Mac Ross

{{Infobox military person

| honorific_prefix = Captain

| name = Mac Ross

| honorific_suffix =

| native_name = Mac Ross

| native_name_lang = English

| image = File:Photo_of_Mac_Ross.png

| image_size = 150px

| alt =

| caption = Mac Ross

| birth_date ={{birth date|1912|06|12}}

| death_date ={{death date and age|1944|07|10|1912|06|12}}

| birth_place = Selma, Alabama

| death_place = Provincia di Foggia, Puglia, Italy

| placeofburial = Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial

| placeofburial_label = Plot J, Row 15, Grave 70

| placeofburial_coordinates =

| nickname =

| birth_name = Mac Ross

| allegiance = United States of America

| branch = United States Army Air Force

| serviceyears = 1941–1944

| rank = Captain

| servicenumber =

| unit = 332nd Fighter Group

| commands =

| battles = 50 combat missions in the European Theater

| battles_label =

| awards = {{Plainlist |

Congressional Gold Medal

}}

| spouse = Abbie (Nee) Voorhies

| relations = {{Plainlist |*Father Eddie Samuel * Mother Willie B. Collins Ross *Brothers Eddie, Sammy, Jerry and Arthur Ross, *Sisters Suritha Brooks Geniva Chinn and Willa Morgan

}}

| laterwork =

| signature =

| website =

}}

Mac Ross (June 12, 1912 – July 10, 1944) was a U.S. Army Air Force officer and combat fighter pilot during World War II. A member of the Tuskegee Airmen, he commanded the 100th Fighter Squadron and served as the Group Operations Officer for the 332nd Fighter Group.{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/tuskegeesheroesf0000coop/page/84/mode/2up?q=+ross |title=Tuskegee's Heroes |location=United States|publisher=Motorbooks International Publishers & Wholesalers |year=1996 |first1=Charlie |last1=Cooper |isbn=0760302545 |page=84 |others=Aviation artist Roy LaGrone}}

He was one of the first five African American combat fighter pilots in the United States military,{{efn-ua|Together four other Tuskegee aviation cadet classmates: Lemuel R. Custis, U.S. Air Force General Benjamin O. Davis Jr., Charles DeBow, and George S. Roberts. Roberts was actually the first cadet to receive a diploma and wings during the ceremony. He went on throughout the time of combat operations of the 99th Fighter Squadron and later when that squadron was assigned to the 332nd Fighter Group (which already consisted of three squadrons, 100th, 301st, and 302nd), to be the Deputy Commanding Officer and at times when Colonel Davis was away, he served as the Group Commander.{{cite web |title=Congressional Record 109th Congress February 9, 2005 |url=https://www.congress.gov/109/crec/2005/02/09/CREC-2005-02-09.pdf |website=Congress.gov |publisher=US Government Printing Office |access-date=1 October 2021 |ref=Vol. 151 No. 13 Page 13}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ll5OAAAAYAAJ&dq=Mac+Ross+tuskegee&pg=PA111 |pages= 89, 99, 111 |title=Moton Field/Tuskegee Airmen Special Resources Study |year=1998 |location=United States |publisher=National Park Service. Southeast Regional Office}}{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/tuskegeeairmen0000sten/page/45/mode/2up |page=45 |title=Tuskegee Airmen |first1=Barry M. |last1=Stentiford |isbn=978-0-313-38684-8 |year=2012 |type=Hardcover |location=Santa Barbara, California |publisher=ABC-CLIO |language=English}}{{cite book |last1=Dryden |first1=Charles |title=A-Train: Memoirs of a Tuskegee Airman |date=25 June 2002 |publisher=The University of Alabama Press |location=Tuscaloosa, Alabama |page=87 |isbn=9780817312664 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xuc_BAAAQBAJ&q=tuskegee+airmen+accident+george+knox&pg=PA87 |access-date=28 September 2021}}}} and one of the 1,007 documented Tuskegee Airmen pilots. Being among the first five to graduate, they "drew the most sustained attention from the press and the black community as a result."{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/soldiersoffreedo0000wrig/page/174/mode/2up?q=%22mac+ross%22 |title=Soldiers of Freedom: An Illustrated History of African Americans in the Armed Forces |publisher=Black Dog & Leventhal |author=Kai Wright |year=2002 |page=174 |isbn=9781579122539 |quote=Lieutenants Lemuel Custis, Charles DeBow, George Roberts, and Mac Ross were the first four to graduate, in March of 1942, and drew the most sustained attention from the press and the black community as a result.}}

