In the latest episode of A New York Minute In History, Devin Lander and Lauren Roberts tell the story of Verdelle Louis Payne from Ithaca in Tompkins County, who joined the Army Air Forces during the Second World War and became a pilot.
During the war, Payne served in the 99th Fighter Squadron, which became part of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen, an all-Black group of pilots serving in the then still-segregated U.S. Army. [Read more…] about Verdelle Louis Payne: Ithaca’s Tuskegee Airman