Woodrow W. Crockett

This month sees the release of the blockbuster movie Red Tails about the United States first African American air fighter group. Woodrow W. Crockett is one of Arkansas’ original Tuskegee Airmen and a former Red Tail. He was born in Texarkana, Arkansas, and later lived in Little Rock where he attended Dunbar High School and Junior College. Crockett joined the army in August 1940 and he transferred to Tuskegee Institute in 1942. He graduated in 1943 and served in the 100^th Fighter Squadron and the 332^nd Fighter Group, where he flew on 149 combat missions in a fifteen-month tour of Italy. Crockett later served in the Korean War where he completed forty-five missions. He retired in 1970 as a much-decorated Lieutenant Colonel having chalked up over 5,000 hours of flight time and 520 combat hours. I’m John Kirk of the UALR History Department and this has been an Arkansas moment.