So far we can document 15 Tuskegee Airmen from this state, three of whom died during their service:
- 2/LT William E. Hill of Narragansett
- Flight Officer William P. Armstrong of Providence
- 2/LT Walter S. Gladding of Providence
The first black pilot from Rhode Island to graduate from the Tuskegee program was 2/LT William E. Hill of Narragansett, with Class 43-H on August 30, 1943. Hill was killed in a gunnery training accident three months later over Lake Huron.
The only other Rhode Island pilot confirmed to have successfully completed the pilot training program was F/O William Armstrong of Providence, who graduated with Class 44-H.
Armstrong was shot down and killed over Austria on April 1, 1945. (Providence native 2/LT Walter Gladding was in the same pilot class as Hill but did not graduate. He received his commission through another source, and was stationed at Tuskegee as an instructor when he was murdered while on leave in Lynchburg, VA in June, 1945.)