Early life and education

Mac Ross was born on June 12, 1912, in rural Dallas County near Selma, Alabama, he was the son of Eddie Samuel "Sam" Ross (1888–1964) and Willie B. Collins Ross (1888–1982).{{cite journal |title=Dallas County's Red Tail Eagle, Tuskegee Airman Captain Mac Ross |journal=Journal of the Black Belt African American Genealogical and Historical Society |first=Sonja |last=Graham |date=June 2008 |pages=22–23 |volume=1 |number=2 }} Sam and Willie married in 1911. Ross had eight siblings: Eddie, Sammy, Jerry Ross, Arthur Ross, Suritha, Geniva, Mattie M. Ross (1910–1943), and Willa.{{cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/dayton/name/eddie-ross-obituary?pid=186121472|title=Eddie W. Ross 1921 – 2017, Obituary|work=Dayton Daily News|date=July 8, 2017|access-date=2021-09-25}}

Samuel had two sisters who lived in Dayton, Ohio who urged him for years to move north. In the late 1920s, he moved with his wife and nine children in part because he didn't want his sons to be raised in an environment where they could be lynched. He graduated from Roosevelt High School and then attended West Virginia State University, graduating in 1940 with a degree in mechanical arts.{{cite news |newspaper=Dayton Daily News |title=Airmen of Steel |date=September 6, 1995 |page=33 |author=Derek Ali |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85828720/dayton-daily-news/}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qci9DQAAQBAJ&dq=%22mac+ross%22+selma+alabama&pg=PA207 |title=Selma: A Bicentennial History |publisher=University of Alabama Press |author=Alston Fitts |year=2016 |pages=207–208 |isbn=9780817319328 }}{{cite web |url=https://wvstateu.edu/about/history-and-traditions/chapters-from-our-history.aspx |title=Chapters From Our History: Exploring our Past |work=West Virginia State University |last=Ledbetter |first=Charles T. |accessdate=September 23, 2021}} While at University he was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. He also worked at the iron works GHR Foundry in Dayton.

On June 3, 1943, Ross married Abbie Voorhies (born August 20, 1915), a U.S. Army lieutenant and member of the United States Army Nurse Corps from Alexandria, Louisiana.{{cite web |url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c86h4ph2/entire_text/ |title=Abbie Voorhies DeVerges papers |work=UCR Library |author=The Regents of the University of California |date=2017 |access-date=September 23, 2021}} She was a night shift nurse at the Tuskgegee airfield where she met Mac, and as of 2019 at age 104 was the oldest living member of the Tuskegee unit.{{cite web |url=https://www.avoyellestoday.com/news/104-year-old-moreauville-native-abbie-deverges-oldest-member-famed-wwii-tuskegee-airmen |title=104-year-old Moreauville native Abbie DeVerges is oldest member of famed WWII Tuskegee Airmen |work=avoyellestoday.com |author=Millie Tanner-Latham |date=August 24, 2019 |access-date=September 25, 2021}}

Military service

File:Curtis P40 Kittyhawk 02 (3688660516).jpg

Ross's alma mater, West Virginia State College (now West Virginia State University) had a Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) created by the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA) in 1939 to increase the number of active pilots in America in response to the ongoing war in Europe. It cost $15 a week to attended which was paid by Ross's father. Ross graduated. The college actively competed with Tuskegee and four other historically black colleges and universities to institute a commercial pilot's program for African American CPTP graduates. In the end, the federal government selected Tuskegee Institute as the official commercial pilot program for African Americans pilots. West Virginia State College and the other four historically black colleges and universities would serve as feeder schools.

West Virginia State College officials nominated two alumni for the program: Ross and George S. Roberts, a 1938 West Virginia State College graduate. Ross was admitted into the U.S. Army Air Corps Tuskegee Aviation Cadet training program's inaugural July 19, 1941 class at Tuskegee Army Air Field.

During cadet training, Ross's P-40 caught fire in mid-air and he safely parachuted out; he was concerned it would be called pilot error and provide grounds for critics that black's should not be flyers. He recalled thinking, "I've wrecked a ship worth thousands of dollars. Maybe they'll start saying Negroes can't fly".{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/mythgreatestgene0000rose/page/136/mode/2up?q=%22mac+ross%22 |title=Myth and the Greatest Generation: A Social History of Americans in World War II |publisher=Routledge |author=Kenneth D. Rose |year=2008 |page=137 }} An investigation found it was mechanical, but Ross always felt he and the others were under intense scrutiny every time they flew.{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/hiddenheroismbla00edge/page/142/mode/2up?q=%22mac+ross%22 |title=Hidden Heroism |publisher=Westview Press |author=Robert B. Edgerton |year=2001 |page=142 |isbn=9780813338583 }} The incident made him the first ever African American member of the Caterpillar Club, an informal association of people who have successfully used a parachute to bail out of a disabled aircraft.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85828808/the-journal-herald/|title=Dayton Negro First To Join Caterpillars|author=Alexander McSurely|date=August 2, 1942|newspaper=The Journal Herald|location=Dayton, Ohio|page=36}} His flight instructor Col. C. I. Williams said, "Mac was a good pilot. It takes a special kind of individual to be a good fighter pilot. He was a pilot's pilot."

