Alva Temple

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Lieutenant Colonel

Alva Temple
Alva Temple
Birth nameAlva Newte Temple
Born(1917-08-05)August 5, 1917
Carrollton, Alabama, US
DiedAugust 28, 2004(2004-08-28) (aged 87)
Columbus, Mississippi, US
Buried
Cook-Temple Memorial Cemetery, Pickensville, Alabama
AllegianceUnited States United States of America
Service/branchUnited States Army Air Force
Years of service1943–1962
RankLieutenant Colonel
Unit332nd Fighter Group
AwardsCongressional Gold Medal (2007)
Alma materAlabama A & M University
Spouse(s)Lucille née Grimes

LTC Alva Newte Temple (September 5, 1917 – August 28, 2004) was an officer in the U.S. Army Air Forces and combat fighter pilot with the 332nd Fighter Group's 99th Fighter Squadron and 300th Squadron, best known as the all-African American Tuskegee Airmen, "Red Tails," or among enemy German pilots, “Schwartze Vogelmenschen” ("Black Birdmen").[1] He was one of the 1007 documented Tuskegee Airmen Pilots.[2]

In 1949, Temple and his all-African American 332nd Fighter Group Weapons pilot team won 1st Place in the U.S. Air Force's inaugural "Top Gun" team competition.[1]

Early life and family

Temple was born on September 5, 1917, in rural Carrollton, Alabama in Pickens County.[3]

As a child, Temple picked cotton to help support his family during the depression.[4] He attended (what is now known as) Alabama A&M University, graduating with a degree in Agricultural Education.[3]

Temple was married to Lucille Grimes Temple for nearly 60 years.[5]

Military career, Tuskegee Airmen

At the age of 24, Temple ended his studies at Alabama A&M University and applied for pilot training. Because of entrenched racial discrimination and racial segregation in the U.S. military, there were no separate facilities for black pilots prior to 1942. When Temple initially applied to the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF), he was immediately rejected based on race. Once the USAAF created the Tuskegee Pilot Cadet program in Tuskegee, Alabama, Temple applied and was admitted. On July 28, 1943, Temple graduated from Tuskegee's Class 43-G-SE, receiving his pilot wings and commission as a 2nd Lieutenant. He was immediately assigned to the 332nd Fighter Group's 99th Pursuit Squadron.

Temple was described as a “reliable, dependable and unexcitable” pilot “who loved to fly and was always willing to make a mission though he realized the risk involved.” [6] Temple once remarked: “I felt I could fly if given a chance. A lot of people thought I was crazy. They thought I’d be killed, but I didn’t pay them any attention. As long as I could abide by the requirements, I could take care of it.”[5]

During World War II, Temple completed 120 missions, including over Italy, Germany, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania, southern France and the Balkans.[5][7] He flew a Red-Tailed P-40 and a P-51 Mustang, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States).

Temple served 20 years in the military, in the United States Army Air Forces and the United States Air Force (USAF), retiring in 1962 as a lieutenant colonel.[5]

Winner of the 1949 "Top Gun Competition"

In January 1949, the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force sent out a directive to each Air Force group requesting their participation in an aerial weapons competition. Four months later, in May 1949, Temple joined the 332nd Fighter Group Weapons three-member pilot team to compete at the USAF's inaugural "Top Gun" team competition held at the Las Vegas Air Force Base (now Nellis Air Force Base).[8][9][10][11]

A grueling 10-day event, the competition comprised six events: aerial gunnery at 20,000 feet, aerial gunnery at 12,000 feet, dive bombing, skip bombing, rocket firing and panel strafing. Temple's team led from start to finish.[12]

Temple's 332nd Fighter Group team included the 100th Squadron's First Lieutenant Harry Stewart, Jr., the 99th Squadron's James H. Harvey, 99th Squadron's First Lieutenant Halbert Alexander[13] (June 12, 1922 – March 25, 1953), who served as an alternate pilot, and Staff Sergeant Buford A. Johnson (August 30, 1927 – April 15, 2017) as aircraft crew chief[14] Harvey and his team competed in P-47N Thunderbolts.[15]

The results (including the 3-foot high silver winning trophy stashed in a Wright Patterson Air Force Base Museum storage area for 55 years), were absent from the USAF archives until 1995. Flying F-47Ns, a variant of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, Temple and his team won against USAF fighter group teams in far more advanced aircraft. His teammate, James H. Harvey remarked: "They knew who won, but did not want to recognize us."

Awards

Post-military career

After his retirement from the USAF in 1962, Temple moved to Mississippi and owned/operated a Gulf Service station and Temple's BP Stations and Radiator Sales on Highway 69 in Columbus, Mississippi.[4][5][7] He also became a prominent local and statewide leader. He served seven years as the commissioner for the Mississippi State Department of Natural Resources Committee.[17]

Before his passing in 2004, Temple incorporated the Columbus, Mississippi Alva N. Temple Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen.[citation needed]

Death

On August 28, 2004, Temple died at his home in Columbus, Mississippi.[5][18] He is interred at the Cook-Temple Memorial Cemetery in Pickensville, Alabama.

Legacy

In 2008, Col. Dave Gerber, then-14th Flying Training Wing Commander at Columbus AFB, renamed the base's A Street to "Alva Temple Road" in recognition of Temple.[4]

In 2012, Temple's family donated memorabilia from Temple's personal collection towards the inaugural R.E. Hunt Museum and Cultural Center located at the former site of R.E. Hunt High School, Columbus, Mississippi’s only African American high school until integration in 1971.[19]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Alva Temple". CAF RISE ABOVE. November 6, 2018. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  2. ^ "Tuskegee Airmen Pilot Roster". CAF Rise Above. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Alva Temple". CAF RISE ABOVE. November 6, 2018. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c "Who is Temple?". Columbus Air Force Base. February 27, 2015. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Alva Temple, 86; Flew 120 Missions as Tuskegee Airman". Los Angeles Times. September 2, 2004. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  6. ^ Charles E. Francis’ “The Tuskegee Airmen: The Men Who Changed a Nation” (2002, revised)
  7. ^ a b Ward, Rufus (May 4, 2019). "Ask Rufus: Col. Alva Temple, Red-Tailed Hero of the Sky". The Dispatch. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  8. ^ 'Tuskegee Top Gun' James Harvey, the First African American Jet Combat Pilot, retrieved June 14, 2023
  9. ^ "James H. Harvey III | National Air and Space Museum". airandspace.si.edu. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  10. ^ "Attitude". tuskegeetopgun.com. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  11. ^ "Tuskegee Airman James Harvey, the Military's First "Top Gun" | American Veterans Center". www.americanveteranscenter.org. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  12. ^ "Harry T. Stewart Jr". CAF RISE ABOVE. October 4, 2017. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  13. ^ "Halbert Leo Alexander". CAF RISE ABOVE. October 18, 2018. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  14. ^ "Buford Alvin Johnson". CAF Rise Above. November 18, 2020. Retrieved September 20, 2021.
  15. ^ "Tuskegee's Top Gun." http://www.tuskegeetopgun.com/
  16. ^ Kruzel, John J. "President, Congress Honor Tuskegee Airmen". Army. U.S. Army. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
  17. ^ Local History Department at the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library. Social Media Post: “FUN PHOTO FRIDAY: An image of Alva Newte Temple in front of a plane while in Italy around 1944 or 1945.”
  18. ^ Tuskegee Airman Alva N. Temple given full Military Honors, retrieved June 14, 2023
  19. ^ The Dispatch. “Hunt Museum ready for Thursday grand opening. Jeff Clark. November 14, 2012.
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