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'''Alva Newte Temple''' (September 5, 1917 – August 28, 2004) was an officer in the U.S. Army Air Force and a fighter pilot with the 332nd Fighter Group's 99th Fighter Squadron ([[Tuskegee Airmen]] or "Red Tails") and the 300th Squadron. He was [[African-American]].<ref name="auto3">Cafe Rise Above. https://cafriseabove.org/alva-temple/</ref>
'''Alva Newte Temple''' (September 5, 1917 – August 28, 2004) was an officer in the U.S. Army Air Force and a fighter pilot with the 332nd Fighter Group's 99th Fighter Squadron and 300th Squadron.<ref name="auto3">Cafe Rise Above. https://cafriseabove.org/alva-temple/</ref> He was one of the 1007 documented Tuskegee Airmen Pilots.<ref name="CAF2">{{cite web |title=Tuskegee Airmen Pilot Roster |url=https://cafriseabove.org/the-tuskegee-airmen/tuskegee-airmen-pilot-roster/ |website=CAF Rise Above |publisher=CAF Rise Above |access-date=11 August 2020}}</ref>


In 1949, Temple and his all-[[African American]] 332nd Fighter Group Weapons pilot team won the [[U.S. Air Force]]'s inaugural "Top Gun" team competition.<ref name="auto3"/>
In 1949, Temple and his all-[[African American]] 332nd Fighter Group Weapons pilot team won the [[U.S. Air Force]]'s inaugural "Top Gun" team competition.<ref name="auto3"/>

Revision as of 21:44, 30 June 2021

Alva Newte Temple (September 5, 1917 – August 28, 2004) was an officer in the U.S. Army Air Force and a fighter pilot with the 332nd Fighter Group's 99th Fighter Squadron and 300th Squadron.[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 the U.S. Air Force's inaugural "Top Gun" team competition.[1]

Alva Temple
Born
Alva Newte Temple

September 5, 1917
Carrollton, Alabama, US
DiedAugust 28, 2004(2004-08-28) (aged 87)
Columbus, Mississippi, US
Resting placeCook-Temple Memorial Cemetery, Pickensville, Alabama
Alma materAlabama A & M University
Occupations
  • Military officer
  • fighter pilot
Years active1943–1962

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 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. Air Corps, he was immediately rejected based on race. Once the U.S. Army Air Corps 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 wings and commission as a 2nd Lieutenant. He was immediately assigned to the 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 United States Army Air Corps and later the United States Air Force, 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 later in May 1949, Temple joined the 332nd Fighter Group Weapons three-member pilot team to compete at the U.S. Air Force'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 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. Later became a Master Sergeant. Cafe Rise Above. Buford Alvin Johnson. "https://cafriseabove.org/buford-alvin-johnson/</ref> Harvey and his team competed in P-47N Thunderbolts.[14]

The results and 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 U.S. Air Force archives until 1995. Flying F-47Ns, a variant of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, Temple and his team won against U.S. Air Force 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."

Post-military career

After his retirement from the U.S. Air Force 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.[15]

Before his passing in 2004, Temple incorporated the Columbus, Mississippi Alva N. Temple Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen.[16]

Death

On August 28, 2004, Temple died at his home in Columbus, Mississippi.[5][17] 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.[18]

References

  1. ^ a b Cafe Rise Above. https://cafriseabove.org/alva-temple/
  2. ^ "Tuskegee Airmen Pilot Roster". CAF Rise Above. CAF Rise Above. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  3. ^ a b Cafe Rise Above. “Alta Temple.” https://cafriseabove.org/alva-temple/
  4. ^ a b c COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE. “Who is Temple?.” Airman John Day, 14th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs. February 27, 2015. https://www.columbus.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/618550/who-is-temple/
  5. ^ a b c d e f The Los Angeles Times. “Alva Temple, 86; Flew 120 Missions as Tuskegee Airman.” L.A. TIMES ARCHIVES. SEP. 2, 2004. FROM TIMES STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-sep-02-me-temple2-story.html
  6. ^ Charles E. Francis’ “The Tuskegee Airmen: The Men Who Changed a Nation” (2002, revised)
  7. ^ a b The Dispatch. “Ask Rufus: Col. Alva Temple, Red-Tailed Hero of the Sky.” Rufus Ward. May 4, 2019. https://cdispatch.com/opinions/2019-05-04/ask-rufus-col-alva-temple-red-tailed-hero-of-the-sky/
  8. ^ Youtube. American Veterans Center. "Tuskegee Top Gun' James Harvey, the First African American Jet Combat Pilot." Interview with James H. Harvey III. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqA1ihi_0MU
  9. ^ The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. "Wall of Honor Level: Air and Space Friend/Dedicated Panel: Tuskegee Airmen - Mr. James H. Harvey, III." https://airandspace.si.edu/support/wall-of-honor/james-h-harvey-iii
  10. ^ Tuskegee Top Gun. http://tuskegeetopgun.com/attitude.php
  11. ^ The American Veterans Center. "Lt. Col. James H. Harvey III." https://www.americanveteranscenter.org/2020/05/tuskegee-airman-james-harvey-the-militarys-first-top-gun/
  12. ^ Cafe Rise Above. "Harry T. Stewart Jr. https://cafriseabove.org/harry-t-stewart-jr/
  13. ^ Later killed in an F-86 Aircraft accident near Chelmsford, Massachusetts on March 25, 1953. Cafe Rise Above. "Halbert Leo Alexander." https://cafriseabove.org/halbert-l-alexander/#:~:text=First%20Lieutenant%20Halbert%20Alexander%20was%20assigned%20to%20the,competition%20between%20the%20three%20highest%20scoring%20fighter%20groups.
  14. ^ "Tuskegee's Top Gun." http://www.tuskegeetopgun.com/
  15. ^ 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.”
  16. ^ State Registration. “Alva N. Temple Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen.” https://www.bizapedia.com/ms/alva-n-temple-chapter-of-tuskegee-airmen.html
  17. ^ Youtube. “Tuskegee Airman Alva N. Temple given full Military Honors.” Feb 5, 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa0nGh2XSm4
  18. ^ The Dispatch. “Hunt Museum ready for Thursday grand opening. Jeff Clark. November 14, 2012.
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