Charles Quander oral history interview (OH-03285)

Oral history interview with Charles Quander conducted by Claytee D. White on October 27, 2005 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. Quander, who served as a flight officer in the Army Air Corps first all-Black fighter and bomber squadrons known collectively as the Tuskegee Airmen, talks about his upbringing in Washington, D.C., his early interest in flight, and his decision to train as a pilot at the outset of World War II. As a teenager, he was enrolled in the Tuskegee Institute cadet corps, where he studied aeronautical engineering and learned the basics of flight before entering flight school at Keesler Field (now Keesler Air Force Base) in Biloxi, Mississippi. Quander talks about his training and reflects on both the process of learning to fly and the discrimination that the cadets experienced from the predominately white senior officers. He then explains his decision to switch from single-engine fighter training to multi-engine bombardier training as soon as it was available. This led to his reassignment to the 477th Bombardment Group, stationed in Indiana, where he and his fellow Black officers were subjected to pervasive discrimination. Further training in the B-25 "Mitchell" bomber sent him to Arizona and his eventual graduation coincided with the end of the War. Quander then talks about his post-military education and his career with the federal government, working as an investigator for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) and the United States Attorney's strike force on organized crime. He ends the interview describing his retirement and travel, his move to Las Vegas, Nevada, and his views on war, the Department of Homeland Security, and his perceptions of Las Vegas' growth. Digital audio available; no transcript available.