David Tulis / Associated Press
Retired U.S. Air Force Col. Charles McGee gets a send-off after visiting with US airmen at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for his 100th birthday, December 6, 2019.
- Col. Charles McGee, a retired Air Force pilot and a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, celebrated his 100th birthday by piloting a private jet on Friday.
- McGee flew 409 combat missions in World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam. He retired in 1973.
- On Friday, he flew to Dover Air Force Base, where he was greeted by 40 active-duty airmen.
- "To be able to get in the air and share with those who are serving today, I don't really have an answer, but this is one of life's blessings," McGee said.
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Col. Charles McGee, a retired Air Force fighter pilot, celebrated his 100th birthday on Friday by flying a Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet from Frederick, Maryland, to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
McGee, who turned 100 on Saturday, was one of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first cadre of African-American pilots in the US military. According to Tuskegee University in Alabama, 1,000 African-American pilots graduated from the training program from 1941 to 1946, although they still lived in segregated housing while training.
McGee himself flew 409 combat missions in three conflicts during his career - an Air Force record, according to National Aviation Hall of Fame, to which McGee was inducted in 2011.
Read on to learn more about Col. McGee.