Revival Radio TV: Faith Legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen

overcame resistance at home to become one of the best Fighter units of the war. They were the Tuskegee Airmen.

 

They also inspired a young man, Bill Winston, who was in school with the Tuskegee Airmen's children and he took that training and became a Top Gun fully decorated Fighter Pilot in Vietnam. When he accepted Christ as His Lord and Savior, he brought what he had learned into his day job, after the military tour was completed, working at IBM. Then, as God called him to full-time ministry, Brother Winston saw the same awesome results there. His phenomenal history and testimony are not only notable but continue inspiring the next generation of Be The One future heroes.

 

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
(sound of airplane engine)
What happens when anobscure aircraft company
is given the chance to come upwith a risky airplane design
in an unheard ofshort amount of time.
And it turns out to be thebest design in history.
Then imagine if you gave thoseplanes to an unlikely

(00:22):
group of men who steppedup to the challenge.
You get a result that helpedturn the tide of the war
for America.
This is an epic underdog storyof real life heroes that is
so big, it sounds more likelegend than history.
These guys, the Tuskegee Airmen.
Now you ask yourself, whatdoes this amazing story

(00:43):
have to do with revival?
Well, it's more thanyou might think.
Hang on, the next 30 minutesare going to be fun.
(sound of airplane engine)
- Heavenly Father, we thank Youfor this glorious day.
We ask that You send Your angelsdown to surround us
as we fly through the sky.
We know that it's partof your master plan,

(01:04):
that we've made it all the wayfrom Tuskegee here to Ramitelli.
We are very confidentin our abilities,
but we ask that You giveus the vision, the sight,
and the speed and power tomake it through this mission.
All the airmen say, inJesus' name we pray, Amen.
[Crowd] Amen.
(music)

(01:47):
- Several weeks ago,Kenneth Copeland came to me and
said, "I want you to do a storyon the Tuskegee Airmen"
So we're here at Moton Fieldin Alabama to tell you the story
of men who faced incredibleodds and overcame them.
But there was also arevival.
- And yesterday Ifulfilled one of my ambitions

(02:07):
as a combat pilot.
I got one airplane-
- An American far from home,
fighting a war around the world.
Listen, again.
- This was my laterand the second ship with me
and two Focke-Wulfscame on my right.
I turned right and put upa stone wall of bullets.
And the first-
- A wall of bullets.

(02:28):
It wasn't so long ago these menwere students in a university,
workman in a shipyard,just plain citizens
from everywhere, USA.
They changed jobs.
They changed clothes.
They took a traininto the future.
They didn't know whatthe future would be,
but many hoped they'dget the chance to fly

(02:49):
and fight in the air.
Some wanted that chance morethan anything in the world.
(sound of airplane engine)
- In World War II, itwas at this small army airfield
that men came from allover America and it was
through their faith andcourage that history was changed.
We know them as theTuskegee Airmen.
♪This is the G. I. Jive

(03:10):
♪Man alive
♪It starts with the bugler blowin' reveille
♪over your bed when you arrive
♪Jack, that's the G. I. Jive
♪Roodley-toot
♪Jump in your suit

(03:31):
♪Make a salute
♪
Veut!
- Moton Field inTuskegee, Alabama
was the birthplace of aunique military experiment
that would result in what themen who participated in it
called a double victory.
Victory oversees against theGerman air force and victory

(03:53):
at home by opening the door tocivil rights by proving
that these black heroeswere just as capable
as their white counterparts.
It was in the classroomsand in these planes
that these young men studied andlearned to use aerodynamics
and how to overcome gravity.
And they used their faithto overcome bigotry,

(04:15):
and prove they're true warriorsand real American heroes.
The Fighting 99, the TuskegeeAirmen racked up distinguished
records that exceededall other fighter groups,
escorting bombers.
In spite of their achievements,the program was under threat
of cancellation until First LadyEleanor Roosevelt came here

(04:37):
to Moton Field and took aride in this airplane
with Charles Anderson, knownto his men as Chief.
Chief Anderson isan amazing pioneer,
now considered thefather of African American aviation.
(sound of airplane engine)
Moton Field in Alabama waschosen as the training center,

(04:57):
smack dab in the middleof the Jim Crow South.
They trained over a thousandpilots, 14,000 navigators,
bombardiers, instructors,aircraft and engineer mechanics
and control tower operators.
It was a huge undertaking and achance for African Americans
to prove that theywere more than capable

(05:19):
and just as equal to thetask as any white person.
The Tuskegee Airmen known tohistory as the Famous Red Tails,
flew the P51s and in early1944, shot down 12 German
fighter planes in two days.
They were proving themselvesevery time they went

(05:41):
into the air and when the otherTuskegee squadrons joined them,
they became the332nd Fighter Group.
(sound of airplane engine)
Now imagine a generation later,another black fighter pilot
was sitting in his F-4Phantom over North Vietnam.
It was the Tuskegee Airmenthat had inspired him
and this is his story.

