Thomas F. Vaughns, a former horticulture specialist for the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and a member of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II, was inducted into the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame this month.
He was one of six inductees honored for their contributions to the industry during the organization's annual luncheon March 6 in the ballroom of the Embassy Suites hotel in west Little Rock.
The other inductees were: Jane Ross of Arkadelphia; the late Albert E. "Gene" Sullivan of Lonoke; the late Leo Sutterfield of Mountain View; George Tidwell, a native of Florida and a longtime Lonoke resident; and William E. Woodall of Little Rock.
Vaughns, of Marianna, earned a degree in agriculture from what is now UAPB.
He became part of the 1940s Tuskegee Airmen program that trained black men to fly and maintain combat aircraft.
Vaughns worked as a mechanic on B-25 bombers. Later, he was promoted to the training command. His job was to make sure the aircraft were in safe flying condition for cadets who would train with them before being deployed to different theaters of the war to pilot the same type of aircraft.
SundayMonday on 03/29/2020