Tuskegee Airman tells the tale of his flight through history | FOX31 Denver

BROOMFIELD, Colo. —  A 95-year-old Tuskegee Airman from Colorado Springs has just published his very first book.  “Once our world war two veterans have moved on and passed on their history goes with them,” WWII historian Greg Kyle told FOX31.  Frank Macon was recently interviewed by Fox31 Denver News.  Click on the links to watch the interview.  Source: Tuskegee Airman tells the tale of his flight through history | FOX31 Denver

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Frank's High School Yearbook

Franklin Macon Wanted to Be a Pilot

Frank grew up in a very different time. It was the 1920s and 1930s. Frank remembers he took his first airplane ride around the age of 4 or 5 years old. He flew with his babysitters’ boyfriends! They were pilots at Alexander Aircraft Company in Colorado Springs, Colorado. That would not happen today, just hop in a plane and take off! But, that is how it happened in the 1920s. The Warden girls were not only Frank’s babysitters, they lived next-door. The girls certainly couldn’t leave him on the ground when they visited their boyfriends at work, so up Frank went.

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Frank's Drawing of a Go-Cart

Why is Frank’s Story Important?

Everyone has a story. Some stories make you want to be a better person. Some stories make you sad. Some stories make you want to go back in time. Frank’s story, well…it makes you determined. Frank will take you back to a time when kids experimented, found mischief, and created the best reactions with carbide! Frank experimented all the time. He took an orange crate, added wheels and wings and tried to fly off the hill at Uintah Gardens. Frank and Bobby Saunders found the old water tank, tied it a chug (go cart), threw in some carbide, and lit a match. It was the best water tank rocket on Pine Street.

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Frank's House on Pine Street

Frank’s Life in Colorado Springs – The house on Pine Street

Frank was born in 1923. He was raised by his two Great Aunties. Frank called them Mama and Aunt LaLa. They were both widows, so they lived together. They took Frank in when he was two weeks old. Frank’s birth mother was only 14 years old, so she couldn’t raise him. Frank didn’t know who his father was until much later in life. Both his birth mother and father died young. The aunt Frank called Mama, married Frank Loper. Ol’ Man Loper was known all over town. This was the only father figure Frank had in his life. Ol’ Man Loper loved Frank as his own son.

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Tuskegee Airman speaks to Cheyenne students about his life, dyslexia
wyomingnews.com

CHEYENNE – Franklin Macon, an original Tuskegee Airman, spoke Thursday to students who don’t enjoy school. The 94-year-old asked students from Cheyenne’s Afflerbach and Cole elementary schools to raise their hands if they don’t like school. Then he said, “The rest of you – I’m not talking to you all. I didn’t like school, either, so now we’re on the same page.” He told the students funny stories about all the hell he raised as a child – both in school and out – before he learned to like school and eventually studied aeronautics at the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama.

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Frank at the Air Force Academy

Air Force Academy pays tribute to Tuskegee airmen who overcame radical barriers
Colorado Springs Gazette, News

Their ranks are thinning, but the legend of the Air Force’s first African-American aviators’ keeps growing. It was evident last week as the Air Force Academy honored Tuskegee airmen. Just one of the originals who overcame racial barriers to take to the skies in World War II made it. But Franklin Macon, 95, was fawned over by cadets and generals.

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