MANCHESTER – The township’s Tuskegee Airmen Community Park was named to honor the famous 332nd Fighter Group that became part of the 15th Air Force. Now that park is about to get an upgrade.
Mayor Robert Hudak recently announced that the upgrade would include new playground equipment and the rehabilitation of basketball courts.
The park currently includes two basketball courts, three playground pieces for all age groups and spring-mounted airplanes, a picnic area, a stamped-concrete entryway, a stone monument and other amenities, with the park surrounded by post and rail fencing. Street parking is available adjacent to the park.
Hudak said the State Department of Community Affairs has awarded Manchester with a $80,000 grant, through their Local Recreation Improvement Grant (LRIG) program.
Out of several hundred applicants, Manchester was among 162 that were awarded a grant and is tied for the largest grant allotment in Ocean County.
Hudak explained that the LRIG program was created to assist local governments in repairing and upgrading their parks, playgrounds, and recreational facilities into spaces that promote people’s physical and mental well-being.
This grant will be used alongside a $35,000 grant that Manchester received through the federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program.
Located at the end of Richard Drive, the Tuskegee Airmen Park on Route 571 is the first township park to be dedicated to a select group of veterans. What started out as the renovation of the Richard Estates Playground in 2004 became Tuskegee Airmen Park, honoring a fighter unit in the Army Air Corps that served with great merit during World War II.
The Tuskegee Airmen were the first Black military aviators in the U.S. Army Air Corps, a precursor to the U.S. Army Air Corps (AAC). They became part of the 15th Air Force that escorted American bombers as they flew over Italy. They flew P-47s and later P-51s and were responsible for protecting larger bombers from Nazi fighter planes.
“I would like to thank Colliers Engineering and Public Works Director Al Yodakis for their diligence on this grant submission which secured these additional grant funds to complete this important project and we hope to have this project bid out this summer,” Mayor Hudak said.
A youngster who was playing at that park told The Manchester Times that he was a regular at the recreational facility. He said his only problems were that there was no one to play with that day and he had to use his football to practice his basketball court shots.
