American.
Both boys were light-complexioned with straight hair, which Brown believes may have helped him later in his career.
Throughout his childhood and attendance at an integrated high school, he was fascinated with flying. When his brother enlisted in the military at the beginning of the war, Brown saw a way to achieve his own dream.
Fully aware that a black man in a mostly-white military wouldn't have it easy, but believing that racial discrimination for black pilots would “resolve itself,” he decided to join the Air Corps in mid-1942.
At the exam, he was “the only black man taking the mental test ... on that summer day,” and he was a quarter pound below weight on the physical test.
“I flunked it!” he writes, but by early 1943, he gained the needed weight and headed south to enlist officially in the Tuskegee Army Flying School.
The south presented a big learning curve for a northern black man. Brown experienced serious racial problems for the first time, and though he “hated segregation,” he realized that being in a segregated Air Corps unit was perhaps better for a black soldier at that particular time; training was easier when there were more than just two or three black faces in a unit. And so he trained hard: many hours of flight-time, classes and more.
“We knew that we were among a very select group of people,” he says. “I never thought I would ever get shot down.”
“Keep Your Airspeed Up” is a surprise. A very nice one.
Not only is it a warm and genuine autobiography, but it also takes readers through a two-pronged fight, both in war and for civil rights, as told through quiet tales of heroes. Brown (with Marsha Bordner) is careful to give credit to the many who made him who he is; after those gentle shout-outs and heart-in-your-throat war stories, you'll then be brought up-to-date with his current life. Brown's story is told humbly, which will endear him to readers even more.
Even if you don't consider yourself a World War II buff, this book isn't just about the military. There's other history here, as well as a life story that will charm you plenty. If that seems like a winner for you, then “Keep Your Airspeed Up” is a pretty big book.
— Terri Schlichenmeyer, for The Oklahoman