The Penn Stater Magazine

Luther Smith, Former Tuskegee Airman, Dies

December 11, 2009 at 11:19 am Tina Hay Leave a comment

We profiled Smith in our Sept-Oct 2007 issue.

We learned this week of the death of Luther Smith ’77, who was one of the famed Tuskegee Airmen in World War II and whose story we told in our September-October 2007 issue.

At a time when segregation was still the norm in the United States—this was two decades before the civil rights movement—African Americans didn’t have much of a role in the military. But a group of black pilots known as the Tuskegee Airmen served as escorts for American bomber pilots in Europe during the war, never once losing a bomber.

Smith himself flew 133 such missions. On his last flight, he had to eject from his burning plane; he was badly injured, and spent seven months as a prisoner of war.

After leaving the military, he earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa, worked at GE for more than 35 years, and along the way earned a master’s in engineering from Penn State Great Valley. He retired in 1988 and lived for many years in Villanova, Pa., before he died on Wednesday at the age of 89.

The Delaware County Times has a lengthy story about Smith here.

Tina Hay, editor

Entry filed under: Famous Penn Staters, Penn State alumni, Penn State Great Valley. Tags: General Electric, Luther Smith, Tuskegee Airmen, University of Iowa, World War II.