First...
This is the story of "black in blue," began the ITV news broadcast in a segment discussing Pilots of the Caribbean: Volunteers of African Heritage in the Royal Air Force - an exhibition currently on display at the Royal Air Force (RAF) Museum in Cosford, England. The exhibit highlights the Caribbean people who fought for Britain in two world wars. Though integral to British history, their stories are not well-known hence the reason that the RAF Museum has regularly mounted the ever-growing exhibit since 2014.
Their beginnings
The 1948 arrival of Empire Windrush is thought to be the single Caribbean migration to England. But, here's a fun fact: Of the 500 Jamaicans onboard, more than half served in the RAF. According to the exhibition notes, "In two world wars, African-Caribbean people volunteered to serve in the Royal Air Force. These volunteers fought, and died, for the mother country and for freedom, and thereby helped preserve the values and the heritage they shared with their white comrades." For each World War, approximately 6,000 black people from the Caribbean, Africa and Britain served in the RAF.
Jamaican history-makers
From documented accounts from the Caribbean volunteers: "On arriving in Britain, the volunteers discovered that few British people had met a black person before." This did not deter or hinder many of them from standing out and making history. Sergeant William Robinson Clark from Kingston paid his own passage to England to join the royal flying corps, where he began as a driver. After completing flight training in 1917, he became the first black military pilot to fly for Britain.
Windell "Joe" Walcott MBE from Refuge, Duncans, Trelawny, joined the RAF in 1945 and retired as a warrant officer after 34 years of service. He served in "Cyprus, Germany, Malta and Singapore as an Air Quartermaster supplying military bases across the globe, before retiring in 1979". He passed away in November 2018, but his name will not be forgotten. In August 2021, Building 78 at RAF Brize Norton was renamed 'The Walcott Building' to commemorate his sterling service to the RAF.
Another Jamaican, Sam King MBE, who hailed from Priestman's River, Portland, joined the RAF in 1944. He was posted to the fighter station RAF Hawkinge and served as a skilled aircraft fitter. His career continued with various postings throughout Britain. After World War II, King returned to Jamaica but soon went back to England on the Windrush. He made quite the life for himself in England, where he was instrumental in establishing the Notting Hill Carnival and in 1983 became the first black mayor of Southwark. His campaign was not free from adversity. As stated in his memoir Climbing Up the Rough Side of the Mountain, the racist National Front threatened to cut his throat and burn down his house. Upon his death in 2016, British MP and former Leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn noted, "What a legend, what a loss. London is a better place, Britain is a better place thanks to Sam and his family."
Race and sense of place
The RAF had strict rules against racial bias. But the "colour bar" was lowered between the wars and after. Though they served Her Majesty, many Caribbean RAF volunteers were instrumental in the anti-colonialist movement. Those who returned to the Caribbean were key figures in politics, the attainment of independence, and the establishment of trade unions, especially for the sugar industry. According to the exhibit's curators, "They carried with them the dynamic ethos of the RAF, becoming politicians, lawyers and teachers determined to change their homelands for the better."
Those who returned to England fought for equality and kept "Britain free from nazi domination."
Today and the future
British society has dramatically changed since the 1960s. Black people were instrumental in attaining the many freedoms that contemporary English society enjoys. Black people continue to serve in the RAF, which is now a "progressive and highly effective multi-ethnic force, and the service continues to welcome African-Caribbean volunteers today".
Pilots of the Caribbean: Volunteers of African Heritage was curated by the Royal Air Force Museum in partnership with the Black Cultural Archives. The exhibit runs until November.
Photos: Royal Air Force Museum, Forces News, Black Cultural Archives, ITV, The Latest, and RAF Brize Norton News.
And...
"The news is out! Happy to be joining @worldsailingofficial team," was the celebratory note posted to Jamaican-born sustainability expert and double Paralympic bronze medallist Alexandra Rickham's Instagram account last Monday.
The official announcement was released by World Sailing moments before. Rickham was appointed head of sustainability. She joins World Sailing directly from specialist sports sustainability consultancy Earth to Ocean, where she set up SailGP's sustainability programme and later transitioned into being their diversity & impact manager. The sports executive and professional athlete brings a wealth of expertise across sustainability, diversity and inclusion to the organisation.
Originally from St Ann's Bay, Rickham was born to a Jamaican mother and British father. She became a tetraplegic/quadriplegia and full-time wheelchair user at age 13, after a diving accident during a holiday trip to Jamaica while on break from boarding school in the UK.
