LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Tuskegee Airmen: War Department
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Prior to the Tuskegee Airmen all combat pilots had been white. However a series of legislative moves by the United States Congress in 1941 forced the Air Corps to form an all-black combat unit, much to the War Department's chagrin. In response they set up a system to accept only those with a level of flight experience or higher education that they expected to be hard to fill, a half-hearted effort to eliminate the unit before it could begin. This policy backfired, and soon the Air Corps was receiving applications from men who clearly met the grade.
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Three Tuskegee Airmen, retired USAF Colonels, flew combat missions as fighter pilots in WW II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War: Charles Cooper; Hannibal Cox, and; Charles McGee. Three others flew combat in Vietnam in other type aircraft and retired as Lt. Colonels, USAF. They are: John “Mr. Death” Whitehead; Bill Holloman, and; George Hardy. Many of them returned to civilian life and earned positions of leadership and respect in all walks of life.
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During WWII, the Tuskegee Airmen were credited with destroying 261 enemy planes, doing damage to 148 other opposing aircraft, flying 15,553 combat sorties and 1,578 missions in the theatres of North Africa and Italy. Sixty-six of the airmen were killed in combat and another 32 were shot down and became prisoners of war. In escorting over 200 bombing missions, the Airmen never lost an American bomber to an enemy fighter. So feared by the German pilots were the Airmen, that they were referred to as the “Schwartze Vogelmenshen” (Black Birdmen)
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The Tuskegee Airmen and their crews became accomplished pilots and technicians against great odds. Following the war they had to again overcome many of the same adversities to reach their personal goals. The Tuskegee Airmen have forged a path of success and in doing so have become excellent role models. They have expressed similar goals time and again in the years since the war: Encourage youth to follow their example in achieving their dreams. The Red Tail Project was founded to assist in reaching that goal.
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Continuing her support of Tuskegee and the airmen, Eleanor Roosevelt corresponded with both faculty and airmen. One person that she had a lengthy correspondence with was Cecil Peterson. Cecil Peterson was in the Army's Tuskegee training program and was chosen at random as a correspondent for Mrs. Roosevelt. Ironically, Mrs. Roosevelt had met Peterson years before while visiting a New Deal project in Quoddy, Maine (see photo on right) . They continued their letters throughout the war, and Mrs. Roosevelt was even able to meet Cecil Peterson again on her trip to visit the troops overseas.
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May 17, 2005, George Lucas is planning a film about the Tuskegee Airmen called Red Tails. Lucas says, "They were the only escort fighters during the war that never lost a bomber so they were, like, the best."[25]
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