The History of Britain's Black Airmen

Warfare

History Hit

History

4.5 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 6 February 2023

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When you think of some of the remarkable feats of airpower throughout history, you might think of the Dambusters, or the Battle of Britain. But what about some of the untold stories of Britain's remarkable black airmen? Since the early 20th Century, black airmen played vital roles as pilots, ground crew, and even resistance fighters across the world wars and beyond. But what do we actually know about these exceptional figures?

In this episode, James is joined by author K.N. Chimbiri to shine a light on some of the incredible men who helped shape Britain's future. Looking at the vital contributions these individuals made to the war effort, and even world history, what can we learn from the Britain's black airmen?

Kandace's book The Story of Britain's Black Airmen is available here.

Senior Producer: Elena Guthrie. Assistant Producer: Annie Coloe. Edited and mixed by Aidan Lonergan.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	When you think of the history of the Royal Air Force, you think of the Dambusters, the Battle of Britain, and the almost unbelievable losses of bomber command.
0:09.0	But you rarely focus in on the individual stories, and you hardly ever focus in on the individual stories and you hardly ever focus in on the individual stories
0:15.2	of Britain's Black Airmen.
0:17.0	Well I'm your host James Rogers and for today's episode of Warfare I wanted to
0:21.2	celebrate the inspiring contribution Black Aman have made to British aviation.
0:26.4	As author and historian Kandasi Chabiri explains, from pilots to ground crew and with
0:31.8	tales from across the globe,
0:33.6	the story of Britain's Black Airman is an important part of the history of flying,
0:38.5	one that actually goes back to before the First World War. Enjoy.
0:45.0	Hi Kandassie, welcome to the Warfare Podcast.
0:48.0	How you doing today?
0:49.0	I'm doing very well, thank you, James.
0:51.0	Well, it's great to have you on the podcast because you've got a new book out
0:55.2	called The Story of Britain's Black Airmen with amazing illustrations by the
1:00.5	Grenadian illustrator Elizabeth Lander and each one of those really helps to bring this history to life.
1:07.0	But tell us what made you want to write this book now?
1:10.0	I actually didn't want to write the book now. I wanted to write the book several years ago.
1:14.8	It's always the case. I wrote a book called The Story of the Windrush and it was a
1:21.9	self-published book originally and I wrote it to come out in
1:26.2	2018 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush ship at Tallbury Docks in June 1948.
1:37.4	And I wrote the book, I self-funded it, had it published, chose all the photos, did everything and the book arrived, I was really excited and I was looking at the book one day and I was looking at this photo that I had chosen to go into the book. I chose the photo because it showed a group of
1:56.3	men on board the Empire Wing Rush when it had just arrived and I chose it because there was a gentleman in the photo called Sam King.
	...

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