Black WWII pilot gives museum Gold Medal

DAYTON, Ohio, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- A black WWII Air Force fighter pilot from Dayton, Ohio, is set to donate his Congressional Gold Medal to an African-American museum, museum officials said.

Charles Williams, 93, a member of the Tuskegee Airmen and along with fellow black pilots, flew escorts to protect U.S. bomber planes on combat missions, the Dayton Daily News reported Monday.

The Afro-American Museum in Wilberforce, Ohio, will also receive signed photo posters of Williams and of other Tuskegee Airmen pilots. Williams had already donated one of his uniforms to the museum.

The artifacts will be displayed permanently at the museum, Floyd Thomas, its curator, said.

Tuskegee Airmen were trained at the Tuskegee Institute, Ala., and other locations as black Americans finally got the chance to fly for the United States in World War II, Williams said.

"They didn't want the black man to fly, to begin with," Williams said.

The Tuskegee pilots eventually flew on combat missions, and were called the "Red-Tailed Angels" for their custom of painting the tails of their planes red, the newspaper reported.