(06:03):
Dr. Bill Winston grewup in Tuskegee, Alabama,
and he would watch themen training at the base.
He went to schoolwith their kids.
He saw the pilots asmen, larger than life.
- Okay. Tuskegee Airmen,kind of interesting.
When I was a kid, we werethe children of the actual airmen.
Danny James, his fatherwas Chappy James.

(06:27):
Danny and I whoplayed together.
As a matter of fact, I kind ofliked Danny's sister Denise
in elementary school.
And also those people whowent on to be top pilots
and flyers in Tuskegee Airmen,they were the fathers of us.

(06:53):
- It was in a planejust like this, a Piper Cub,
that Bill Winston took his firstplane ride and amazingly
Chief Anderson was the pilot.
- And we allwere raised together.
When I was very young,we had my first airplane.
I remember it wasa bright yellow,

(07:15):
single engine prop airplane,what we call a tail dragger.
It set up real high inthe front and so forth.
And we flew at Moton Field.
Moton Field was at thattime the training place
for the Tuskegee Airmen.
Now they had anotherair airfield,
about 20,000 peopleemployed over there
about three to five miles east.

(07:38):
And so that was the main base,but the training base was here.
So I used to go outthere every Sunday or so.
Dad would take me afterchurch and we'd see... Man,
"Look at those people fly."
So one day I got my firstride and that was it.
I was hooked. Amen.
- It was here on the campusof Tuskegee University

(07:59):
in the Air Force ROTC programthat Bill Winston's future
as a pilot began to take shape.
Perhaps because of BookerT. Washington's vision
and hard work, TuskegeeUniversity was a unique place.
It was almost anincubator of greatness.

(08:19):
- When I was in ROTCin my last year,
we could take some pre-trainingbefore we went to pilot training
for the military.
And so we weren't inthe air force yet,
but we were in the ROTC.
And so they let usget some training.
And the person thattrained me is the same one
that trained theTuskegee Airmen years ago.

(08:40):
His name isChief Anderson.
So he was stillflying.
He may be about closeto 85 years old at that time,
but just could fly.
He could fly as wellas anybody else.
Well, I flew the F-4.
It was a fighter, allweather fighter bomber.
It carried a lot of ordinates orweapons and so forth.

(09:03):
This was in Southeast Asia
during the time ofVietnam conflict.
That's mainly where I flew, butyou have to do a lot of training
before you get there.
As a matter of fact, just radarschool alone is three months,
going to radar schoolin that airplane,
very sophisticatedfighter.
Now they went on to theF-15 and F-22 and so forth until an F-35.

(09:28):
But this was it.
It's a high performance,almost go twice the speed of sound.
It could do all kinds of things.
And you had to learnto think quickly.
And you had to alsolearn to think as a team.
One, teamwork makesthe dream work.
Secondly, you had to be ableto have skill and precision.

(09:54):
You had to have skill andprecision to really fly it
because in theater inVietnam, most of your flights
you have to air refuel.
So you take off from yourbase and you go air refuel.
Now that's a time whereyou actually have
to get your gas in the air.
So you have to really have aairplane that's steady

(10:15):
that you could be able tolet the boomer on the large refueling
airplane connect up.
And to do that, you haveto develop some skill
because when you get all theweapons on the airplane
becomes very unstable
because your center ofgravity has shifted.
So you have to knowhow to do that.

