Myron “Mike” Wilson
April 13, 1916 – July 11, 2001
Class: 44-D-SE
Graduation date: 4/15/1944
Rank at time of graduation: Flt. Officer
Unit: 332nd Fighter Squadron
Service # T62808
From: Danville, IL
Myron “Mike” Wilson, who died in 2001 at age 85, was a Tuskegee Airman. He was awarded a Certificate of Valor for flying 47 missions in the European Theater of Operations during World War II. He also flew missions at the beginning of the Korean War.
For most of his childhood growing up in Sun Village, Calif., Ray Wilson thought his father’s service in World War II had only been in the mess hall.
“He was making us dinner one day, and we kids asked him if he learned to cook in the Army,” Wilson said.
“We did everything in the Army,” was his father’s reply.
Then, at age 11 or 12, Wilson found out from an older brother that Myron “Mike” Wilson was not a cook in the Army Air Corps, but a combat pilot.
And not just any pilot, but a member of the esteemed Tuskegee Airmen, and who was awarded a Certificate of Valor for flying 47 missions in the European Theater of Operations.
Wilson said his father was very private and unassuming, and his family had to pry information out of him regarding his role in the outfit of 992 African Americans.
Because of Jim Crow laws, segregation and bigotry in the United States, the flying units had all-Black support services: “pilots, co-pilots, bombardiers, navigators, engineers, meteorologists, intelligence officers, instructors, medics, aircraft and engine mechanics, control tower operators, and other maintenance and support staff,” according to government sources.
Like many of the Greatest Generation, Mike Wilson didn’t talk about his service. He did what he needed to do, then went back to civilian life.
“He’s not the only person who is reticent like that, but if we stop and talk to people, we can find out they have some interesting stories, and some of them are pillars of history,” said Wilson.
“You can’t look at everybody as if they are the same.”
Mike Wilson, of Shawnee Town, Ill., went to the University of Illinois for a two-year degree, which according to his son, “made him eligible to test for the pilot program.”
“He was accepted to MIT, but they didn’t have scholarships for African Americans,” Wilson said.
So, Mike Wilson was sworn into the Army Air Corp at Moton Airfield in Tuskegee, Ala., on April 4, 1941, eight months before Pearl Harbor, and soloed on Dec. 17, 1943, according to his logbook.
The pilot became a first lieutenant and flew until the program’s end. He was discharged on a compassionate leave but returned to service during the Korean War. Once again, he flew, but only as a sergeant. The newly formed U.S. Air Force refused to reinstate his previous rank.
Wilson said that his father “alluded that it was because of his race,” but didn’t seem too bitter. “He just said, ‘I didn’t get a good deal.’”
The story of the groundbreaking African Americans has fostered many books, documentaries, and feature films. Wilson recalls watching the 1995 film The Tuskegee Airmen starring Laurence Fishburne. The older man said, “It was pretty right on the money,” according to his son.
As the film laid out individual stories, Mike Wilson recognized his fellow fliers. “He’d say, ‘Oh, that’s (John H.) Chavis, that’s (Henry R.) Peoples, that’s (Robert W.) Deiz,’” Wilson said.
One character who elicited the most comments from the old pilot was Commander Col. Noel F. Parrish. “This guy was tough as nails; he was a son of a gun,” Wilson remembers his dad saying. “He was a good man.”
“I knew that meant a lot. My dad didn’t talk much; he wouldn’t say that unless there was some serious context.”
In 2001, the Tuskegee Airmen pilot Myron “Mike” Wilson died of natural causes at age 85. Deputy Wilson says he can still see his father’s handiwork in many Littlerock, Calif., houses he remodeled and home additions he built as a contractor.
But now, those are not the only reminders he has of his dad. “As time goes on, I realize what a treasure that logbook is,” Wilson said.
Myron “Mike” Wilson’s log book. Ran into Jerry 2 jets destroyed 032345
Watch a little piece of history. Myron ‘Mike’ Wilson shared in the victory over one the world’s first Jet aces, Alfred Ambs and his Messerschmitt ME-262 jet. On March 24, 1945 the Tuskegee Airmen flew mission #246, aka the Berlin Mission. During the raid, the storied Tuskegee pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group earned the Distinguished Unit Citation for shooting down three of the Nazis’ most formidable aircraft, the Messerschmitt 262 jet fighter.
Everyone is flying, altitudes of 20,000 feet and up, with oxygen and it is exhausting.
The 262, one of the first jets, flew 100 mph faster than the propeller aircraft. To down one was opportunity, matched with skill, visual acuity, strength and management of terror.
“Earl Lane and I shared in one, the credited shoot down of the Nazi jet,” Myron Wilson said in an interview 30 years ago.
Sources:
AeroTech News
Antelope Valley Press
Photo courtesy U.S. Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell AFB, Alabama
Log book courtesy son Raymond Wilson
