By Tawanda Kanhema
Ten days after the death of Nelson Mandela at the age of 95, five pilots from the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen Inc. took to the skies to pay tribute to the late South African president. (The group is a nonprofit dedicated to community service and honoring the Tuskegee Airmen, the all-black Army Air Force units that gained fame in World War II aerial combat.)
The local pilots flew over the Oakland Coliseum, where Mandela addressed a capacity crowd in 1990.
Air traffic control at the Hayward Executive Airport altered regular call signs for the five planes that participated in the memorial flight from Mandela 001 through Mandela 005.
“We are flying over a highly populated African-American community to let them know that we do honor and respect the people who have put their lives out there for us,” Ben Henderson, a former U.S. Air Force engineer and pilot said. “It is very important for young people to understand the sacrifices that have been made and to reflect on the life of Nelson Mandela.”
The first plane, flown by Capt. Sam Gaadi of Aerial Beacon, an aerial advertising operation, took off shortly after 2 p.m. from Hayward and headed north toward the Coliseum, where Mandela addressed his largest audience in the United States following his release from 27 years in South African prisons.