Charles Phillip Bailey Sr. (November 25, 1918 – April 1, 2001) was a U.S. Army Air Force officer and one of the Tuskegee Airmen's most decorated combat fighter pilots.
[3] Bailey grew up in a home on the corner of Punta Gorda's East Virginia Avenue and Wood Street with his eight siblings.
[3] During rampant racial segregation in the American South and in Deland, Bailey attended elementary and middle school at Punta Gorda, Florida's Baker Academy.
[3][4][5] After graduation, Bailey attended the historically black university Bethune-Cookman in Daytona Beach, Florida, where he played football on a full scholarship.
[8] On April 29, 1943, Bailey graduated as a member of the Single Engine Section Cadet Class SE-43-D, receiving his silver wings and commission as a 2nd Lieutenant.
[10][11] In Fall 1943, the U.S. Army Air Corps assigned Bailey to the 99th Fighter Squadron as a replacement pilot in North Africa's Casablanca.
Flying his beloved P-40 Warhawk “Josephine" aircraft named after his mother, Bailey shot down two Focke-Wulf Fw 190 German fighters.