On March 7, 1942, only five cadets successfully graduated from the program, receiving their wings: 2nd Lt. Ross, Captain Benjamin O. Davis Jr., 2nd Lt. Charles DeBow, 2nd Lt. Lemuel R. Custis, and 2nd Lt. George S. Roberts.{{cite web |last1=Haulman |first1=Daniel |url=https://www.tuskegee.edu/Content/Uploads/Tuskegee/files/TUSKEGEE_AIRMEN_CHRONOLOGY12.2011.pdf/ |title=Tuskegee Airmen Chronology |publisher=Organizational History Research Agency, Maxwell Air Force Base, AL 36112-6424 |format=PDF|date=14 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111233110/https://www.tuskegee.edu/Content/Uploads/Tuskegee/files/TUSKEGEE_AIRMEN_CHRONOLOGY12.2011.pdf/ |archive-date=2020-11-11 |url-status=dead}} Known as Class 42-C-SE, they were the first African-American U.S. Army Air Corps pilots.{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/92521044/ |title=First graduating class of African American pilots in U.S. Army Air Corps |work=Library of Congress |author=U. S. Air Force |date=March 7, 1942 |accessdate=September 23, 2021 |lccn=92521044}}

On May 26, 1942, Ross was promoted to Squadron Commander of the 332nd Fighter Group's 100th Fighter Squadron, with Lt George Knox and SE-42-A classmate Charles DeBow serving as his adjutants.{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/tuskegeeairmenth00fran/page/75/mode/2up?q=%22mac+ross%22 |title=The Tuskegee Airmen: The Men who Changed a Nation |publisher=Branden Pub. Co. |author=Charles E. Francis |year=1988 |pages=75 |isbn=9780828313865 }} In July 1942, before embarking for combat, Ross was relieved as Squadron Commander and became the Group Operations Officer. The Operations Officer was considered one of the most important positions requiring experience. On March 27, 1943, his squadron transferred to Selfridge Field in Mt Clemens, Michigan. He commanded the squadron in additional extensive and intensive training at Selfridge and Oscoda Army Air Field.{{cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26276812 |title=The World War II Training Experiences of the Tuskegee Airmen at Oscoda Army Air Field |first1=David K. |last1=Vaughan |journal=Air Power History |publisher=Air Force Historical Foundation |volume= 63 |number=know the past |date=Winter 2016 |pages=25–40|jstor=26276812 }}

During World War II, Ross flew over 50 combat missions in the European Theater. While in theater, he was the main pilot of the Group's C-78 light transport aircraft. This assignment limited his combat experience.

Death

On July 10, 1944, Ross died in an aircraft accident. A few days earlier he had been relieved as group operations officer. The reasons for his relief are not clear; according to one source he apparently did not "click well" with his commanding officer, Benjamin O. Davis Jr.,{{cite book |last1=Holway |first1=John |title=Red Tails, Black Wings: The Men of America's Black Air Force |date=1997 |publisher=Yucca Tree Press |location=Las Cruces, New Mexico |isbn=1-881325-21-0 |pages=47, 72, 205–206 |edition=1st |url=https://archive.org/details/redtailsblackwin00holw/page/205/mode }} while another source states Davis felt experience was essential for an operations officer and replaced Ross with "LT Alfonso W. Davis...a pilot with two years combat experience as operations officer."{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/tuskegeeairmenth00fran/page/101/mode/2up?q=%22mac+ross%22 |title=The Tuskegee Airmen: The Men who Changed a Nation |publisher=Branden Pub. Co. |author=Charles E. Francis |year=1988 |pages=102–103 |isbn=9780828313865 }} On the 10th, Ross was checking out a P-51 aircraft near Provincia di Foggia, Puglia, Italy, when his plane went into a slow, shallow descent and hit the side of a hill. The official accident report called it a suicide, though his commanding officer Davis refused to accept it, even threatening the author with disciplinary action if it was not changed, but the report stuck.{{cite book |last1=Holway |first1=John |title=Red Tails, Black Wings: The Men of America's Black Air Force |date=1997 |publisher=Yucca Tree Press |location=Las Cruces, New Mexico |isbn=1-881325-21-0 |pages=47, 72, 205–206 |edition=1st |url=https://archive.org/details/redtailsblackwin00holw/page/206/mode }} Little remained physically and some thought it might have been an oxygen system failure ie. hypoxia.{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/ndfightergrouptu00buch/page/n45/mode/2up?q=%22mac+ross%22 |title=332nd Fighter Group: Tuskegee Airmen |publisher=Osprey |author=Chris Bucholtz |year=2007 |pages=44, 46 |isbn=9781846030444 }} One source alleged his mind was not on flying due to being relieved as operations officer. Notably the next day, another Tuskegee Airman with over 116 combat sorties died under similar hypoxia circumstances when his plane nose-dived into the ocean. Ross is interred at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial, Plot J, Row 15, Grave 70, near Nettuno, Città Metropolitana di Roma Capitale, Lazio, Italy.{{cite web |url=https://www.abmc.gov/decedent-search/ross=mac |title=Mac Ross |work=Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial |accessdate=September 23, 2021}}

