PHOTOS: Students explore flying futures and meet a pilot hero of the past
The Tuskegee Airmen-sponsored program connects middle and high school students with professional aviators.
Middle and high school students from across the Denver metro area got to appreciate living history, and possibly glimpse their own futures, March 7, when the Mile High Flight Program came to the Metropolitan State University of Denver campus.
At the Department of Aviation and Aerospace Science, students heard from professional aviators, sat in simulated cockpits, strapped on virtual reality headsets and piloted simulated flights.
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They also got to meet pilot James H. Harvey III, one of the original Tuskegee airmen. Formed in 1941, the airmen were 1,000 Black pilots who trained at a segregated base in Tuskegee Ala. and became among the most storied of World War II’s flying heroes.
The planes that Harvey flew – including propeller-powered, 32-foot P 51 Mustangs – were a far cry from the complex machines the students got to “pilot” as the 102-year-old war hero looked on.
The year-long Mile High Flight Program, sponsored by the Denver chapter of Tuskegee Airmen Inc., provides middle and high school students a chance to connect with aviation professionals and explore potential careers in the field. Or rather, in the sky.
