Coming into town from the north past some old houses and a church to the Macon County Courthouse.


The historic downtown area, past the lush enforested First Methodist Church (not the words you'd associate with most churches, but look at the green cap it's sporting), and out the south side of town on US 29.


Skipping back north of town again, I bring you Moton Field, where the famous Tuskegee Airmen learned to fly and brilliantly defended our country during World War II, earning much-needed respect for the mental and physical abilities of African-Americans. This was the first chance young black men were given to equal or surpass whites at flying, long considered too difficult for them (justified by a series of racially biased assumptions), rather than being relegated to the front lines of the Army. The 99th Pursuit Squadron was based in Tuskegee due to the success of young pilots from the Institute in the earlier Civilian Pilot Training program established in the infancy of the Second World War. Moton Field and the nearby Tuskegee Army Air Field were the only facilities training African-American pilots during the entire war. The 99th Squadron and the 332nd Fighter Group, also segregated, were the only air battalions never to lose a bomber they escorted. These photos are approaching the field from the access road to the west. The front building is Hangar #1, and is original to the field (1941). Behind it, with the green roof, is Hangar #2, a modern restoration still in progress because it burned down in 1989. Behind that and to the left is the original control tower. Over to the roadway coming down the hill (which was once much wider for vehicular traffic, now just a pedestrian path), to the left is the original auxiliary storage shed and the bath and locker house (the latter dating to 1944), and to the right is the Skyway Club, which was built in 1945 as a food and gathering hall.


More views of that road-that-isn't, with the original curb built in the 1940s to tell you this was once the way in and out.


Coming down the hill past Hangar #1 and the Skyway Club, where rusted hulks of airplane parts hang out in back. All the way in back, the white building is the old warehouse (1944), now used for vehicle storage. The last photo looks back west on the airfield level with the bath and locker house to the left and Hangar #1 to the right.

See more of Tuskegee at the Tuskegee Institute

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