Legacy

According to author Charles E. Francis, Ross was reticent and one of the most conscientious of his group. He had a quiet confident manner, according to his widow Abbie Voorhies DeVerges, and a positive outlook on life. "He loved people. He seemed like an all around guy," she said.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85828758/dayton-daily-news/|author=Nathaniel Madison|newspaper=Dayton Daily News|date=June 26, 1989|page=1|title=Philatelic room to honor Tuskegee unit flier }}

On June 27, 1989, the U.S. Postal Service dedicated the Mac Ross Memorial Philatelic Room in Dayton, Ohio in honor of Ross. A plaque honoring Ross is displayed at the Dayton Post Office on East 5th Street.Wynn, Kelli (April 28, 2012) Dayton Daily News [https://www.daytondailynews.com/lifestyles/area-black-wwii-pilots-part-tuskegee-airmen-legacy/1PXzAGdwWw1V2yRI0getoN/ Area’s black WWII pilots part of Tuskegee Airmen legacy]. He was chosen for the philatelic memorial under the leadership of Postmaster Jack Kincade, who said, "Mac Ross epitomizes everything a young man or woman of today should strive for". James Clanciolo, director of marketing and communication with the U.S. Postal Service, noted Ross's family values and stated that he is a role model for youth.

The University of California Riverside maintains the papers of Ross's wife Abbie. The collection comprises photographs of Ross, Abbie and other Tuskegee Airmen and nurses, Abbie's military separation records, correspondence, news clippings, and items from the dedication of the philatelic room in Dayton.

Unit assignments

Source: U.S. Air Force – Together We Served [https://airforce.togetherweserved.com/usaf/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=Person&ID=171792 Roll of Honor-U.S. Air Force – Deceased -Ross, Mac, Capt-USAAF Veteran]{{better|date=September 2021}}

1941–1942, AAF MOS 770, Aviation Cadet Flight School, Tuskegee AAF
1942–1944, AAF MOS 1055, 99th Fighter Squadron, AL, French Morocco, Tunisia, Italy
1943–1943, AAF MOS 1055, 33rd Fighter Group, Qued N'ja, French Morocco; Fardjouna, Tunisia
1943–1943, AAF MOS 1055, 324th Fighter Group, Fardjouna Airfield
1943–1943, AAF MOS 1055, 33rd Fighter Group, Licata, Termini, & Barcellona Airfields, Sicily
1943–1944, AAF MOS 1055, 79th Fighter Group, Salsola, Madna, & Capodichino Airfields
1944–1944, AAF MOS 1055, 324th Fighter Group, Cercola & Pignataro Airfields
1944–1944, AAF MOS 1055, 332nd Fighter Group, Ciampino, Orbetello, & Ramitelli Airfields

Awards

Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)
Legion of Merit
Purple Heart
Congressional Gold Medal awarded to the Tuskegee Airmen in 2006{{cite web|title=Public Law 109–213—APR. 11, 2006 Congressional Gold Medal to the Tuskegee Airmen|url=https://www.congress.gov/109/plaws/publ213/PLAW-109publ213.pdf|website=Congress.gov|publisher=US Library of Congress|date=11 April 2006|access-date=23 September 2021}}{{cite news |last1=Stanford |first1=Julianne |title=Tuskegee Airman posthumously recognized for service |url=https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/tuskegee-airman-posthumously-recognized-for-service/281-527655920 |access-date=22 September 2021 |agency=KitsapSun |publisher=King |date=11 March 2018}}

References

=Notes=

=Citations=

External links

[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56313885/mac-ross Capt. Mac Ross memorial] at Find a Grave
[http://www.bbaaghs.org/publications/Jun_2008_cover-final.pdf Journal of the Black Belt African American Genealogical and Historical Society] cover 2008
[https://www.abmc.gov/print/certificate/515182 Memorial for Mac Ross]
[https://www.dvidshub.net/audio/41633/ohios-aviation-heritage-tour-mac-ross Ohio's Aviation Heritage Tour: Mac Ross] Audio
U.S. Army Air Forces First Motion Picture Unit. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWd5DdsEBqg Wings for This Man (1945) Tuskegee Airmen Documentary] Video via YouTube. See Wings for This Man.