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Tuskegee Airmen
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Tuskegee Airmen 2006 The Tuskegee Airmen was the popular name of a group of African American pilots who flew with distinction for the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. 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. The U.S. Army Air Corps had established the Psychological Research Unit 1 at Maxwell Army Air Field, Alabama, and other units around the country for Aviation Cadet Training, which included the identification, selection, education, and training of pilots, navigators, and bombardiers.
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The Tuskegee Airmen were the first pilots of African-American descent to be trained as military aviators in the United States Army Air Corp. Nearly 1,000 African-American pilots were trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama. Despite the early obstacles these Airmen encountered, 445 saw combat as pilots overseas in the European Theater of Operations, North Africa, and the Mediterranean during World War II. The Tuskegee Airmen were referred to as "Red Tails" because they painted the tails of their planes a brilliant red as a means of easy identification. They compiled an outstanding combat record by flying nearly 1,600 missions in which they destroyed over 250 enemy aircraft in the air and on the ground. Records show that while serving as bomber escorts, they never lost a bomber to enemy fighters. These airmen ... destroyed 45 enemy trains while damaging another 69.
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Prior to the Tuskegee Airmen, no U.S. military pilots had been black. However, a series of legislative moves by the United States Congress in 1941 forced the Army Air Corps to form an all-black combat unit, much to the War Department's chagrin. In an effort to eliminate the unit before it could begin, the War Department set up a system to accept only those with a level of flight experience or higher education that they expected would be hard to fill. This policy backfired when the Air Corps received numerous applications from men who qualified even under these restrictions.
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The first all-African American flying unit in the U.S. military, Tuskegee Airmen served during World War II. The squadron was commissioned by the War Department under increased pressure from the NAACP and other organizations seeking to provide opportunities for African Americans in the armed forces. Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Oliver Davis, Jr.commanded the Tuskegee Airmens first graduating class. They flew over fifteen hundred missions and destroyed hundreds of enemy aircrafts without ever losing a bomber to hostile fire.
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The Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site, administered by the National Park Service, is located at Moton Field in Tuskegee, Alabama. It is open 9:00am to 4:30pm, central time, excluding major holidays. Please call 334-724-0922 or visit the park's website for further information. For further information, visit the Legends of Tuskegee web exhibit produced by the National Park Service's Museum Management Program. The National Park Service ... adminsters the nearby Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site, which contains the original buildings of this institute and now forms the historic campus of Tuskegee University.
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By the end of the war, the Tuskegee Airmen were credited with 109 Luftwaffe aircraft shot down,[6] a patrol boat run aground by machine-gun fire, and destruction of numerous fuel dumps, trucks and trains. The squadrons of the 332nd FG flew more than 15,000 sorties on 1,500 missions. The unit received recognition through official channels and was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation for a mission flown 24 March 1945, escorting B-17s to bomb the Daimler-Benz tank factory at Berlin, Germany, an action in which its pilots destroyed three Me-262 jets, all belonging to the Luftwaffe's all-jet Jagdgeschwader 7, in aerial combat that day. The 99th Fighter Squadron in addition received two DUCs, the second after its assignment to the 332nd FG.[5] The Tuskegee Airmen were awarded several Silver Stars, 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 8 Purple Hearts, 14 Bronze Stars and 744 Air Medals.
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Tuskegee Airmen