Oliver Goodall

Who was Oliver Goodall?

Oliver Goodall was one of the Tuskegee Airmen. He was involved in the Freeman Field Mutiny, and he was active member in the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc.

Goodall attended the University of Detroit.

He joined the Tuskegee airmen in Pasadena. Although Goodall was a Tuskegee Airmen, he did most of his training at Selfridge Field with the rest of the 477th medium bomber group.

As an African American he faced a lot of racism. He overcame this to become a pilot. After his training he was assigned to the 477th Bombardment Group. It was at that Group that the mutiny occurred.

The Freeman Field mutiny was a culmination of many events that were caused by racism. The first was the switch from the 477th home base to a much smaller and less well-equipped base. The second being the racist commander not allowing blacks and whites to talk to each other, and the third not allowing the black officer into the officer club. This then led to 162 black officers walking into the club and then being arrested. Eventually they were acquitted.

The 477th was activated on January 15, 1944 at Selfridge Army Air Field, Michigan, about 40 miles from Detroit. This base now has a 9,000 foot runway but this was not always so. This base was opened on July 1, 1917 on 640 acres that were leased by the Army for $190,000 from Henry B. Joy, the president of the Packard Motor Company. The Field was named after Lt. Thomas Selfridge, the first military officer to die in an aviation accident. he died while flying with Orville Wright at Fort Myer, Virginia onSeptember 17, 1908. After World War II the base expanded to its present size of 3,600 acres and now the base is controlled by Michigan Air National Guard However, for a short time the base was home to the 477th.