The USAF Thunderbirds honored one of their own during a dedication ceremony in Tuskegee, Alabama.
Captain Joseph N. “Pete” Peterson graduated from Tuskegee Public School in 1967. It was during his high school years when he developed an interest in flying and started taking lessons. After graduation, he attended Auburn University and participated in the school’s ROTC program. On August 27th, 1971, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force. During his flying career, he served in Korea flying the F-4E Phantom.
In 1981, Capt. Peterson joined the Thunderbirds. As only the second African-American pilot to join the team, he broke barriers and continued to change the way things were done. Sadly, he was one of the four pilots killed in the infamous “Diamond Crash” in 1982.
A 10.5 mile portion of State Road 199 in Tuskegee, AL changed names to honor Peterson. The Captain Joseph “Pete” Peterson Memorial Boulevard honors the legacy that Peterson left. The road, near Morton Field Airport, connects two former Tuskegee airfields where black pilots trained in the days when training was segregated.
In a post on their Facebook page, the USAF Thunderbirds said that “as a Thunderbird, Pete exemplified everything we are as Airmen then and today — Bold, Courageous, and always #BreakingBarriers”
The six F-16 fighting falcons performed a flyover during the ceremony.
Photos courtesy of the USAF Thunderbirds
RayBreeding
Im interested in EVERYTHING about the Thunderbirds. We had a pilot who left our unit (Cannon AFB New Mexico) back in Year 1959 or 1960 to join the Thunderbirds while they flew the F-100… Unfortunately he was killed in a training flight with the Thunderbirds….His name was Robert H. Morgan, 1LT. Do you have any information concerning him? I can’t seem to locate his name in the “former Thundrbirds” column.