McGee honored
First Flight Society bestows award
The shrine, named for the Smithsonian Institution curator who was the driving force behind the National Air and Space Museum, is a who’s who of aeronautic luminaries. As an inductee, McGee joined Charles Lindbergh, Alberto Santos-Dumont, Gen. James Doolittle, Jacqueline Cochran, and many others who pushed boundaries to advance aviation.
McGee was best known as a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, the Army Air Corps’ first African American fighter squadron. Members of the famous unit underwent initial training in Tuskegee, Alabama, flying Boeing PT–17 Stearmans before moving on to fighters including the North American P–51 Mustang and Curtiss P–40 Warhawk.
McGee had a remarkable military career that included 136 combat missions during World War II, 100 missions during the Korean War, and another 173 in Vietnam. He died in 2022 at age 102.
AOPA named an award to honor McGee, presented “to an individual who, like General McGee, persevered to overcome challenges en route to learning to fly while inspiring others along the way” and who demonstrates “leadership in aviation and showcase[s] the opportunities in aviation to youth and young adults.” The honor was bestowed on Ramone Hemphill, founder of The 99th Squadron Inc., in 2023, and on Theresa Claiborne, the first African American female pilot in the U.S. Air Force, in 2024.
In 2019, AOPA held a celebration of McGee’s 100th birthday at its headquarters in Frederick, Maryland. During the weekend-long party, the general piloted a Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet and flew with AOPA President Mark Baker in the cockpit of a Cessna Citation M2. Once a pilot, always a pilot. 
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