(10:37):
People who first come inmany times sometimes
have problems doing it thefirst or second time.
You ride with them andteach them how to do it.
But then also understandingthat no one's left behind.
You don't leave anybody behind.
If somebody gets shot down,you're going to cover them
until we jolly green in there,helicopter somebody to get him,

(11:00):
pick him up because theenemy is closing in on him.
War is kind of an interestingthing because some people,
"Well, in war and peoplegetting killed and so forth."
The Bible says untileven the last days,
you're going to have thewars and rumors of war.
I mean, that'sjust the way it is.
And so people try toavoid it, true enough.
Wisdom is betterthan weapons of war,

(11:20):
it says in Ecclesiasticschapter 10, I think it is.
But the idea about it isthat war is out there.
And when you look aperson eye-to-eye,
they have one goal inmind if they're the enemy.
It's one goal.
So I think we did that.
So I can came back decoratedfor my performance in combat.

(11:43):
But I learned something.
I learned when you go overthere, you're all one team.
There's no black orwhite or whatever.
You're all one team andthese are your teammates.
And these are people whoyou want to have skills
in that profession.
In other words, you don't wantsomebody to just have a fighter

(12:04):
assigned to them because they'redifferent color or this color
we want to equal out.
No, that's not theplace you play that game.
You got to get people who haveperforming skills and you want
to make sure they have skills,
because they're goingto have to lead.
And when you get to lead andyou'll tell what's really
in somebody's heart orhow they're thinking

(12:26):
or what kind of performance
and skill they have whenthey get in combat.
When the pressurereally gets on,
decisions that they makeand so forth like that.
So I learned inthose environments.
I think that trip one yearin the Vietnam conflict
has taught me so much,
more almost than most ofmy lifetime because

(12:50):
it's amazing how you beginto see yourself like you really are.
You're truthful with yourselfas you face these times
that you could actually getshot down and not live.
So you're first to thine ownself be true and so you do that.
But you develop so much more interms of decision making

(13:13):
and quick thinking andso forth and so on.
So it was a real experiencefor me, but I learned so much.
I could see how the TuskegeeAirmen during their time,
people thought that theycouldn't perform
because of beingAfrican American,
but it turned out tobe some of the best pilots
in the military.
And it's because they hadsome of the best trainers.

(13:38):
- Dr. Winston used whathe learned in the Air Force
in the civilian world.
Discipline, determination,and an ability to overcome
obstacles, made him asuccessful salesman for IBM.
- Well, going intocomputers at IBM first
was a decision.

(13:59):
I have to kind of tellyou why I made that decision.
Now at that time, the military,they keep me away from home.
And I was trying to raise afamily so I decided to get out.
At first, I was going togo with American Airlines.
I made the agreement with themin there and I looked at the pay
that you started at.

(14:19):
I said, no, that's not enough.
So I started looking around.
Because I was inbiology and in pre-med,
I looked around to get a jobfirst in biological research.
IIT, Illinois Instituteof Technology,
I went and they wanted meto get a job there and,

(14:42):
and a couple other places.
But I ended up incomputers with IBM.
And so I served thatbecause I liked the fact
that they wore blue suit and awhite shirt and so forth.
Well, I was used to a uniform.
But I remember my firstinterview with them.
I went, I didn'thave any clothes.

(15:04):
I just had military clothes.
So somebody bought me a greengolf jacket, just like,
they'd give to TigerWoods or Jack Nicklaus.
This light green golf jacket.
So I went to interviewin that jacket,
because that's all I had.
I went to interview and theperson who interviewed me

(15:24):
was a marketing manager.
At that time theyreally weren't hiring.
So what happened is I interviewwith him and he said,
"Can you wait just a minute?"
And I said, "Yeah." Sohe left me in the office,
went down the halland came back.
This was in Chicagoand One IBM Plaza,

(15:45):
right in the middle of city.
He said, "My boss isn't in.
He needs to talk to you.
I think you're what wewant." Just like this.
Just one call in agreen golf jacket.
But I was righteous.
I wasn't afraid of anything.
I had faced being shot at.

(16:07):
I had developed myconfidence in who I was.
He saw through thatgreen golf jacket,
that this was somethingthat they wanted.
So he set up a time for me tocome back a couple of days later
and I came back and the bossman was there who ran the whole
branch office for Chicago.

(16:28):
He interviewed me.
He said, "Hey, I thinkwe want to offer you a job,
but I want one more person tosee you." He took me up
at the 38th floor and, anda guy named Mr. Lautenbach,
who was a regionalmanager at that time.
They interviewed me andoffered me some money.
My only regret is that I putthe starting salary

(16:50):
that I would accept too low.
I put that too low.
If I had just known, butI wasn't familiar
with the business world.
This was my first opportunityto work in the business world.
So as a result of that, I tookit and I went to training.
Because people sawleadership in me,
I was president ofthree other classes.

