More Eagles?

Only Negro airman known to the U. S. at large is Hubert Fauntleroy ("Black Eagle") Julian, who once cracked up Haile Selassie's private plane in Ethiopia and is now in Manhattan, talking about flying. In fact, the U. S. has licensed 129 Negroes as commercial, private and student pilots, including Student Julian, whose license expired last year, and twelve women. Air-minded Negroes have learned to fly at six schools run by & for their race, at 43 more for whites and blacks.

Last week the U. S. Army Air Corps confronted the possibility that it also might have to train and commission Negro pilots. This prospect (awful to the all-white corps) loomed after the Senate passed the $366,250,000 rearmament authorization bill (TIME, March 13). Besides upping the authorized strength of the Air Corps to 6,000 planes, the Senate, at the behest of Wyoming's Harry H. Schwartz, voted to train Negroes in at least one school for Army fledglings. Behind Mr. Schwartz were flower-tongued Negro Edgar G. Brown of United Government Employes, Inc., Editor Robert L. Vann of the Pittsburgh Courier, many another colored advocate of racial balance in the U. S. Army & Navy.

Much distressed, the Air Corps quietly went to work on Capitol Hill to get Negro training killed or unload it on the Civil Aeronautics Authority before the rearmament bill is finally enacted.

Two other rearmament jokers flustered the War Department last week: 1) Under an amendment sponsored by "Dear Alben" Barkley for C.I.O., a department head may not award any contracts for national defense to bidders whom he finds guilty of unfair labor practices. 2) New Hampshire's Republican Charles William Tobey got the Senate to limit profits on Army aircraft contracts to 10% (as in the Navy, where a similar limitation has been in effect since 1934).

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.