A feature by Ben Ratliff

 

BR: I want to know more about your grandfather. There’s an airport named after him, right?

MT: Yes, there is now. It’s in Ohio.

I know only a little bit about his time training African-American air-force pilots during the 1940s.

Yes, exactly, he trained pilots in Tuskegee. He wasn’t enlisted, but he was one of the non-enlisted who trained pilots. I don’t remember how many trainers they had, but he was one of the main guys that did it.