Lt. Col. John Lyman Whitehead Jr. (1924-1992)

SN-71

John L. Whitehead Jr., fighter pilot, was born in Lawrenceville. He joined the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II at the age of 19, completed pilot training at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Sept. 1944, and was deployed to Italy with the 301st Fighter Squadron. In 1949 he became one of the U.S. Air Force’s first African American jet pilot instructors. After flying more than 100 combat missions in Korea early in the 1950s, he became the Air Force’s first Black experimental test pilot. Whitehead flew combat missions in Vietnam before retiring in 1974. He later served as national president of Tuskegee Airmen, Inc., an organization dedicated to preserving the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen.

Department of Historic Resources, 2021

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

Afro-American, 21 Nov. 1953. Norfolk Journal and Guide, 23 Sept. 1944, 17 Oct. 1953. Cleveland Call, 23 Sept. 1944. Philadelphia Tribune, 19 May 1953. “Mr. Death,” Ebony, Jan. 1951 :28-30, 32-34. Charlie Cooper and Ann Cooper, Tuskegee’s Heroes: Featuring the Aviation Art of Roy Lagrone (Osceola, Wisc: Motorbooks Intl., 1996). Betty Kaplan Gubert, et al., Distinguished African Americans in Aviation and Space Science (Westport, Conn., Oryx Press, 2002): 291-293. West Virginia State College Homecoming Convocation and Reserve Officers Training Corps Hall of Fame Ceremony (1989). Bobby Conner, “John L. Whitehead Flew to Great Heights,” Brunswick Times-Gazette, 21 Feb. 2017. Scott B. Thompson, “Col. John Whitehead,” Pieces of Our Past blog, 19 Feb. 2014 (http://dublinlaurenscountygeorgia.blogspot.com/2014/02/col-john-whitehead.html)