(17:10):
The class would last maybesix weeks or something,
president three andthen vice president one.
But that leadership piece of themilitary was still coming out
and it was natural.
Leadership, it's more than justteaching in terms of leadership.

(17:33):
It has to do with everythingand your decision making
and how you carry yourself.
But people see your confidence.
This whole confidencepiece is big.
It's in the Bible in Hebrews.
It's big.
Don't set aside your confidenceas great recompense of reward
for you have needed patience.

(17:54):
After you've done the will ofGod, you'll receive the promise.
So confidence in ourselves.
And that came fromTuskegee, by the way.
That came from all theway down in grade school.
So as we move forwardthen, now I've done well.
I've done well as the topsalesman there in Chicago,

(18:15):
downtown office.
And then I went to Chicagoto larger region
and I was top manager there.
And then going on andnow God is calling me.
Yeah, I got promotedto Minnesota,
to regional marketmanager job there.
And that's when itreally got strong.
I'm saved now.

(18:36):
How did I get saved?
Well, when I first started,I wasn't doing well.
That was right after trainingand they gave me a territory.
And they gave me aterritory that had to do
with marketing to non-profits.
Could be medical associates,it could be whatever have you.
And I said, "Wait a minute.

(18:56):
Now I thought you allgoing to give me medical,
something that was kin tomy background in college."
They said, "Well, we were,but the person who has that
has not left yet.
We have to give youthis." And in my mind, I said,
"Okay, now see, that'swhat's happening.
See it's a prejudiceand blah, blah, blah.
So what happened was mybackground of achievement

(19:18):
kicked in and said,
"I can do this." Andso not only that,
but I saw that I wasmissing something.
And that's when I cried out onenight to the Lord, I said,
"God, would you please help me?"
Now I'd been in churchdown in Tuskegee
in Mount Olive Baptist church.
But church wasn't in me.
And that's when I found outthat you could be religious

(19:38):
but really not righteous.
So what happenedwas I went ahead.
That night that Icried out to God,
about two or three days later alady came by my place at work.
She said, "Hey, Bill, you wantto go out with me tonight,"
tomorrow nightor whatever it was.
I said, "Yeah." I'msingle, she's single.

(19:59):
Looked good.
I said, "Yeah." Well, shetook me out all right.
North side of Chicago, wentinto a schoolyard and went
to the back door ofan auditorium
and people in thereholding their hands up,
praising God.
Whoa, what is this?
And then next thing I know, abrother grabbed me and hugged me
and said, "Jesus loves youbrother." In that night,
I got born again.

(20:20):
When I got born again andfilled with a Holy Spirit,
everything changed.
Everything.
I mean, my performancebegan to climb.
I no longer sawpeople as my enemy.
And all of that, I used theprinciples of discipline
and all those things
that I learned andteamwork and the scriptures,

(20:40):
because you have to havethose things in business.
And so the next thingyou know, I did very,
very well got promoted once, gotpromoted again, promoted again.
So now it's timefor the ministry.
Now I am using that Word of God.
My sister calls one time.
She was with thecompany as well, IBM.
And she said, "How are youdoing this month brother?"

(21:01):
I said, "Well" ... I didn'twant to tell her because
I was zero business.
The people who worked for mehadn't brought in a thing
because the recession was on.
I said, "You call me backat five o'clock today.
I'll have so much business, Ican't put it on the books." Wow.
Now what am I doing?
I'm using the principle ofKingdom of God as taught

(21:22):
by Charles Capps andDr. Fred Price
and Brother Kenneth Copeland,and some of the others.
I'm using these principles nowand they're taking me to the top
in every level that I get to.
So when I said that, I saidit and hung the phone up
because it was just a wordof... given by faith.
And next thing you know, mymarketing rep started

(21:45):
bringing in business andstarting at 12 o'clock.
At five o'clock I had so muchbusiness, I was booking it.
My boss came and leaned overmy shoulder because
I had booked enough for me,enough for the other manager,
enough for the other manager,enough for the other manager,
enough for the ... And hesaid, "That's enough Bill.
Let's save something nextmonth." So that's the miracles

(22:05):
that God was doing.
Years later, one of themarketing managers remembered that
and came and got born againat this massive church
that we had startedhere in Chicago.
So my point to you is that thisthing got so strong on me.
I said, everybody needs this.
And then God calledme under Isaiah.

