The Control Tower

At Moton Field’s Control Tower, controllers directed flight operations and signaled landing instructions to pilots with flashing colored lights, while dispatchers called cadets for their flights and announced flight assignments over the loudspeaker. The tower overlooked the busy and noisy movement of aircraft, pedestrians, and vehicles between two hangars, and it also contained a large chamber where parachutes were hung to dry. Roscoe Draper, born in Haverford, Pennsylvania, in 1919, completed the Civilian Pilot Training Program at Hampton Institute in 1940, came to Tuskegee Institute for advanced training, became a CPT instructor, and in 1943 was made a civilian Primary Flight Training instructor at Moton Field before later working for the Federal Aviation Administration as an operations inspector in Philadelphia. PT-17s taxiing from the tie-down area behind Hangar No. 2, possibly preparing for flight training, received taxi clearance from the tower.

Tuskegee, Alabama · United States