“Top Gun Commander” – Captain Alva Temple

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In May of 1949, one year after racial integration of the Armed Forces, four pilots took to the skies in P-47 Thunderbolts to compete in a first of its kind Air Force competition, the first ever USAF Gunnery Meet at the then Las Vegas Air Force Base. Even though their aerial adversary, the much newer P-51 Mustang, was formidable, these four men had already grappled with a much more formidable adversary on the ground by the name of Jim Crow.

Read the profile of Captain Alva Temple
See the Virtual Museum post on the 1949 USAF Gunnery Meet