(22:26):
He said, "Who will go for me?"
And I heard it just as plain.
And I said, "Lord, here am I.
Send me." I can still feelthat right now, send me.
And that's when I gave mymyself to God's will totally
of what He wanted me to do.
So he brought me in ministryand I came and told my boss,

(22:46):
"John I'm leaving the company."And John said, "You're what?"
He jumped up, closed thedoor, because I'd climbed
fairly high up.
And they were trying to be ableto take the performance
of certain people who wereAfrican-American and really
put them in positions ofreal top management.

(23:12):
But with me saying, I'mleaving ... Oh my goodness.
That was under his watch.
He said, "Well, you can'tdo it." He said, "Bill,
take two weeks off." Hethought something
I'd just been working too hard.
Well, I took two weeks offand it got stronger
because God was calling me.
So I came in and told him.
I said, "John, I'm leaving."I said, "And here's the deal.

(23:33):
I got to leave now.""Oh Bill." So I left.
When I left people thought,"Oh he's gotten religious
or something."
Well it wasn't that.
Years later, one of the peoplecalled me back and said,
"Hey Bill Winston, I heardyou had this business school.
Any way I could get in thatschool." Now this is one

(23:54):
of the people whothought I was leaving
because I had just gottenreligious as they say.
But no, I hadreceived my calling
and there's no nothing like it.
He's hard to resist.
- But it was when heheard the call of God
that this warrior began,
what would becomean amazing list of victory

(24:15):
events for the Kingdom of God.
- And there's nothing like it.
He's hard to resist.
And so what happened isI got out and I started.
The Bible said don'tdespise humble beginnings,
started small.
Came to Chicago with about $200in my family, no place to stay.
Dear Sister Beverlytook us into her home.

(24:36):
And she said, "God said, keepyou until you get started."
And we started in alittle place.
I made just a storefront and11th Precinct of Chicago,
which is the worst crimeridden place that you can get.
That's where we started.
- We have to get Godback at the center of America.

(24:59):
If you're convinced of this butdon't see how God
can use you for his purpose,well, you can make a difference.
Listen to this.
- Time and time again,
God seems to bring you to aplace where you need Him.
In other words, He givesyou the impossible to do.

(25:22):
And if you're really followingHim and walk of faith,
faith is designedfor the impossible.
I have seen Himover and over again.
We stayed at Sister Beverly'sand for some reason,
every time we tried to getout and get our own place,
the car would break down andwe'd need to pay $600

(25:42):
for that and so forth.
So pretty soon I justcried out to God.
I said, "Lord, what do I do?"
He told me to go on afast for three days.
Then He spoke to meat the end of that.
He said, "Decreewhat you want." Well,
I had learned that in thatbusiness world and I said,
"We'll be out and movingand have our own place

(26:05):
in seven days." And do you know,miracles started happening.
Seven days, we're out,we had our own place.
So I've seen thefaithfulness of God,
but He wants youto do it by faith.
And sometimes what people aredoing is they're looking
for either some ... Like theysaid three dogs that bark

(26:30):
the Star Spangled Banner beforethey'll know that's God.
No, no, no, no, no.
It's interesting about that.
God wants you towalk by His Word.
His Word is the proofthat He wants to give you.
So we have to learn thatbecause getting it asked, "Hey,
if this is you, then show me asign." You got to watch that

(26:56):
because when you get on up inthe ministry of what God
is calling you to do,sometimes the enemy comes into
that natural area anddoes some things.
And "Oh, that musthave been God."
The best way you coulddo it is Mark 11:24.
"Whatsoever things youdesire when you pray,
believe you receive them andyou shall have them."

(27:17):
And just trust God, trustHis Word, move out
and you'll see that every time
God will give you Hisfaithfulness and you will see
His deliverance.
So He has neverreally let us down.
Anytime that I'vemade a mistake,
I made a mistake becauseI didn't listen to God.
Any time I've made a mistake.
So yes.
(sound of airplane engine)

(27:37):
- This has been suchan amazing story of a hero,
overcoming, a victoryand an inspiration,
a legacy of the faith andcourage of our fathers,
of every American and trulya be-the-one story
for every Christian.
You too can answer that call.
Step up and be the one tomake a real change in this,

(27:59):
your generation.
(music)